Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette Retired U.S. Army Col. Dylan Carlson of the 82nd Airborne Division is an instructor in the Houghton High School Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps. He is proud of the job his cadets did in placing flags on veterans’ graves.

HOUGHTON — Memorial Day was observed at veterans’ graves in cemeteries throughout Baraga, Houghton, Keweenaw and Ontonagon counties on Monday. The flags displayed on those graves are placed annually, largely by community volunteers.

At the Forest Hill Cemetery in Houghton, many of the flags were placed on veterans’ graves by Houghton High School’s Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps cadets, said retired U.S. Army Col. Dylan Carlson, who serves as an instructor for the program.

The Junior ROTC was initially contacted by Joe Battisfore with the Houghton County Veterans Affairs Office, who put the Junior ROTC in touch with Julie Riolo, who had in mind some projects to expand volunteerism in the veterans’ portion of the cemetery.

Through that process, Carlson contacted Paul and Jen Sanders, who had been placing all of the flags for the past few years as private volunteers.

“And what we said, from our perspective with the Junior ROTC, is this would be a great project for us to team with them,” he said. “We have cadets who would look forward to have the opportunity to have some volunteer service, and we have some requirements to do this as part of our program, so it seemed like a very natural partnership.”

Carlson and a large number of his cadets met at the cemetery last Saturday with other community volunteers. The cemetery has 27 sections that contain veterans’ graves, with a total of 1,465 veterans’ graves.

Twenty-seven sections’ worth of flag kits were puts together and assembled. Rosters were updated to ensure that no veterans’ graves were overlooked, and some of the cadets worked primarily in the American Legion section of the cemetery, where all of the markers represent veterans.

The morning of the flag placement, there was also a Raiders’ Competition with the Calumet-Laurium-Keweenaw Schools’ Junior ROTC program, Carlson said. At the completion of the competition, several more cadets arrived at the cemetery in their uniforms and put up the flags.

“Really, as you look around at all these flags,” he said, “it’s — it’s inspirational, to know that a lot of people went to a lot of work to make this day special.”

Carlson said the flags will remain on the graves until the Fourth of July, when the Junior ROTC cadets will come back and help with taking them down.

It is unfortunate, but many people have a misconception of what the Junior ROTC program is about, said Carlson.

While many believe it is a government recruitment program for the five branches of the U.S. military, Carlson challenges that paradigm.

The program is designed to give high school students opportunities, by becoming Junior ROTC cadets, to develop and improve themselves in ways beyond what typical classes provide. Junior ROTC does not promote a military lifestyle, but it does use military skills to instill self-discipline, confidence and pride in a job well done, the HHS Junior ROTC website states.

It is designed to help students increase their understanding of civic-mindedness through community volunteering, which is done by focusing on leadership and personal skill development.

Placing flags on veterans’ graves is just one example of that volunteer work. Cadets learn how to motivate themselves and others, focus on study habits and evaluate individual presentation. This supports other common core classes like history, English and government and various other life skills programs.

However, students who choose to enter any military service upon completion of high school can receive one or two promotions based on the number of years in JROTC and the branch of service they may choose, according to officials.