Memorial Day was quite different this year. The Florence parade, in its 152nd year, was still held, though scaled down and not advertised in order to discourage large gatherings. But I had a different type of “memorial” assignment last week as I photographed volunteers at the Northampton Elks Lodge putting the finishing touches on the second Stars & Stripes Field of Honor. The display is an array of 256 flags in recognition of veterans and service members as well as first responders and spouses. As the crew of four made ribbons, assembled flag poles and set them in the field prior to the Memorial Day weekend, I got to visit with lodge president Don Rippetoe. He told me of their work over the previous three weeks setting the arrangement of flag posts 2 feet into the ground outside the lodge: “That field out there is no stranger to rocks.” But he also spoke at length about the powerful experience that visitors to the site have, especially those who have dedicated individual flags to loved ones.
It sometimes starts as they fill out the form for the dedication. “At first, they’re thinking, ‘It’s all good, that’s easy.’ Then they start talking about who is on that piece of paper and they’re transported back in time — and all of a sudden it hits them,” he said. On the opening weekend last year, the lodge held a ceremonial walk for members who had a fallen veteran in the field — “honor families” as they are known. They were presented with a ribbon and a flower and escorted into the field to adorn their own flag. And there, says Rippetoe, they started talking to one another and supporting one another. “It’s quite a time. They become emotionally charged.”
Rippetoe said there are three elements to the field: grieving, healing and “celebrating the service and sacrifice of the individual.” He says some visitors will get a chair, sit by their flag and talk to their loved one. Last year, some people returned every day over the months-long display. Two children visiting with a Connecticut family went around the field and read aloud from the attached cards that identify the donor and the name and service dates of the individual for whom the flag is dedicated. The flags are set 5 feet apart so that walking through them in a light breeze, you’re almost certain to lose sight of the horizon. Depending on the day, the flags in one section may be motionless and in another part “they’re blowing like crazy,” as Rippetoe describes it. He said the children on this day ran through the field with their hands out, touching the flags as they went.
I went back over several nights to try and capture that random motion of the wind and had some success under the illumination of the solar-powered lights. But my favorite picture is from the evening of Memorial Day. There was absolutely no wind at all, but by then each of the flags had been personalized with a ribbon, a flower and the small paper tag telling a little bit about the person for whom it was dedicated.
Kevin Gutting can be reached at kgutting@gazettenet.com.