PENN TWP — History lessons by Knoch High School's Brad Pflugh are never boring, especially not when he takes student volunteers to cemeteries to post American flags on veterans' graves for Memorial Day.

Pflugh teaches 11th and 12th grade history in the South Butler County School District, and he also runs a history club for the students who end up catching a love for history.

It's the students in his club who went to cemeteries on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to put American flags on the graves of those who had served in the U.S. armed forces.

According to Pflugh, every cemetery is supposed to have flags posted on veterans' graves for Memorial Day, but for the past six years, his students have volunteered to help out.

On Monday, the students teamed up with the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7376 to cover the Saxonburg Memorial Church Cemetery, which has up to about 300 veterans' graves, Pflugh said.

That day was his favorite since the American Legion had seven veterans meet the students in the history club and share their experiences. Those veterans had served in the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Iraq War and even in World War II, with that veteran in his 90s.

On Tuesday, the students posted flags at about 20 graves at a cemetery in Clinton Township and another 150 graves at the Summit Presbyterian Church Cemetery.

Wednesday the students had the opportunity to tour the oldest church in Butler County: the Middlesex Presbyterian Church, which has been in existence since 1799, according to the Rev. Kevin Bowen, pastor.

The cemetery at Middlesex has a treasure of history, with graves of men who served in the Civil War, Pflugh said. In many cases, some of those families even donated the stained glass windows that remain at the church, Pflugh said.

“The main deal is to get them out and learn history and appreciate local veterans,” he said.

For senior Brigette Stickney, part of the charm of learning history from Pflugh is that she can learn the stories of families from centuries ago.

At the Middlesex cemetery, there were a number of Native American graves, which Stickney said was an interesting and unexpected part of her afternoon volunteering on Wednesday.

Of course, Stickney also believes that Pflugh is part of the reason she finds history so fascinating now.

“(Pflugh) is so passionate about (history) so whenever you listen to him talk about history, it's like story time when you were a kid,” she said. “He makes history interesting, and his passion makes (students) see that history is not boring.”

At the Middlesex cemetery, one veteran's grave was marked to identify him as a member of the 103rd Infantry, Company E — a group that was notorious for having been captured as prisoners of war during the Civil War, Pflugh said.

On April 20, 1863, the infantry, about 400 men, surrendered in battle to Confederate forces and were taken to the Andersonville prison in Georgia, where nearly half of the prisoners died.

Pflugh said the men were called the “Plymouth Pilgrims” due to the hardships they faced, but he does not know much else about them.

That connection to learning about what veterans experienced is part of why Nathaniel Pettit, senior, volunteered to help post flags, he said.

“It's a neat connection with history,” he said. “Anybody who puts their lives on the line for this country deserves to be recognized. This is small, but it's symbolic and important. And I think (the veterans) would be very happy to have that marker.”

In addition to having students mark veterans' graves with flags, Pflugh makes sure they do it properly.

“At all times, make sure the flag does not touch the ground,” he reminded the students Wednesday afternoon, walking among the Middlesex graves.

Pflugh has worked with the churches on researching veterans. On occasion, the metal stakes that mark veterans, aside from different markers on the gravestones themselves can be knocked over and put back next to the wrong grave.

Part of Pflugh's work is making sure items are correct and checking every grave in each row to make sure all veterans are recognized. In fact, Pflugh has had help from some students with researching different families and finding other veterans whose graves are old and unmarked on occasion, he said.

“The main deal is to just get them out to learn history and appreciate the local veterans,” he said.