The Nobles of Omar Temple No. 21, Sons of the Desert Shrine Club honored military veterans on Memorial Day in Statesboro by placing American flags on their final resting places. 

Current U.S. Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Noble Brad Smith of Statesboro established a partnership with the American Legion Post 90 to assist in the yearly ritual of placing new flags and replacing old flags on the veterans’ graves.  Working with Girl Scouts Troop No. 30097, members of the Shrine Club placed 500 flags on veterans’ graves in the Eastside Cemetery and the A.C. Dunlap Cemetery in Statesboro.

The A.C. Dunlap Cemetery is also known as the “Colored People Cemetery.” The cemetery was founded in 1903 when there were no cemeteries to properly bury blacks without going to county churches, so a plot of land was purchased by some of the local black residents of Statesboro. With nearly 700 graves, the cemetery is the largest African-American burial ground in Bulloch County.