FRANKLIN COUNTY residents have a long history of service to their country. It’s a history still being uncovered and honored through the Franklin County Veterans Flag Memorial, an American Legion Post #44 program, now in its third season.
Each veteran is honored by an American flag and a cross handcrafted by Tom and Gina Isbell. At the base is the cross bearing the veteran’s name, time of service, and whether it was during war or peace. The flag runs through the cross. The memorials are placed along major highways and thoroughfares each Memorial Day and Veterans Day and remain displayed for two weeks. An alphabetical listing of the location of each marker is placed in the Herald Chronicle enabling you to locate a specific flag and cross.
While it’s natural to place them in honor of a family member, many Franklin County veterans have no family to sponsor them.
Commander Raymond Cobb said, “We have names of individuals who no longer have family living in the area. Don’t let loved ones or anyone else in Franklin County who served this country for our freedom go unrecognized.”
An excellent opportunity for individuals, businesses, and organizations to sponsor these veterans is possible through information obtained by the post.
“There were 28 veterans that we know moved to Franklin County after the Revolutionary War. We have 780 veterans from Franklin County who served in World War I, and I’m sure many of them went over there as young men and were killed and never returned home. We know of those. We are working on World War II now,” Commander Cobb said.
If you purchase a memorial for one of these, you receive the veteran’s name. Many interesting stories and history have roots in these orphaned veterans’ lives. Some stories are related to family history, while other details immerge and preserve stories of veterans not previously known to us. Commander Cobb and his wife have experienced this first hand.
“We found out that my wife’s great, great, great grandfather served in the Revolutionary War. Through the Department of Defense archives, we found that he received a pension for eight years of $80 per month and a piece
of property in what is today known as the territory of Tennessee, around Tims Ford State Park. He’s buried at the edge of the park. You can find an awful lot about your relatives if you do a little bit of research, and you don’t have to spend a lot of time doing it,” he said.
The memorial influences people of all ages.
Commander Cobb said, “One day, I was in front of Traders Bank putting up some signs, and a car drove by real slow. You could tell they were looking for someone. It was a boy, about 8 or 9 years old, with his face pressed against the window. You could see his lips, and he was reading each cross as he went. It’s things like that.”
