June 2, 2004
Flags honor war veterans
Volunteers place 1,500 American flags at Oakwood Cemetery in recognition of Memorial Day
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Fifteen hundred flags represented fifteen hundred stories.
Stories of sacrifice and courage, hardship and hope for the veterans buried in Oakwood Cemetery. Their stories and deeds are a legacy for future generations, but their contributions are honored every Memorial Day by a group of volunteers from the American Legion Bowen-Holliday Post 35 in Traverse City.
Friday afternoon, nearly two dozen volunteers fanned out in the cemetery to place 1,500 flags on the graves of veterans who spanned a century. Grave sites and special sections of the cemetery include veterans of the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I and II and the Vietnam War.
The volunteers scanned gravestones old and new, many of which sported a special veteran's marker, to make sure that no veteran was missed in the 65-acre cemetery.
"We come every year out of respect for the veterans," said Bill Courson of Traverse City.
"Most of us will be over at Memorial Gardens for their flag ceremony, too," he added, referring to the volunteers who raise flags honoring veterans buried there every morning and lower them every evening during the Memorial Day weekend.
Courson, a veteran of the 8th Army Air Force in World War II, began helping to place flags on graves at Oakwood in 1947. His father, a World War I veteran, and his brother, a World War II veteran, are buried there. He said the members of the American Legion started placing flags for Memorial Day, which began in 1868 and was originally called Decoration Day, around 1934.
"When I started, there were only about seven of us and we did just the Legion members," said Courson. "Then it sort of expanded after that. This year, we definitely did 1,500 because that's all the flags I had and we used them all at Oakwood and then I had to get some more for the courthouse and the monument."
The City of Traverse City buys the flags, storing them all year after employees remove them following the long weekend. Every year, cemetery employees examine and replace any damaged ones so there are enough for the following year.
The project hinges on the American Legion and volunteers, however, who gather together every Friday afternoon before the Memorial Day weekend. They quietly walk each row in each section, scanning each grave for a marker or an indication of military service.
LaVern Broughton of Traverse City was motivated to help this year for the first time by his service during the Korean War. He also thinks of a brother, who died during World War II at Iwo Jima two weeks after the flag was raised there.
"I had another brother in the Army and another brother in the Navy, all four of us served," said Broughton, who served 15 months in Korea in a transportation company.
Brought, who is senior vice commander of the American Legion Post, is pleased to see that the contributions of veterans are gaining recognition.
"I think that the last few years, people are starting to appreciate veterans more, I really do," he said.
Gary Hlavka of Traverse City served in the Navy during the tense times of the Cold War. He brought along his grandson, Gary Hlavka, 4, to help place the flags Friday afternoon, determined to share the value and sacrifice of military service with him.
"We have to pay our respects to those who made our country what it is today," Hlavka said. "It renews you to see the names of the old vets and the old names in the city. I have my father, grandpa and grandma buried here and I remember coming here as a kid."