Thousands of New Hampshire families were mourning their sons killed on battlefields far from home when Gov. Natt Head issued the first proclamation of Decoration Day:

“Let us tenderly and lovingly lay the flowers of early spring upon the graves of our sons, and place above their ashes the flag, which, living, they covered with imperishable luster....”

It was 1881, 16 years after the Civil War had ended, and the governor asked the “whole population” to “lay aside their usual avocations, and come together to consecrate this day forever to the cause of popular freedom, by eulogistic speech, martial airs, and solemn procession.”

That was the beginning of what the state now observes as Memorial Day.

New Hampshire had sent 33,000 soldiers to fight in the Civil War, nearly 10 percent of its population at the time. According to the state Division of Historical Resources, about 4,300 died in the war and 1,600 went missing in action — the equivalent of 17,200 combat deaths and 6,400 MIAs in the state's current population.

That's more than the population of Derry, Portsmouth or Keene.

► Photo Gallery: Memorial Day Weekend 2012

► Click here for a town-by-town list of weekend observances.

The idea of Decoration Day began in the South, but spread north after the Civil War. In 1868, John Logan, commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, issued General Orders No. 11, designating May 30th as a day for veterans organizations such as his to decorate the graves of their fallen comrades.

Logan hoped it would be an annual observance: “If other eyes grow dull, other hands slack, and other hearts cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep it well as long as the light and warmth of life remain to us.”

Over the years, Decoration Day became Memorial Day, honoring the fallen from all wars. Congress voted in 1968 to move the holiday from May 30 to the last Monday in May, and the resulting three-day weekend has become an unofficial start to summer fun.

Still, many in New Hampshire carry on the traditional observance of the day.

On Thursday, 15 volunteers met at the New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery in Boscawen to decorate the graves of the men and women buried there. Spreading across the quiet cemetery, they placed a U.S. flag to the left of each grave.

It took them two hours to decorate all 3,057 graves.

- - - - - -

Anthony G Giuliani
PHM1C
US Navy
World War II
Feb. 22 1923
Sept. 9 2011
The Pipes
The Pipes
Are Calling

- - - - - -

In charge of the effort is Ron Preble, commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10640 in Bristol.

Preble sends out his volunteers in pairs, explaining how to place the flags so they don't lean to one side: “That's disrespectful.”

An Army veteran who was stationed in Germany during the Korean War, Preble tried retiring but gave it up after three years to take a part-time position at the cemetery. He's been placing Memorial Day flags there since 2000.

“It's to show respect for these guys,” he explained. “We all want it to look nice for them.”

- - - - - -

Elizabeth W Sullivan
PVT
USAAF
World War II
June 27, 1921
Feb. 9, 2003
Beloved Wife
Mother and Grandmother

- - - - - -

New to the effort this year are Harry French and Richard Bolduc, both of Concord and both recent widowers. Their wives are buried at the cemetery; someday they will be, too.

“This is God's country,” said Bolduc, who wears his wife's rings and cross on a chain around his neck.

“Sacred ground,” French agreed.

The two met in a men's group at the Hospice House in Concord. They're convinced their wives, Alberta and Corliss, would have been best friends.

And they felt their presence as they placed the flags. “She gives me heck if these aren't done right,” said Bolduc.

- - - - - -

Andrew C Nicol
SGT US Army
Feb. 7, 1987
Aug. 8, 2010
Bronze Star W/V
Purple Heart KIA
OEF OIF
Son Brother
Friend Ranger

- - - - - -

Row upon row, the granite graves mark the history — and cost — of America's wars. Here lie veterans of World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq.

Gail Dearborn of Concord is a member of the Ladies Auxiliary from VFW Post 1631. Her husband, Andrew Dearborn, a Navy veteran of the Vietnam war, is buried here.

It's a duty to do this small act to honor veterans, Dearborn said. “They served our country. They keep us free.”

Her partner this day is Thomas A. Crouse, an 87-year-old veteran of World War II and a member of the Bristol VFW Post. He does this to “keep busy,” he said; he also decorates veterans' graves in his hometown cemetery for Memorial Day.

- - - - - -

Alvin A. Davis
DN - US Navy
Korea
Aug. 7, 1930
Aug. 19 2011
Beloved Father
Our Best Friend
I did it my way

- - - - - -

Majella “Maj” Desautel of Franklin and Richard Nilsen of Tilton are another team.

Desautel started a singing group, the Serendipity Singers, which performs once a month at the New Hampshire Veterans Home in Tilton. They dress in red, white and blue and sing the old songs, the ones the veterans know and love.

“It makes you appreciate how fragile life is,” she said. “Sometimes we go and a gentleman we sang a particular song to is no longer with us....”

“But he enjoyed it while we were doing it.”

Nilsen is an Army veteran who served in Germany during the Korean War. He lets his white beard grow in time to play Santa Claus each year at the Tilton home.

He's come here this day “to show respect for the people who have served,” he said.

- - - - - -

Justin R. Pellerin
SPC
US Army
Afghanistan
April 14, 1988
Aug. 20, 2009
Purple Heart KIA
Adored Husband
Son Brother
Grandson Nephew

- - - - - -

A vehicle pulls up to the section where the volunteers are working. Peggy Goodnow of Pembroke has come to decorate her husband's grave; with her are her daughter Shelly Cote and 4-year-old granddaughter, Rosie. They've brought a pot overflowing with red, white and blue petunias.

It's a family tradition to decorate the graves of loved ones for Memorial Day, Cote said. “It's an opportunity to remember the ones we love, to honor them and show respect.”

Preble tells the family they can place the flag at the grave if they want to. Rosie gets the honor, her little face a study in concentration as she places it just so.

Mike Horne, cemetery director, said the potted flowers that people place on the graves will be collected after Memorial Day and planted in the cemetery's many gardens. It helps families feel “they're contributing,” he said.

- - - - - -

Paul J. Valliere Jr.
A1C
US Air Force
Vietnam
Feb. 4, 1944
April 18, 2008
Think of me and smile

- - - - - -

Harry French and Richard Bolduc are putting flags in the “memorial” section of the cemetery. The gravestones here mark empty ground; they memorialize veterans whose remains were never recovered or identified, buried at sea, donated to science, or cremated and the ashes scattered.

There's a marker for Marine Corps Pfc. Francis C. Potter, killed in action in World War II on Sept. 15, 1943. And one for A. George Bobotas, US Navy, born June 4, 1924, missing in action Nov. 9, 1944.

There's one for Marshall Brent McComb, a 24-year-old Navy crewman presumed dead in a helicopter crash on Feb. 24, 1998, in the South China Sea. He left behind a wife and a 5-year-old son.

And here, too, you will find markers for five New Hampshire men who fought and died in the Civil War: Morrill Nute, Eusebe Therrien, Horace Chase, Edward E. Sturtevant and Henry Morse.

- - - - - -

In Memory of
Henry L. Morse
PVT US Army
2nd NH INF
Civil War
Jan. 1, 1842
July 21, 1861
KIA Battle of Bull Run