Trussville Scout troop keeps Memorial Day tradition alive

By Loyd McIntosh, For The Tribune

Trussville – One local Cub Scout troop continued an annual tradition to honor America’s heroes this Memorial Day.

Photo by Loyd McIntosh

For the 16th consecutive year, Trussville Cub Scout Pack #216 placed American Flags by the graves of veterans at Jefferson Memorial Gardens on Tuesday afternoon. An annual service project carried out by the troop, the flags will remain in place for two weeks and will serve as a visual reminder to the community of the sacrifices of many area people who served in the military.

“We want them to learn to honor our veterans, to remember those who have fallen, remember their sacrifice, and also to keep their families in mind,” said Allison Sheffield, den mother of Troop #216.

Cub Scout Pack #216 also invited the local Scouts BSA troop to participate in the project, which serves as a valuable learning opportunity for the young boys and girls as well as a service project.

“One thing we try to encourage them to do when we do this project is to find one or two grave markers of veterans, take a picture of it, take it home, research that person, and see what conflicts, if any, that they were in and see what history that we can learn,” said Sheffield. “So we try to make it a learning experience, too, but this is also a huge community service project for us.”

For the 2023 project, the troop received support from the Roebuck Elks Lodge #79, which purchased more than 700 flags for the project. Elks member and Hewitt-Trussville graduate Mickey Drinkard said she and the other lodge members jumped at the chance to support this worthy cause.

Drinkard said she was contacted by Sheffield, her friend and neighbor, about the project and knew this was an ideal service project for her lodge.

“I immediately went to the lodge and said, ‘Hey, guys, let’s use some of our grant money on this,’” Drinkard said. “It’s multifaceted for us. The motto of the Elks is, ‘As long as there is a veteran, they’ll never be forgotten.’ It’s amazing to be out here with these kids and get to celebrate our veterans.”

Cubmaster Rich Koch, a member of the military currently serving as active-duty Lieutenant Colonel running the Army program at UAB, said this is an opportunity to see how the cub scouts grasp the importance of the project over time.

“It seems to mean different things as they get older,” said Koch. “The young guys may just see the military emblem on the headstones while the older guys see things such as dates and times and what those words mean, like ‘killed in action.'”

Each flag is wrapped with a sticker with the troop’s number #216 printed on it, which, Koch said, often leads to heartfelt communications from friends and families of heroes they are honoring.

“We often get emails from family members through our troop website saying things like, ‘Thank you for remembering our loved one,’” said Koch. “We’ll share those with the young guys and reinforce the message and the purpose of our time here.”

To learn more or to contact Pack 216, visit pack216.org.