I found Rick’s flag in seven minutes. The chances of that happening were one in over 220; sizable odds at any gaming house or racetrack. This happened on Memorial Day in Greenfield, where 122 military personnel are interned in town and 80 interned at the park, each with a flag inscribed with name, military branch and birth and death dates on the border near the bottom of the banner. Also, there are flags donated to the Greenfield American Legion by families whose veteran is interned elsewhere. These flags are hoisted on tall metal poles inserted along the roadways of each cemetery.
Unless one helps with the early morning placement of these flags, it takes quite a bit of time to find one specific name. I have not helped with placement for many years, so when I arrived at the Holy Trinity Cemetery at 10:45 Monday morning, I used the 15 minutes before ceremonies were to begin by looking at as many flags as possible and in seven minutes, I found the flag inscribed Rickola S.C. Wilson, US Army, 9-11-1915 – 1-29-1996. I know it was seven minutes total search time because I have a photo of the flag that cites 10:52 a.m. as time taken. As you may imagine, that brought back a few memories of Memorial Days of days gone by.
My being in the cemeteries that day was to continue with something that started way back when I was in school, the years 1965 and 1966, when as part of the honor ceremonies I recited “In Flanders Fields,” a poem penned in World War I using the voice of a fallen dead; a powerful admonition to the living. Since those elementary days, I have over the years repeated the recitations, along with reading the names of servicemen and servicewomen buried there.
But this year, after seeing Dad’s flag, I recalled the days when the Memorial Day observations included a seven-man honor guard uniformed in blue with bloused trousers in black, high-top lace boots, and white belts around their waists and over their shoulders with white helmets. Each member had a rifle, and at the appropriate time, the commander ordered a 21-gun salute. It was quite a spectacle, especially for us young’uns who stood as still as humanly possible until we were free to sprint toward the combined 42 empty shell casings scattered upon the ground hoping to snag one of the prized possessions.
Rick was one of those seven men when his job as a prison guard allowed. I thought of that as I read the names of others I remember as honor guardsmen, Franscioni, Rianda, Banuelos, Robertson, Buletti and others on this Memorial Day 2026.
Also, I recall that back in those days the crowds that gathered for ceremonies were quite large no doubt due to the fact that World War II and Korea were just behind us and Vietnam was looming larger and taking more American lives as it spread. On this day, there was a gathering of about 15 in town and four at the park, and those four had been present at the first reading and recitation. I believe the smaller numbers today reflect Americans difficult relationship with the day, how we are bound, by some inner need, to remember and reflect upon lives lost to wars started by elected members of both state and federal legislatures and heads of major corporations whose children will probably never see death and destruction in a killing field, who will never feel the sting of losing a child, spouse, sibling or dear friend to another war.
We must call them heroes because it would be too painfully honest to call them fodder for weapons far more powerful than the fragile human body. Those who die on the field of battle do not die for politicians and corporate CEOs, they do not die for a flag or a patriotic song, they die for one another, they die when they are brave and scared at the same time.
***
Ya gotta hand it to Donald J. Trump, he is loyal to his base. Let me cite some names of friends of Trump: John Daniel Andries, Brent John Holdridge, Zachary Jordan Alam, Christopher Moynihan, Joshua Dillon Haynes, Alan Michael St. Onge, Andrew Taake, David Daniel, Theodore Middledorf, Kyle Travis Colton, Kene Brian Laze, Emily Hernandez, Shane Jason Woods, Miles Adkins, Dominic Bos, Bryan Betancur Battisti, Jared Lee Hawks, Daryl Johnson, Jia Liu, Narayana Chandra Rheiner, Dillon Colby Herrington, Joseph Martin Pastucci, Joshua Atwood, Edward Kelly, Taylor Taranto, Daniel Ball, Timothy Dejardine, James Tate Grant, Benjamin Martin, Nathan Donal Pelham, John Banuelos, Andrew Paul Johnson and Dan Wilson. All of these people were extremely supportive of Trump’s efforts to bring about real change in America and they have been rewarded for those efforts; not once but twice.
Their first reward was to get pardoned for all crimes committed during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection attack on the United States Capitol, an action of good will on the president’s part for services rendered, which released many from lengthy prison sentences. (By the way, all of the people listed above since being pardoned have committed crimes ranging from illegal weapons to kidnapping, conspiracy to murder FBI agents, reckless homicides, sexual assault, possession of child pornography, molestation of a 16-year-old girl and solicitation of a minor for sex.) These are just a handful of MAGA heroes set free after being falsely convicted for doing their patriotic duty to sustain King Donald by hanging a treasonous vice-president.
The second reward for these upstanding Americans, even those in jail and prison now, is coming from those who along with The Donald want to see them prosper … the American taxpayer. That’s right! Now from a special Department of Justice fund of $1.8 billion of your money, each of these shining examples of Republican fervor will receive their just rewards for being loyal to America’s shining example of grift, graft and greed. For those of you who love this misanthrope of a man and do not qualify for this largess from the American taxpayer, you can always do your part by buying a Trump phone or Trump bible, or Trump Whatever.
Rickola was a die-hard Republican. I wonder what he would think of his party today.
Take care. Peace.
