Rehanging a Flag at Graceland Cemetery

"You can't keep me down!" Even with one arm; yesterday my father and I took my brother and his wife from Texas on an ancestral graveyard tour. Sounds like fun! Well it was! Expand your horizons! Hahaha! We stopped at a total of four cemeteries and Graceland Cemetery on Delaware Avenue in Albany was one stop. Graceland is the burial spot for a number of ancestors and other relatives of mine. However we stopped there to check out the Spanish-American War veteran's plot.

My father, a veteran himself, has turned the Spanish War Vet's final resting spot into a project for himself. On his own time and with his own dime he cleaned all of the marble grave stones himself. I believe there are approximately 96 grave stones. Many of these stones are crooked due to the passage of time and the frost uplifting the stones. But the stones are now bright white like you would see at any of the veteran's National Cemeteries.

On  Veteran's Day, Dad stopped by Graceland Cemetery and was disgusted by the way that the flag was flying. It was hanging on by one grommet and appeared to be torn. We took the flag down to inspect it. Fortunately a hook which holds the flag to the hoisting rope was broken. We made a quick repair to the hook (which will need to be replaced) and sent the flag back into the air.

Unknowing to me, my sister-in-law, Ashley, was taking photos and also a video of the action. A short video on this was just made and is below. The aggravating part of this venture was the fact that Dad called the organization that is supposed to maintain the plot and mentioned to them the condition of the flag. Well, ten days passed and the flag was still in the same condition. Sometimes if the right thing needs to be done, you just do it yourself. We felt good afterward!