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St. Paul's flags attention
to soldiers

by Jill Bodach
Hour Staff Writer

It isn't unusual to see flags flying in front of homes, businesses and other public buildings around the Memorial Day holiday, but what is unusual is seeing more than 4,000 flags on display in one place.

For the second year in a row, St. Paul's Church on the Green has created a flag display memorializing all the soldiers who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since the war began. When the display is completed, there will be 4,562 flags on the church's grounds.

The display was the idea of David Westmoreland and Michael Mushak, two members of St. Paul's Church. They originally had the idea to hold a ceremony to honor the veterans who were buried in the cemetery in front of St. Paul's church.

"We wanted to remind people of what Memorial Day is all about and what it stands for," Mushak said.

As they were planning the service, they decided it wouldn't be right to hold the service and not to acknowledge all veterans and those currently serving in the Iraq war.

"We came up with the idea of the temporary installation to honor the ultimate sacrifice and to create a visual representation of just the sheer scale of the losses," he added.

Westmoreland has a nephew serving in Afghanistan, and two other families from St. Paul's also have a relative currently serving in or recently deployed from the war.

"As far as the numbers of families who have someone serving go, the war hasn't hugely impacted the members of our church, but the war is affecting all of us, whether we have someone there or not, which is why we want to honor our soldiers and veterans," said Vince Edwards, music director at St. Paul's on the Green.

Mushak said the display is not meant to carry political overtones.

"We're just making a statement on personal sacrifice. Some people see it as a patriotic expression, which is fine. Some see it as a strong statement against the war, which is fine," he said. "We prefer to leave it open to interpretation. It's meant to be politically neutral. We're not making an anti-war or a pro-war statement."

Mushak said he and Westmoreland plan to continue putting up the display each year until the war is over, but if the war continues much longer, they may need to find other places to plant the flags.

This year, Westmoreland and Mushak had to order 500 more flags.

"Hopefully, the war will be over soon, but if it continues, we may need to expand our display because we're basically bursting at seams and don't have room for the numbers of flags we need."

The public is invited to view the display and to put a flag in the ground. Last year, many people drove by the display, stopped and walked through it in reverent silence, Edwards said.

"It seemed like it was a very powerful thing to a lot of people, especially to those who have lost someone or have someone currently fighting in the war," Edwards said.

There are still 1,000 flags that need to be added to the display. Anyone interested in placing a flag in the display may visit the church office to obtain one, Mushak said.

The display will remain at St. Paul's until Flag Day on June 14.