Oklahomans visit Floral Haven Cemetery to honor veterans and loved ones on Memorial Day

Many people dodged storms to decorate at cemeteries across Green Country this Memorial Day weekend. Some put out flowers at the graves of loved ones, others are honoring our military men and women, especially those who died in the line of duty.

For the most part, the rain held off here as hundreds of people came by to honor their loved ones before official ceremonies began.

Wet grass and a few sprinkles didn't stop people from making time for a Memorial Day visit to Floral Haven Cemetery.

With three American flags in hand Joy Boggs heads to the gravesite of her husband, Dennis.

"He was in the Marines,” she said. “And he served in Okinawa. And a very devout Marine. Once a Marine, always a Marine.”

The other flags are for their son Dennis Jr., also buried here, and her brother, who lives in Tennessee and served in the Marines during the Korean War.

Joy and her husband visited this spot in the past on Memorial Day, before he died in 2019.

"So someday I'll be here with him,” she said.

"I had amazing parents,” Elaine Reusser said.

Elaine and her husband Jack went Monday to honor her parents, Bee and Braxton Chaffin.

"He was on an aircraft carrier and then they were on different islands and then toward the end of the war he was on the USS Gloucester and that was one of the ones that went to get the people from, the survivors, after Nagasaki,” Elaine said.

Remembering the stories, service and sacrifice of their loved ones, and so many others.

"People just gotta remember: we're free because they went,” Jack said. “They didn't complain. They didn't question. They didn't whine. They went."

Floral Haven also took part in the National Moment of Remembrance and held a flag retirement ceremony.