My grandfather on my mother's side owned a monument company, and from mid March until this weekend, it was crunch time to pour foundations and set stones before Memorial/Decoration day. He referred to it in both forms.
He was on a first name basis with virtually every sexton in Eastern Iowa.
My father would help him out on weekends, and occasionally, I would tag along. I spent what would probably be considered an inordinate amount of time in cemeteries as a kid.
While my grandfather and my father worked, I would roam around, and took a particular interest in the cast grave markers indicating which conflict a person was involved in.
We would get together on Memorial day and go to the Bohemian Cemetery, now known as the Czech National Cemetery in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. All of the plaques would have flags inserted in them.
There was typically a short service, and we would go over to my mother's family plot. Needless to say, given my grandfather's profession, it was always well maintained.
There was one grave in the family plot with a bronze marker - my grandfather's brother, Otto. I'm pretty certain he was born in the United States, but he died in the conflict in Europe.
My grandfather, during the war, wanted to enlist. At the time, he was working for Wonder Bread, and his job was considered crucial to the war effort. It never sat well with him that Otto was lost, and he stayed home.
Before my great grandmother passed away, she attended a Christmas Eve get-together on my father's side of the family. This would have been in the early 1980's. Probably 25 people, mostly family and friends from my father's side.
My great grandmother spied a face from across the room, a woman she had met during World War II, and a friend of my father's aunt. Both were Gold Star Mothers, and they chatted for better than an hour.
Kate and I will be making a trip out to her parent's grave this weekend. Jim, her father, served in the Coast Guard during World War II.
The flag has always been in straight, but I want to check it, anyway.
