September 9, 2005
UNSERVICEABLE ?
The Flag on the left - tattered to be sure, yet, I still consider it to STILL be serviceable!
Here is why.............
Several years ago I was in the Plainfield Cemetery in Plainfield, Wisconsin engaged in
the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW) Graves Registration Project.
It was a cold and windy autumn day and I heard a "flapping" to my rear.
As I turned and looked up, I saw a single U. S. Flag "flapping" in the wind.
It was the only flag in the cemetery!
As I went closer, I noticed "she" was tattered beyond "serviceable" use.
That tattered flag was on a grave with an unreadable grave marker.
Through research - taking three years - I found that tattered flag was marking the grave of a
Civil War Veteran. He is buried 40 feet from my GG-Grandfather,
a Veteran of the 7th WI Infantry, Co. I - the Iron Brigade!
That veteran with the tattered flag is HIRAM WILCOX of the 30th WI Infantry, Co. G.
Without that little tattered flag - his grave may have gone "unnoticed" and "forgotten."
Hiram enlisted on August 21, 1862 as a private in Co. G of the 30th, WI Infantry.
He was transferred on March 15, 1864 into the Veteran Reserve Corps (VRC).
You tell me - is/was that little tattered flag UNSERVICEABLE?
I still have that flag and do not have the heart to have it destroyed!
Though "she" may no longer fly over the grave of "her" Veteran,
"she" still proudly proclaims that...........
