Keeping flags straight
Dear Editor,
Memorial Day 2009 has come and gone. Personally, I am very grateful for this opportunity to honor our veterans'. Memorial Day is a time of remembrance and reflection, not only for veterans, but for family and friends
Each year the American Legion Post 203, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Boy Scouts, and a group of proud citizens put over 400 American flags on known veterans' grave sites in Memorial Park and Riverview cemeteries in McCook. In spite of our sincere efforts to place a flag on all veterans' sites, we manage to miss a few. Please accept our humble apology for any missed grave site(s). How you can help in the future -- make sure there is a visible veterans' flag marker beside the grave site, If you have a deceased veteran family member or friend without a veterans' flag marker, you can request a marker by contacting Tom Stritt, the Red Willow County Veterans Service Officer located in the Temple Building on Norris Avenue in McCook.
As Memorial Day weekend comes to a close we begin picking up all flags at approximately 4 p.m. an Monday (Memorial Day). (However, this year with the wonderful rain we may be a few days behind as we cannot store wet damp flags). We pick up all flags that we placed on the sites. However, occasionally there have been flags placed at grave sites over the weekend by family members and friends. As we pick up the flags we do not know whether or not a flag belongs to the veteran's organizations or if it is a privately-placed flag. If we pick up a private flag off of your family/ friend(s) grave site, we apologize. How you can help in the future -- mark your flag in some conspicuous manner i.e., put the veteran's name down the side of the flag staff. We are all honoring the veteran's service to our country. Please do your part to help eliminate unmissed veterans' grave sites and/or inadvertent pick up of a private flag. The American Legion Post 203, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Boy Scouts and volunteer citizens will make every effort in future years to make our salute to our deceased veterans' go smoothly.
Sincerely,
Daniel E Stramel
Commander, American Legion Post 203