At the westside Floral Park Cemetery on May 18, 2024, about two dozen members of local Veterans of Foreign Wars posts walked through rows of perfectly aligned headstones in silent reverence, placing American flags on the graves of every veteran.
It’s a yearly tribute, done for decades around Memorial Day weekend to honor those who have served their country by joining the military.
“It’s our responsibility to honor them. They served just like we did,” said Richard Turner, 74, a Marine veteran who fought in the Vietnam War and is now a member of VFW Post 2839 in the Near Westside neighborhood.
Another Vietnam veteran, Larry Patch, served in the Air Force and is a member of VFW Post 1587 in Speedway. Patch is concerned that if future generations don’t remember that freedom was paid for in blood, they may not be prepared to preserve it in the future.
“We’ve got some young people here that don’t have the types of experiences that us older people have. Our nation has gone through numerous wars, and I really don’t think that’s taught well enough,” Patch said. “I think it’s critically important that our nation’s youth understands that the life that we all enjoy in the United States wasn’t free. Somebody paid a heavy toll to make sure that we have the freedoms that we enjoy.”
Every headstone has a story
Every veterans marker at the cemetery is about two feet long, one foot wide and is engraved with a veteran’s dates of birth and death, branch of service, rank and unit. It’s information that, with a bit of research, tells a portion of a veteran’s life in uniform.
A veteran’s gravesite May 18, 2024, at Floral Park Cemetery in Indianapolis. Credit: Enrique Saenz/Mirror Indy 
A veteran’s gravesite May 18, 2024, at Floral Park Cemetery in Indianapolis. Credit: Enrique Saenz/Mirror Indy 
A veteran gravesite May 18, 2024, at Floral Park Cemetery in Indianapolis. Credit: Enrique Saenz/Mirror Indy
In section M-1 of the cemetery lie World War I veterans Clifford E. Riggs and Arlie Z. Taylor. According to the May 19, 1918 edition of The Indianapolis Star, Riggs lived on West Washington Street and earned a Purple Heart after being wounded in a gas attack in France. Taylor was a National Guardsman from Princeton in southwest Indiana, who was called up for federal service to handle horse-led supply wagons in the last allied offensive of the war.
They are a few feet away from Byron Robert DeMott, who lived on South Lynhurst Drive on the southwest side after helping hunt down German tanks in World War II, and Maxie Slayton, another World War II veteran, who lived on Polk Street on the east side before heading to Europe to fight the Nazis. Slayton received a Bronze Star Medal for his efforts.
There are also veterans of wars from the 19th century. Pvt. Clement C. Cole, a veteran of the Spanish American War, is buried at the cemetery. He was a farmer from Kokomo who joined the 160th Indiana Volunteer Infantry in 1898. His unit mustered at the Indiana State Fairgrounds before shipping off to Matanzas, Cuba to occupy the city for three months after the war ended.
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Knowing the price of freedom
Navy veteran Joe Miller brought his family to place flags at veteran gravesites. Credit: Enrique Saenz/Mirror Indy 
Flags are placed on veterans’ gravesites. Credit: Enrique Saenz/Mirror Indy 
Members of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1587 prepare for a 21-gun salute. Credit: Enrique Saenz/Mirror Indy 
Members of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1587 and 2839 placed flags at veteran gravesites. Credit: Enrique Saenz/Mirror Indy 
Larry Patch, Jr., (center) prepares his weapon for a 21-gun salute. Credit: Enrique Saenz/Mirror Indy
While they work to preserve the memory of veterans, the VFW members have their own stories. They happened decades ago but they are still fresh in their minds.
Richard Turner enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1968 at the height of the Vietnam War at a time, he says, when most of the young men in his neighborhood were being drafted. He followed his brother, who joined the Marines the previous year.
“I figured if he could do it, I could do it,” Turner said.
Turner was trained as an amphibious assault vehicle crewman and was one of thousands of Hoosiers that served during the Vietnam War. By the end of the war, 1,525 Hoosiers were killed or declared missing in action, but Turner and his brother survived.
Patch, 77, said he joined the Air Force when he was 20 to avoid having to fight in the infantry in other services. But he couldn’t avoid combat.
Patch was assigned to the 377th Security Police Squadron, essentially a military police force, and was assigned to guard the Tan Son Nhut Air Base near what was then called Saigon, the South Vietnam capital. The base was one of many attacked during the 1968 Tet Offensive.
“I lost four guys in my unit that were killed in the same bunker,” Patch said. “Their names are on the (Vietnam Veterans Memorial). I’ve been to the wall in D.C. several times, not just those four, but for all of the 58,000 service members that died in Vietnam. While the war was fairly unpopular, they did what their country asked them to do wholeheartedly and gave 110%. And we need to remember them.”
A family history of service
Patch’s family has a military lineage that dates back to the Revolutionary War. His father helped fend off the Japanese invasion of the Aleutian Islands in what was then the Alaska Territory during World War II. Two of his sons later served in the Gulf War, another served during Operation Iraqi Freedom a decade later.
Post 1587’s incoming commander, Mike Mead, is a Gulf War veteran. Like Patch, he comes from a family with a long history of military service. His grandfather fought in World War II and his father fought in Vietnam.
Mead joined the Marine Corps and trained as an engineering equipment operator and was deployed to the Persian Gulf for Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm in the early 1990s.
“We experienced a lot of things in our lives that 99% of the population never will,” Mead said. “Being away from home and family for months or years at a time, and the stress and other things associated with war — it’s not fun, no matter how Hollywood makes it out to be.”
Among the service members he is remembering are Army Cpl. Zach Nordmeyer, a 2007 graduate of Ben Davis High School who was killed while serving in Iraq in 2009 and Marine Sgt. John K. Rankel, a Speedway native who was killed in 2010 while serving in Afghanistan.
“I think it’s really important, especially for the younger generation, to know that there’s people out there serving the country and dying for what they believe in so that you can live safely every day,” Mead said.
A new generation must remember
According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, about 54,000 veterans live in Marion County. By 2050, it estimates the veteran population will drop by half, or about 26,246 veterans.
With fewer veterans around, the task of remembering the price of freedom will fall to those who haven’t served.
Veterans like Joe Williams, who served in the Navy, are teaching their children to observe Memorial Day by participating in events every year. This year, they’re helping the VFW plant flags.
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“It brings a type of humbleness to you,” Williams said. “There’s a lot of stuff going on around the world right now. They’re having to pay the ultimate sacrifice. It’s important to take a day out to remember what the day is about and remember those that sacrificed for us.”
Mirror Indy reporter Enrique Saenz covers west Indianapolis. He is a Marine veteran of the Iraq War. Contact him at 317-983-4203 or enrique.saenz@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @heyEnriqueSaenz.
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