A Solemn Ritual

By Shannon Hicks

They worked quietly and solemnly, occasionally pointing out a familiar name or directing each other to someone’s gravesite. On Wednesday morning, a group of about a dozen members of VFW Post 308 spent a few hours replacing the aged American flags with new ones on the graves of all veterans in Newtown’s cemeteries.

Ernest Ingram, the commander of the VFW Post, said that about 1,000 flags — each measuring 12 by 16 inches — were placed on the graves of veterans in Newtown this year. The pre-Memorial Day ritual is usually done during the few hours after sunrise one morning before Memorial Day weekend.

This year the crew working with Mr Ingram at Newtown Village Cemetery finished their work faster than usual, placing a few hundred flags in the Elm Drive cemetery in less than 30 minutes.

“We had a lot of guys here this year, so we worked faster than usual this morning,” he said. Other members of the VFW were already placing flags at Resurrection Cemetery, while still others had been sent to some of the smaller cemeteries in town. By 9 am, many of the VFW members were gathering to start their work at St Rose Cemetery in Sandy Hook.

Not all of the headstones are marked as having veterans buried beneath them. Some stones are accompanied by flag stands that have been placed there by the family, noting the war the deceased served in, while still others are simply marked with old flags that the men replace without hesitation.

“Some of these graves aren’t necessarily marked,” said Bill Farley as he made his way up and down rows at St Rose Cemetery. “But if we see a flag, we figure the family knows something and we replace the flag.”

The old flags that are picked up and replaced from the cemeteries are collected and given to George Lockwood, Sr, who holds a flag burning ceremony to properly dispose of the used items.

The post spends approximately $1,500 each year for the flags to honor the war dead. The flags are put out in the spring and remain in place year round.

In addition to Mr Ingram and Mr Farley, the men who were replacing flags this week included Bobby Carroll, Mitch Falconer, Mike Hoyt, Brian Ingram, Danny Kearns, Jimmy Lewis, George Lockwood, Jr, George Lockwood, Sr, Warren Pinkney, Ted Selken, Rick Shuttleworth, and Steve Sullivan.

The work at the cemeteries is done quietly, but with honor.

“We take our work very seriously,” Mr Farley said. “It certainly isn’t like the flag raising at Iwo Jima, but it’s the least we can do.”

There seemed to be a need for more flags than usual this year. The 1,000-plus that were put out this week is a jump from the 850 flags that were placed just two years ago. Even with all the ones that were placed on Wednesday morning, Mr Ingram was going to have to order a few hundred additional flags that afternoon, but they were going to be shipped overnight and the remaining flags would be installed before the end of this week.

“We’ll have this done before the end of the week,” promised Mr Farley.

Members of VFW Post 308 will be joined by members of Newtown American Legion Post 202 for a Memorial Day ceremony at 11 am on Monday, May 26. The Post is at 18 Tinkerfield Road, off Wassermann Way, and all are invited. Call the post at 426-9316 for additional information. The ceremony will be held rain or shine.