RAPID RIVER, Mich. (WJMN) — American Legion Post 301 has been putting together their Avenue of Flags for close to 30 years and they show no sign of stopping any time soon. Local 3 checked in with their set process, and this is what they had to say.
“Today we are putting up the Avenue of Flags,” said Lenny Nedeau, the American Legion Post 301 Commander. “Which we have put up for probably 30 years or so just to honor all of our veterans for Memorial Day. We need to honor each and every one of these guys for the sacrifices they made for our country, and for everybody. it just needs to be done. We’ve been doing the cemetery since WWI. We’re going to continue to do it. We do Isabel, Moss Lake, Ogonce, Nahma, Edwood, and we come here for our last grand finale for Memorial Day to honor everybody. The legionnaires are a nonprofit. All the money that people have given us goes out to the Rapid River Schools. We give six $500 scholarships out. The kids really need that money. If there’s a wounded veteran around, we will check in with them and help them in any way we can and give them as much information as we can. We make little name tags for their veterans and we put them on the legion flags for the avenue of flags, to memorialize the men and women who have fought for us. We do have a lot of people who help us out. So we can continue to do this every year for the rest of our lives.”
“Setting up for the American Legion post 301 our Avenue of Flags for our Memorial Day set up and this is the first of the Memorial Day celebrations,” said Chuck Gendron, veteran. “We have the cemeteries on Memorial Day, and today we are concluding our set up. We are putting on each individual grave a plaque and their respective flag. I’ve been a member here at Rapid River Post 301 for around 35 years. Thank you to the people of the Rapid River area. They sure are a community, one you can be very proud of to live in.”
