Military Veterans

Hummelstown Cemetery holds our military veterans in the highest honor. Each of our 835+ veterans, many of them recently identified, have all been researched and their graves are clearly marked with a flag holder-type specific to their service record.

Our list of veterans includes (7) Revolutionary War, (6) War of 1812, (1) Mexican War, (168) Civil War, (25) Spanish American War, (138) World War 1, (332) World War 2, (75+) Korean War, (30+) Vietnam War, and (57+) Peacetime veterans. In most cases, a brief summary of their service is available.

(27) of our veterans gave their lives to our country. We honor them by having their flag holders painted “gold” to help you find their burial location. (49) others were wounded or disabled by sickness.

We are looking for additional information on any of our veterans. If your veteran is buried here, Please contact us to share your veteran information - or to learn more about what we already know about him/her!

Note: To honor a new burial of a veteran, we will have our main flag flying at half-mast salute.

Speech given by Mike Espenshade at 2022 Memorial Day Ceremony

Cemetery Historian Mike Espenshade speaking at 2022 Memorial Day Ceremony

Why Veteran Flag Holders and different shapes?

Prior to the end of the Civil War, military veterans’ graves were often marked by the families with flowers, flags or other mementos of their service. After the Civil War, the Union veterans’ organization, The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), instituted a standard “Star-shaped” bronze, upright, flag-holder for the soldier’s gravesite.

In subsequent wars, the shape and inscription changed on the bronze emblems on the flag-holder to uniquely distinguish from previous conflicts. This method prominently and clearly, even as seen from a distance, indicates a veteran’s service period. For example, the shape of the bronze emblem for Spanish-American War veteran’s flag-holder is the “Cross-shape”. The flag holders you see for wars prior to the Civil War were designed and began to be placed in the late 1800’s.

Due to the high cost of bronze, aluminum flag holders are now being provided to replace the originals. The Dauphin County Veterans Affairs Office provides us our holders, provided we place our orders in advance. See the following gallery for descriptions of all military veteran flag holders used in the cemetery.