OXFORD — More than 350 gravestones of veterans, some dating back to the Revolutionary War, have been decorated for Memorial Day.

Robert Lavertu, commander of Anderson Staples Post 112 of the American Legion, said Legion members and Boy Scouts from Troop 196 have made sure that all veterans’ graves have a flag placed by them as a way to show respect, honor and gratitude for the veterans’ sacrifice.

“Our brave men and women have served with pride. Many of our brave men and women sacrificed their lives that our great nation should live on. As citizens of our great nation this service should never be forgotten as they pass with the sands of time,” said Lavertu in a statement announcing the decorations.

“As the Memorial Day approaches, let us never forget as we honor our veterans, that they still are protecting our freedom and our way of life,” he said.

Lavertu said there are about 350 gravestones of veterans scattered throughout some 18 public and private cemeteries in town. Some of the graves are simply a rock on the ground placed in a cemetery that is 200 years old, or in remote places such as a stone located about half a mile in the woods off King Street in thick brush. But each receive a flag, he said.

Town Manager Michael Chammings said that under state law, municipalities have the responsibility to access and maintain any cemetery with a veteran’s grave in it, whether it is on public or private property. 

Each municipality must also decorate the graves of veterans each year on Memorial Day with an American flag and appropriate flag holder.

Lavertu said he believes the oldest veteran’s stone in Oxford may predate the Revolutionary War.

Two of the latest veterans from the Anderson Staples Post 112 who have passed away this year were World War II veterans Virginia “Ginny” Jillson and Catherine “Kay” Moulton, he said.

Jillson, a resident of Otisfield and later the Maine Veterans Home in Paris, passed away on April 27 at the age of 94. According to her obituary, she enlisted in WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) in 1943 and served as an aviation machinist’s mate servicing airplanes at the Naval Auxiliary Air Station in Pensacola, Fla.

Moulton, a Norway resident who passed away on Feb. 27, at the age of 92, was a U.S. Navy veteran during World War II who worked as a bookkeeper. She rang the bells in the Washington Memorial Chapel, according to her obituary.

Lavertu said that anyone who knows of a missing flag on a veteran’s grave, or a veteran whose grave is not properly marked, should call the Anderson Staples Post 112 of the American Legion in Oxford at 207-539-2649. For information on repair and upkeep please contact your local town office or cemetery association.

ldixon@sunjournal.com

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