Some of the proudest men and women in all of Michigan’s Great Southwest, who have worked tirelessly for years to educate and enlighten the population regarding America’s military involvement throughout history and their fellow Veterans have assembled a spectacular flag display along the wrought iron fence line fronting St. Joseph High School’s Dickinson Stadium and Steve Upton Field.
A crew of more than a dozen Lest We Forget volunteers worked to erect more than 80 flags along the fence line, mostly the red, white, and blue of the American flag, but also containing all six military service flags representing the U.S. Air Force, Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard and the Space Force on display this entire week to honor Veteran’s Day tomorrow, Wednesday, November 11th, and the rest of the week as well.
Lest We Forget spokesman Lee Scherwitz says, “COVID has limited and canceled many of the Veterans recognition events and parades, so this was our way, at Lest We Forget, of letting the community know they are not forgotten.”
For those unfamiliar with the organization, Lest We Forget’s operating principle is essentialy that “To brighten the future we must illuminate the past.”
It all began in 2001 when four veterans approached the Berrien County Intermediate School District (now Berrien RESA) with the idea of gathering stories from local veterans and putting them into a video format that teachers could use in teaching about the sacrifices made by those who served their country during wartime. The meeting resulted in a video series over the next several years called:
- “Lest We Forget WWII”
- “Lest We Forget Korea”
- “Lest We Forget Vietnam.”
- “Lest We Forget Modern Day Wars”
All of those documentaries have captured national awards for excellence.
From that initial project Don Alsbro (Vietnam) and Marvin Fuller (WWII) continued to promote various veteran events within the community and in the fall of 2005 with the assistance of Jim Brinkmann (Korea) Lest We Forget developed a five day “2006 Lest We Forget Patriotic Celebration” that attracted hundreds of people. One of their speakers was Bob Heft, who in 1958 designed the 50 star American flag that we fly today, and he said, “In almost 50 years and over 9,000 patriotic events that I’ve participated in, this was the finest event I’ve been in.”
In 2006 Lest We Forget became a 501(c)3 non-profit organization with the goal of promoting patriotism within the community. Their major event of the summer of 2020 was derailed by the coronavirus pandemic, but they want you to put their upcoming summer event for next year on your personal calandar. On June 19th & 20th, 2021, their theme for 2021 will be Korea: The Forgotten War.
You can learn a great deal more online at this link: https://www.lestweforgetusa.org/
Once on that site, you can help them continue their work by purchasing books and other media and items in their online store by clicking the tab at the top that says LWF Store.
