Hall of fame honors local kids who believe no veteran should be forgotten

SPEARFISH — On Memorial Day, Zayne Bartol’s grandmother took him to Black Hills National Cemetery in Sturgis to place flowers on the grave of his great-grandfather, Chuck. Zayne noticed that there were no flowers at many of the surrounding graves, belonging to veterans. He insisted on a trip to Walmart to purchase more flowers for the men and women surrounding Chuck. His grandmother obliged.

That was 15 years ago.

Since then, the Bartol family has refined their “Memorial Day Mission.” Today, Zayne has enlisted the support of his parents and the help of his brothers — Zander and Zaiden to place about 3,000 flowers annually. The family founded a non-profit in 2019 to manage donations for the purchase of flowers, and they’ve extended their cemetery visits beyond Memorial Day — placing wreaths on graves during the winter holidays. Their current goal is to place 1 flower on each of the 29,000 graves at Black Hills National Cemetery.

Black Hills Pioneer