WESTERVILLE, Ohio — Three thousand American flags were lined by the soccer fields across from the Westerville Community Center for Memorial Day.
What You Need To Know
- 3,000 flags line the Westerville Community Center soccer fields
- Each flag may be purchased to have a ribbon placed on them to honor a hero
- The hero may be anyone the buyer choses
“We were putting up the Field of Heroes,” said volunteer Pat Knot. “Which is an annual tradition we do here.”
Knot is a part of the Westerville Sunrise Rotary, the group that’s been putting on the Memorial Day weekend event for the last 13 years.
“They’re not the tiny little flags you see in some communities, these are eight-foot-tall, three-foot-by-five-foot American flags.”
The flags are available for purchase and dedication to the “heroes” in people’s lives. Each flag is $30. Knot said anyone can qualify as a hero.
“The purpose of the event is to give people the ability to honor heroes in their lives,” said Knot. “Obviously, over Memorial Day weekend that means someone who has served in the military or someone that’s actively serving in the military, but we allow people to really honor anyone their life as a hero.”
The display will stay up until Monday afternoon and flags are able to be purchased all weekend.
“When they do that, we print a blue tag that has the heroes name on it, has their dedication and whose it from, and we will assign that a location on the field and we’ll hang that tag with the flag,” Knot said.
This year’s theme is “Dignity and Duty: Honoring Minorities in the Military.” Proceeds will go to the Ohio Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen Inc.
