L.A. Walks: This Memorial Day, Take a Walk to Honor Those Who Died Serving Their Country, 2.6 miles

As soon as Barbara and I found this hike from Charles Fleming's post in the 5/14/16 L.A. Times, we knew we would do it this weekend—it felt right. Yesterday, 10,000 Los Angeles Boy Scouts placed 90,000 flags at the graves of soldiers who served in the Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf, and Afghanistan, leaving a sea of flags flowing across the 114-acre cemetery. Dedicated in 1889 as an adjunct to the Pacific Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, Los Angeles National Cemetery is one of 11 in the US operated by the Veterans Administration. We started our walk inside the gate on Sepulveda at the Bob Hope Memorial Chapel, stopping to read and then shed a tear over Theodore O'Hara's poem, "Bivouac of the Dead" posted in front. There's a lot to see and appreciate—the 1896 statue of a Civil War soldier, the granite obelisk dedicated to the memory of men who offered their lives in defense of their country, the 1940 red brick columbarium built by the WPA, the Gettysburg Address inscribed in front of the podium, the magnolia, pepper, and eucalyptus trees lining the avenues and shading the grounds. While we were there, volunteers from Sony prepped 20,000 white and red carnations for the graves. But the real takeaway was an overwhelming sense of respect for and gratitude to the men and women buried here, the first a portion of 1M soldiers wounded in the Civil War including 100 black soldiers from the Buffalo Brigade, to recent graves from soldiers who served in Afghanistan. LANC includes 14 Medal of Honor recipients, the first awarded in 1864; and two dogs—Old Bonus, a US Army Private adopted by vets in the Soldiers' Home, and Blackout, a war dog wounded in WWII Pacific. This hike was poignant and inspiring, each gravesite with its own history, many with a penny left on top—a message that someone stopped to pay respect. We may not all agree on politics, but we all owe a debt of gratitude to the men and women who fight for our freedom to have those opinions. A very touching morning. 🇺🇸

Urn markers on the outer wall of the columbarium, built in 1940 by the WPA.

Bronze sculpture of a Civil War soldier, created 1896, moved to LANC in 1942.