Seven hundred twenty-seven flags were installed at Cape County Park North on Monday morning by about 30 volunteers, most of whom were men from Adult and Teen Challenge Mid-America. Ahead of the installation, Avenue of Flags chairman and retired U.S. Navy Capt. David Cantrell spoke to volunteers about the significance of what they had gathered to do. 

“Of all the five holidays that we put flags out, this is, to me, the most significant because it represents those that went downrange with a one-way ticket,” Cantrell told the group on Memorial Day. “When you put that flag down, and you see that name, it’s not a pole with a flag. It represents ... someone who served.”

Cantrell, who served in three campaigns — Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom — said Memorial Day holds special weight because it honors those service men and women who have died. 

“They obviously weren’t expecting to die that day,” Cantrell said of those killed in action. “But that was the route they took so we could have our freedom. They did that for us.”

The flag installation, usually followed by a ceremony at the county park, looked a little different this year for several reasons, Cantrell said. 

Monday was Cantrell’s first Avenue of Flags Memorial Day installation since he lost his lower left leg last year in an accident. 

“There’s a lot of firsts for me on this one, and they’re all very emotional,” Cantrell said. “The fact that the community — when I was hurt and laid up — the fact that they came out and carried on with this, it meant so much to me.”

Cantrell also emphasized the loss of Jerry Hampton and Jeff Bohnert, “two major people” who he said had been involved the Avenue of Flags program and in his life.

But the event also looked different because of COVID-19.

“Normally, we have a new flag ceremony,” Cantrell said, noting there would be 32 new flags installed for the first time later this year. “But we’re not having that because of COVID-19 and the social distancing.”

And with pandemic-era gathering challenges in mind, Cantrell noted the Teen Challenge Mid-America volunteers all eat, live and pray together on a daily basis. After the installation, the men were treated to a breakfast at the VFW. 

Among the volunteers who showed up early Monday morning was Pete Poe, the 2017 Southeast Missourian Spirit of America Award recipient and longtime volunteer for Avenue of Flags. Because he regularly installs the flags and works with the crew that assembles them, Poe mentioned the event’s smaller number of volunteers. 

“Normally, we might have 150 people out here performing this task this morning and all of them doing it because they care about the event,” Poe said. “They’re not there this year.”

The flags are raised on the morning of each holiday for which they are displayed — Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, Patriot Day and Veterans Day. The Memorial Day display will remain up until this evening, a new policy of the program thanks to a donation of lights allowing the flags to fly at night. 

The Avenue of Flags is a coordinated effort between VFW Post 3838 in Cape Girardeau and Cape Girardeau County. According to Southeast Missourian reporting, Avenue of Flags was first displayed at the county park on Memorial Day in 1987.

Some stroll through the park to observe the beauty of hundreds of flags, each towering several feet above their heads. Others come to pay respects to a late loved one or friend. 

For Terri Noland — of Bolivar, Missouri, and a former Cape Girardeau resident for 63 years — the display is a chance to visit her husband’s flag. Her late husband, Carroll “Jake” Noland, was a Vietnam veteran of the U.S. Army, serving from 1970 to 1972, and a member of VFW Post 3838. He was also a Cape Girardeau Firefighter for 32 years. 

Terri has attended Avenue of Flags installations for the last five years after her husband died in 2015.

“I told my kids, ‘As long as I’m physically able to get up here, I’m going to come up and put your daddy’s flag in the ground,’” she said. 

In fact, she’s only missed the installation once before. But in her absence, Terri said her husband was honored by several Cape Girardeau firefighters. 

“Ended up, the whole crew came out and did it,” she recalled with a smile. “I thought one guy was gonna go out and do it, and, oh, gosh, it was about 12 of them.”

Army veteran Tom Arens of St. Louis touches an inscription on the Missouri's National Veterans Memorial bearing the name of his friend Samuel V. Burruano during Memorial Day on Monday in Perryville. Arens served in Berlin, and paid respects to friends from Ritenour High School in St. Louis.BEN MATTHEWS

Missouri’s National Veterans Memorial

Despite the summer-like heat, Memorial Day also brought plenty of foot traffic to the Missouri’s National Veterans Memorial in Perryville. 

Memorial volunteer David Dunker said Monday’s display included 200 flags, 70 of which will remain flying along the full-scale black-granite replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington, D.C.

The memorial sits on more than 45 acres, which will be developed in future phases and will feature a veterans hall for events and special occasions, water features, a viewing pergola, pavilions, a cemetery, playground, amphitheater and other memorial spaces, according to memorial literature. 

In Perryville on Monday was Elkville, Illinois, resident Willie Lee Brisco McGuire, who visited the memorial to see the name of his late brother, Chester Briscoe Jr., engraved on the western-most side of the wall.

While he could not explain the variant spelling of his brother’s last name, McGuire said he was happy to have had the chance to see the wall while he was in town for work.

“I’m sorry to lose my big brother,” he said, “but it was for a purpose.”

When they were children, McGuire said he and his brother were placed in separate foster homes. As a result, the 70-year-old said he’s spent his life “chasing down” information about his 11 brothers and sisters. 

“I found all of them,” he said. “He was the oldest boy. He was a good kid.”

McGuire said he had access to some information about Chester, but Monday, he was hoping to find out more about his time spent in Vietnam. 

“Maybe she can find some people in his platoon, some old pictures, anything,” he said of a worker at the Missouri’s National Veterans Memorial. 

Also visiting the wall from out of town were Tom and Karen Arens of Fenton, Missouri. The couple had traveled south to see the names of former Ritenour High School friends who served and died in Vietnam: Samuel V. Burruano and William A. Neu. 

“They joined right out of high school,” Tom, 70, remembered. By the late fall of 1970, both men had been killed in service. 

“It’s difficult to think about the loss,” Tom said.

The couple pointed to the 13 panels of names listed between Burruano and Neu (who died a little more than a year apart) depicting the number of deaths that occurred in between. 

“We were talking this morning that they were 19 when they died,” Karen said. “We have a grandson that’s 19. I cannot imagine.”

“These guys and gals never experienced what I am so fortunate to [have] experience[d] in my life,” Tom said. “... I’ve still got a great group of friends from high school. We all understand what we owe these guys. We all served, but we were all very fortunate.”

After a back injury Tom sustained in basic training, he served in the U.S. Army from August 1969 to July 1971 in Berlin. 

“I ended up as a field wireman tying the telephone poles,” Tom said, noting he also played soccer for an Army team.

Tom was one of 17 children, he said. His four older brothers also went into the service: Dennis, who served for 23 years in the Navy; Joe who served a Navy tour in Hawaii; Steve, who served two Navy tours in Vietnam; and Mike, who served in the Marine Corps. 

Looking back on his service, Tom expressed gratitude. 

“I never forget how lucky I was,” he said. “I tell my friends that all the time. ... My name could very well be on this wall.”

For more information about the Avenue of Flags, visit www.vfwpost3838.org/avenue-of-flags. For more about the Missouri’s National Veterans Memorial, visit www.mnvmfund.org.