Proudly Display Your Veterans Flag
Proudly Display Your Veterans Flag
I sadly remember the day we buried my father. An American flag
covered the coffin
before being transported to the cemetery. There it remained
during the service.
At the end of the service my brother-in-law and I tried our best
to remember our own
military training while we folded dad's burial flag into a neat
triangle and took it home.
Each day similar scenes are repeated across America. Our country
has many veterans who
have sacrificed and suffered for their country. The number is
now growing rapidly.
The burial flag represents a period of great sacrifice during
the life of one American.
In the case of my father who was stationed on the USS Curtiss in
Pearl Harbor on
December 7, 1942 he was also present aboard the USS Piedmont in
Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945
the day the treaty ending the war with Japan was signed. Most of
what happened between
these events was never talked about. He held the horror and
devastation of this period
of his life to himself.
I never really understood how he felt until my own service time
during the Viet Nam war.
It seems I do not like to talk about that time period
either.
Perhaps the feeling of sacrifice has again surfaced with my son,
a Sergeant in the
United States Marine Corps now serving in Baghdad while his wife
and daughters wait
and hope here at home.
Before his departure my son and I traveled to Washington DC
where he and I stood together
in the beautiful new World War II Veterans Memorial, we walked
the Viet Nam Wall and through
the Korean War Veterans Memorial.
Our national memorials in Washington DC have a direct tie to
each of the veterans flags in
our homes. Each represents the individuals who have given of
themselves for the freedom we enjoy
in America.
Your veteran's flag should not be placed in a drawer or closet
and forgotten. Display or even
fly your veterans flag for all to see. Tell people about this
person who gave so much.
Cherish your flag as you did the loved one who earned it.
My father's flag is proudly displayed in a case made for the
display of burial flags in our home.
We have an engraved plate attached with a remembrance of him so
our grand children can
remember him with the pride we all do, as a family and as
Americans.
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Bill Shayler is a professional engraver as well as the
owner of Shayler Engraving and shayler-engraving.com,
a company specializing in the art of engraving.
For more information,
please visit: http://www.shayler-engraving.com