Scouts, volunteers adorn veterans' graves for Memorial Day

Riley Wheeler, age 10, of Pomona, was one of several scouts, veterans, veteran's service organization members and other volunteers who placed flags on the graves of veterans Friday evening at Oak Lawn Cemetery in West Plains ahead of Memorial Day. The 144 flags were donated by Ace Hardware, and the placement was preceded by comments from West Plains Mayor Mike Topliff, who is a veteran of the U.S. Navy and a longtime Scouts of America leader. Topliff talked about the servicemen and women who are buried at Oak Lawn, some of them going back to the Civil War era, and encouraged participants to think about the history of West Plains and the contributions of those citizens as they honored their memory. Wheeler is a member of Cub Scout Troop 248 of West Plains and the son of Aaron Black and Shaina Wheeler.