It may not be Veterans Day, but that's not stopping 12-year-old Preston Sharp from showing his appreciation to fallen soldiers by leaving a flower and a flag at each veteran gravestone at Dry Creek Cemetery in Boise. Preston says it all started when he visited a cemetery in his home state of California on Veterans Day and was shocked by what he saw.
"There weren't any flags out at the veterans grave sites," said Preston Sharp. "So I got really frustrated about that, and my mom taught me if you see something wrong do something about it."
So Preston took action, he says since 2015 he's placed more than 40,000 flags and flowers at veterans grave sites and is on a mission to visit cemeteries in all 50 states. These days he's not doing it alone. An army of volunteers came on Saturday morning to help Preston. He's encouraging others to take part in what he's calling the "Flags and Flowers Challenge" by honoring veteran grave sites and sharing it on social media.
"This is phenomenal. It shows people understand where our freedoms come from," said David Fisher, grounds manager at Dry Creek Cemetery.
The First Family has taken notice of the work Preston has been doing, inviting him to the State of the Union Address where he and his mom sat with First Lady Melania Trump.
"It's about the veterans and what they do for us, and we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them," said Sharp.
