Flags for the Dead Times Leader

HANOVER TWP. – American flags scatter the landscape in St. Mary’s Cemetery in preparation for the weekend of Remembrance Day.

Friends of Amvets Post 59 and other volunteers on Saturday morning placed flags on the graves of fallen soldiers in the cemetery on South Main Street.

Most have been doing this for over a decade.

Commander Mike Price said the Veterans Administration donates more than 8,000 flags to each soldier’s grave each year.

Price said he expects members of local high school teams and scout groups to join the effort.

He said the involvement of youth in these efforts carries a spirit of pride for the next generation military.

Price said it would take about three hours and he would be one of the last of the 60 volunteers to leave.

In addition to putting flags on graves, volunteers, some not as mobile as others, traveled to the cemetery to bring flags to volunteers.

And with temperatures expected to be around 90, other volunteers handed out bottles of water to keep everyone in the water.

Price noted that in addition to public events, Amvet is a service organization that brings gifts to veterans in nursing homes and works with other organizations to help homeless veterans.

Price said he especially appreciates the opportunity to see flags from Main Street as he drives by in his car.

He knows that others also see flags, and often someone will say how inspiring he is to see the exhibit.

“It gives me a real sense of pride,” he said.

The memory of the son

Sisi Ashley joined the Amvets a little over a year ago and quietly laid flags on graves and checked for military signs.

Ashley’s son Brian Rinker was a Navy veteran. He passed away in October 2017 from cancer at the age of 44.

Ashley said she was having a hard time riding her bicycle past Amvets’ headquarters near the cemetery.

She immediately entered and joined.

“Everything in my heart is devoted to this group,” she said.

Expressing respect

Former Amvet President Mark Girman was handing out flags when a woman stopped him and thanked him for his service.

She said her father had just died and she started crying.

“It was pretty hard to try to cheer her up,” he said.

Hirman asked her if she had a loved one in the cemetery who had served in the military. She said yes. So he gave her a flag to put on the grave of one of his relatives.

It caused a smile on her face.

Relatives of a beloved soldier who has passed away are invited to put a flag on their grave.

“That’s the thing,” he said. “We are here to pay tribute to our fallen veterans.”