Volunteers needed to raise flags in memory of West Newton veterans

By JEFF HIMLER

Trib Total Media

Volunteers are needed Saturday morning in West Newton to help raise nearly 400 flags in honor of local deceased veterans.

Now in its 30th year, the West Newton Avenue of Flags display will be on view until June 1 at the West Newton Cemetery, 210 Vernon Drive.

The nonprofit program musters volunteers — including members of local VFW and Moose organizations and the Yough High School football team — to unfurl full-size U.S. flags donated by the loved ones of deceased veterans.

More than 100 volunteers are needed beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday to place 10-foot-high poles throughout the cemetery, top each with a donated flag and attach a plaque with the name of an honored veteran. The volunteers will be needed again on June 1 to take down the flags and poles.

The number of flags in the display has gradually grown to 385, roughly double the number that was included when the first flags were raised in 1994.

“We work really closely with the cemetery to find the space,” said Stacey Federoff, a member of the display’s organizing committee.

“Recognizing as many veterans as possible is always the goal,” said Kathie Montgomery, who leads the committee.

Among the veterans recognized in the flag display are two brothers who were killed in action in World War II — Pfc. Michael Lohigh, who served with the 63rd Infantry Division, and Staff Sgt. John Lohigh, who earned a Purple Heart.

Flags also will fly in remembrance of Dorothy Mitchell and her husband, John P. Kalko. Mitchell, a second lieutenant, was among more than 59,000 women who served in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps during World War II. Kalko earned two bronze stars while rising to the rank of technician fifth grade (equivalent to corporal) in the 800th Ordinance Company.

The display additionally includes a series of changing designs of American flags that flew during conflicts dating back to the Revolutionary War as well as a POW/MIA flag and a flag for each branch of the armed services.

The flags provide an appropriate backdrop for West Newton’s annual Memorial Day observance. That observance typically includes a 9 a.m. parade followed by a service in the cemetery.

Visit wnaveofflags.weebly.com for more information.