Field of Flags to fly again for Memorial Day

LACONIA — Last year almost 4,000 flags were lined up on the lawns of the Congregational Church of Laconia UCC  and around the flagpole in Veterans Square, creating a Field of Flags set in place throughout Memorial Day weekend.

The Congregational Church and Greater Laconia Ministerial Association are joining to provide the display again this year. The purpose of this touching spectacle and dedication ceremony is to honor and remember the sacrifice of U.S. military personnel and their families in defense of our nation, “land of the free because of the brave.” Following social distance protocols throughout the process, this is their way of providing a safe community tribute for Memorial Day. The flags will remain up from May 23 - 30.

In lieu of a public ceremony, Rev. Dr. Judith Wright of the Laconia Unitarian Universalist Society has written this dedication for the flags.

"In the name of All That is Holy: This Memorial Day Weekend, we honor those men and women—our sons and daughters, husbands and wives, fathers, brothers, sisters, mothers — those who have laid down their life for our country. May we cherish their spirit, honor their commitment, send them our love, and never forget the service that they gave."

As we remember those who sacrificed their lives for our nation’s freedom, let us recall these famous words of President Abraham Lincoln, from his Gettysburg Address in 1863:

"We can pray that those who fought and died for our country did not die in vain. We can ask that their sacrifice would live on to inspire others to live in freedom and to serve and love their fellow citizens: that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that the government, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."