Fields of flags blanketed veterans cemeteries, grave sites were quietly visited, wreaths were laid and remembrances staged over Memorial Day weekend where people gathered to mourn and to thank the military men and women who have died in service to their country.
Additionally this year, during the "Heroes Farewell" Memorial Day service at Veterans Memorial Plaza in front of the Covington Courthouse, a permanent plaque and memorial brick was dedicated for the U.S. War Dog Roxy, who died last December in her retirement. It is the first official acknowledgment in St. Tammany of the role that canine heroes play in military operations.
“Service dogs have taken on such a tremendous role, particularly during the global war on terror,” said St. Tammany Veterans Foundation President Lane Carson. “This dog was an amazing service animal,” he said of Roxy, who served two tours of duty with the “Thundering Third” Marines in Afghanistan in 2011 and 2013 before returning stateside.
Meanwhile, near Slidell the VFW Slidell Post 5735 donated and placed flags — with the help of Scouts and other volunteers — on all 4,000 graves at the Southeastern Veterans Cemetery. And VFW Post 8290 members placed more than 800 flags on the graves of veterans in Lacombe, Mandeville and Slidell.