Fire Crews Spend Memorial Day With Seniors At Jefferson Barracks

Firefighters and paramedics from Manchester's  spent Memorial Day taking seniors to Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.

The seniors are residents at the Garden Villas Retirement Community in Town and Country.

It was the third year the district participated in this event, but the first year for firefighter and paramedic Eric Heimos. 

"I would do it every year if I could, just because how appreciative they are," Heimos told Town and Country-Manchester Patch. "I felt honored." 

The trip was offered to seniors who wanted to visit someone at Jefferson Barracks. The firefighters brought roses for them to put on the headstones. Firefighters offered to place the roses on the graves for any of the seniors who couldn't make the walk through the cemetery.

However, Heimos said 100-year-old Marine Charlotte Passanise insisted on placing a rose on the headstone herself.

"She said, 'I'm a Marine and I'm walking,' so two of the guys escorted her down there," Heimos said. He explained how another Marine, Howard Gleason, made it to a gravesite and saluted. "It's pretty cool watching that. There's a lot of memories floating in their heads that we can't even imagine."

Patch readers can see the event in the above photo slideshow.