GREENFIELD — The 808 flags fluttered in the soft breeze that filled the air Monday morning. They made a sea of red, white and blue, their colors magnified in the spring sun as it shone bright against the green of the grass.
The seeds from the nearby Birch trees floated down like snow, unfazed by the heat of the day, and covered the shoulders of those who stood in the lawn, heads bowed in remembrance.
About 150 community members gathered in Greenfield’s Park Cemetery for the county’s annual Memorial Day service, planned and organized by two veterans groups.
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For more than 60 years, the Dale E. Kuhn American Legion Post 119 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2693 have hosted the event to pay homage to the hundreds of Hancock County men and women who have died in service to their country.
And each of the flags — called the Avenue of Flags — represented a local veteran; a man or woman who set aside everything in order to join the armed forces, who returned home from war but has since died from age or ailment.
They remembered them all on Memorial Day, organizers of the event said.
And perhaps, on this one day, all those they left behind could set aside their differences and recall with gratitude the sacrifices they each made, Greenfield Mayor Chuck Fewell said in an address to those gathered.
“It is because of their brave selflessness that missions are completed and battles are won,” Fewell said. “May their memories be cherished and their sacrifices noted and appreciated by the country they protected.”
Since the Revolutionary War, more than 1.1 million men and women have lost their lives fighting battles on American and foreign soil, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Among those are nearly 300 from Hancock County.
For more than 40 years, members of local veterans’ groups have erected the Avenue of Flags in the cemetery to honor their fallen comrades ahead of Monday’s service, with the help of members of the Greenfield-Central High School football team.
Each year, the display grows, said Bob Workman, the county’s veterans service officer. This year, 808 flags, each representing a deceased Hancock County veteran, were put up in the cemetery for Memorial Day, he said.
Families pay a onetime $50 fee to purchase the flag in honor of their loved one, Workman said. Each year, the flag is placed in the same spot so it’s easy for the family to find. If it’s ever damaged, it’s replaced free of charge, he said.
Standing among the display can be moving for former service men and women and their families.
Chuck Gill, a member of the American Legion Post 119, said he was overcome with emotion Monday while helping set up for the service, thinking about all those who didn’t make it home.
Those who took time out of their day to attend the service showed they’d never forget the sacrifices those men and women made, Fewell said.
“Never forget, never let your children forget how fortunate we are to have a voluntary force of men and women willing to safeguard our freedom so we can rest soundly at night,” Fewell said. “May we as their loyal countrymen never abandon their memory or allow their sacrifices to slip from our consciousness.”