May 28, 2003
Flags honor war veterans
Volunteers put up and take down 565 memorial flags
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Dozens of volunteers gathered at the Grand Traverse Memorial Gardens Cemetery over the weekend to pay tribute to veterans.
They gathered every morning to put up and every evening to take down 565 memorial flags honoring the military veterans who are buried there. Rain or shine, the volunteers - many of whom are veterans or families of veterans - take time out on Memorial Day weekend to pay their own tribute to the country.
"We've been coming for close to 15 years to do this," said Pat Winowiecki of Traverse City.
Winowiecki came to help Monday evening with her husband, Marvin, a Korean War veteran and a past commander of the Disabled American Veterans and the VFW post in Traverse City. The couple worked their way along the cemetery's main drive, which is lined with tribute plaques to veterans. Flags snap in the breeze above each plaque until volunteers like the Winowieckis disengage each flag pole from its holder, remove the flag and fold it with the plaque owner's name facing up.
"We have a daughter buried here who was in the Air Force, she died of cancer," noted Winowiecki. "She was a military person so this is pretty special."
Scott Huffman of Traverse City stopped by Monday evening with his two older sons, Ryan, 10, and Jared, 6. His wife's father, a World War II veteran, is buried in the cemetery and they learned of the project while visiting his grave this weekend.
"I just think it is the right thing to do," said Huffman, who served two years in the military.
Huffman's sons gamely helped their father take down a number of poles and fold the flags into a square.
"I just think that all these men gave their lives to defend freedom and I think this is the least we can do," said Ryan Huffman.
The flag tribute has been a fixture at the Grand Traverse Memorial Gardens Cemetery since 1960, when cemetery founder Gorden Bostwick started it with six flags and plaques. He had seen a similar tribute in a cemetery in Kansas and when six local widows approached him about displaying bronze memorial plaques, he quickly agreed. The tribute program increased every year since, now carried on by cemetery owner Alan Bostwick, Gorden's son, and other family members.
"I guess we would call it a labor of love," said Elizabeth Cram, Gorden Bostwick's daughter. "We try to do Memorial Day weekend because that is when we have the biggest percentage of people visiting the cemetery. We also do it weather permitting on Flag Day and the Fourth of July. We would try to do Veteran's Day but unfortunately we have snow on the ground by them."
Between holidays, the Bostwick family stores the flags alphabetically in large ventilated boxes. During the Memorial Day weekend, they are on hand every morning and evening to either distribute or pick up the flags and poles.
"It is heartwarming because I've been doing it since I was five years old," noted Cram. "I've seen people come and people go and there's a lot of memories out there. Some of the people who started out aren't here any more."
Maurice Cahill of Interlochen has been a flag volunteer for the past five years. A past commander of the Yagle Brothers detachment of the Marine Corps League, Cahill said seeing the hundreds of flags flying in the cemetery is an inspiring sight.
Cahill applauds all the volunteers who help make this possible.
"Regardless of whether they are civilian or military, male or female, young or old, it makes no difference," said Cahill, who with league members also placed Marine Corps flags on graves around the area for the holiday. "It makes a warm feeling to have the community behind us, helping out."
"It is a really small thing to do for some of these people who made a great sacrifice," he said.