‘Flags in’—soldiers honor fallen comrades at Arlington Cemetery

More than 1,000 soldiers of the “Old Guard” regiment placed 284,000 flags on veterans’ gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery.

Every year the Army’s oldest regiment performs this “Flags in” ceremony, marking the graves of their fallen comrades. The mission took several hours to complete.

“The significance of ‘flags in’ is it gives us, the Old Guard, the opportunity to honor our fallen brothers and sisters, and this is a time that our whole unit gets together and actually conducts a mission,” explained Specialist Henry Lajara.

The U.S. Third Infantry Regiment is the oldest in the U.S. Army. It is nicknamed “The Old Guard.” It performs honor guard and presidential guard duties, and keeps guards stationed around the clock at the “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier” at Arlington national Cemetery.