TO T HE EDITOR: THE NORTHFIELD NEWS IN THE NORTHFIELD News a couple of weeks ago, I read where the flags in the cemeteries were not replaced and people through that the veterans who are buried there were not given the proper respect that they deserve. That is totally untrue.

If you will notice, in front of Mount Hope, Calvary and the Falls cemetery you will see a granite base with a pole installed in it. On top of that pole, you will see an American flag, these flags were put there by the American Legion to represent all of the veterans buried there for the simple reason that no veteran will be missed and have no flag.

The small flags that you see there are put there and maintained usually by family members and friends.

Sometimes a Legion family member will be in a cemetery and see a flag that is worn or faded. That flag will be replaced by a Legion member or see to it that it is replaced by the Legion member or see to it that it is replaced. They do not think of it as a job to do but something they just do for one of our comrades.

There are cemeteries on some of the outlying roads of Northfield that do not have a main flag in front of it. All of those small flags in that cemetery are replaced before each Memorial Day as was done this year by the Legion member Arnold Sayers and his family.

There are several cemeteries in outlying areas and it takes the Sayers family almost a full day to replace all of the flags.

The same family has done this for a number of years.

You know they don't expect any thanks for doing this. They just do it to give back a little to our passed service members.

Maybe the next time someone sees something that does not quite meet their expectations, they might want to do a little research as to why this is, instead of downgrading a person or organization who are doing all they can to remember our veterans.
CURT HIGLEY
Northfield

Editors Response: No where in any article in the News did we downgrade any person or organization in noting that torn and tattered flags had been left in our cemeteries and that only a few families had done anything to put out new ones prior to Memorial Day.

The News congratulated the Legion for taking up the slack and putting flags out the Friday after Memorial Day.

We were well aware that the big flags at the front of the cemeteries were meant to be a salute to all veterans.

However, every other town, so far as we could determine, still places flags on each grave. For Northfield not to do that was the real point of our article.

Our feeling was and is that the big flag is not enough particularly when the organization markers by the graves are not tended.

It is exhilarating to see the field of flags across the cemetery. It makes us realize how many have fought and died for our country.

We also note that flags were put on each grave in the old Catholic cemetery on King Street. That was done before Memorial Day and most likely, was done by caring people who put them out.

The News has put out new flags for our individual World War I, Civil War and Revolutionary War veterans in Elmwood Cemetery and a few others in other cemeteries where individual markers had no flag.

Unfortunately, many of these veterans no longer have any family members to take care of their graves as their families died out long ago.

It is the least that we can do for those that have gone before.

To see the GAR, Legion, VFW, Veterans and Revolutionary War markers without any flag in them or with an old torn, worn out flag in them seems sad to us.

We salute the Legion for all that it does and salute those like the Sayers family who go that one step beyond to make sure that our veterans are remembered.

Hopefully, the News has done a little something as well to assure that our veterans are remembered.

The News wants to thank all of those who contributed to the News flag project.

We purchased 144 flags and put out a total of about 50, mostly in Elmwood Cemetery, and will give the balance of the flags to the Legion for any member who may wish to use them in the future.

The people who generously contributed and completely covered the cost of the flags were:
Clark Bothfeld
Scott and Kathy Blanchard
Donald and Marlene Buck
John Cruickshank
Mike Demasi
Henny Goodman
Roger LeClair
Bill Lyon
Ed Miller
Phyllis Murphy
Durwood Phillips
Rob Wills