Field Of Flags Will Be Here

For Memorial Day Weekend

From Friday afternoon through Monday of Memorial Day weekend, the Field of Flags will be on display on the front hillside of Newtown Congregational Church, 14 West Street.

The Field of Flags was dedicated on Sunday, October 23, 2005, at Somers (Conn.) Congregational Church. Members of the Memorial Garden Committee placed 2,231 American flags — one for each American casualty in Iraq and Afghanistan at that time — on the west lawn of their church. The list of casualties was displayed on a board showing the name and rank of each American killed.

The Field of Flags has become a ministry that has brought comfort to many families as it has traveled to five other states. In addition to Connecticut, the traveling memorial has been displayed in Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and, most recently, Florida. The flags have waved at 14 different locations, including Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, and United Church of Christ churches, as well as a Catholic Seminary and a Harvest Assembly of God.

With each new casualty in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a corresponding flag is added to the Field and that person’s name is added to the list of casualties.

After spending January at the First United Church UCC in Tampa, Fla., more than 4,452 flags went to Clearview United Methodist Church in St Petersburg, Fla., and on to Christ Congregational Church in Miami. The Newtown display will mark the return of this display to the state of Connecticut.

The Field of Flags was begun as a silent, patriotic, and poignant reminder of the cost of war. Each flag represents not simply one casualty, but all the family members and friends who have been touched by that life now gone. They represent a respect for those who have served and are currently serving in the military and a hope for peace in the future, for a time when no one is called upon by our country to give the greatest sacrifice.