In the verdant hills of Arlington National Cemetery, just a stone’s throw from the Pentagon, each grave is marked with a small American flag. It’s a Memorial Day tradition that began almost 70 years ago, in the years following World War II.

That’s 280,000 flags; each one carefully pushed into the moist ground by a soldier from the U.S. Army’s 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, known as the “Old Guard” on Thursday.

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