Every year, from Flag Day through July 4, the veterans of American Legion Post 74 stand attention near Blue Star Memorial Gardens in Cadiz — always vigilant as passersby purchase flags of honor, and place them in a field.
Saturday morning, more than 100 of them saw their retirement from the “Field of Flags,” each folded with care and placed in the arms of proud family members — or collected and turned over to the John L. Street Library for safe keeping and later transfer.
Following a soft, reverent playing of “Taps,” Adjutant Curt Holmes ordered the honor guard to its volley.
Post 74’s Mike Sandbrink, installed as commander some two months ago, noted this tradition has stayed strong since 2011 — thanks to the support of the community, local officials, active Boy Scouts Of America troops, the Trigg County Wildcats football team, WKDZ/WHVO Radio and other ancillary arms.
And each flag, he said, comes with its own story to tell.
Those who did not pick up their flags Saturday may do so during John L. Street Library’s hours of operation.
A self-proclaimed “military brat” born in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Sandbrink said his father left the Army and moved the family to central Ohio — where, at 18 years old in 1992, he left to join the military and enter into Basic Training.
All six of his years in service were spent at Fort Campbell, home of the 101st Airborne Division, and it’s there where he decided to lay roots in west Kentucky.
In 2006, Sandbrink joined the more than 1,200 military veterans currently living in Trigg County — and is now one of many hoping to bring new energy within the Legion’s ranks.
Most assuredly, Sandbrink said Post 74 would continue to be “one of the busiest funeral details” on this side of the state.
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