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An aisle of 100 American Flags maintained and set up by American Legion Post 303 at Riverside Park in Bonita Springs , Fla, on Monday, November 11. Photo by Hilary Ott / The American Legion

An aspect of patriotic holiday ceremonies in Bonita Springs, Fla., is an aisle of 100 flags which the Legion Family from John F. Murphy Post 303 maintains and sets up for the events at Riverside Park each Memorial Day and Veterans Day.

Each flag is stenciled with the name of a deceased veteran in tribute to those who paid the ultimate price for America’s freedom.

For this Veterans Day, the flags — replacements for those destroyed when Post 303 was deluged with floodwaters from Hurricane Ian in 2022 — served not only as tribute to those veterans but a representation of the post’s and city’s rebuild from the devastating storm.

Post 303 Commander Adam Prentki acknowledged it was “very difficult” when he first saw the case where the flags were stored at the post following Ian.

“It was important (to replace the flags) because it was something we always did,” Prentki said, noting the Aisle of Flags first returned at the Memorial Day event at Riverside Park even as renovations were continuing on the post home. “I think it was important for everyone to see, OK, maybe the Legion’s not there, they’re still working on their building, but they’re still in the community.”

“My partner was one of these flags, along with my brother-in-law, and both those flags were destroyed. That totally destroyed me,” said Jan Farrington, the American Legion Auxiliary Department of Florida membership chairman and a member of Unit 303. “There are many flags flying that I personally know their families, I personally know a lot of the history, and it just destroyed us to know that when we pulled those flags out after Hurricane Ian, and to just watch them disintegrate in front of us, it was just heartbreaking. So to be able to resurrect this … it’s another form of our rebuilding. Our phoenix is rising out of the ashes.”

Farrington is also the Auxiliary representative on Bonita Springs’ veterans advisory committee and talked about the Aisle of Flags during the city’s Veterans Day ceremony. She noted many of the flags had served as burial flags on the caskets of fellow veterans.

“We need to remember and honor (all veterans),” Farrington said.

U.S. Army Lt. Gen (ret.) Steve Blum, the guest speaker at the Veterans Day morning event at Riverside Park, echoed that sentiment. “A nation that does not remember and revere and thank and appreciate its veterans will not long remain a nation,” Blum said.

Veterans and their families — among them 98-year-old World War II veteran Daniel Rossi — gathered in the park for the Veterans Day event, which included Bonita Springs city councilman and Army veteran Nigel Fullick recognizing Rossi and reading a proclamation from Mayor Rick Steinmeyer commemorating the holiday.

Following the morning’s event at Riverside Park, Post 303 hosted a grand reopening ceremony which drew Legion Family and leadership from across the state.

“It’s all about the brotherhood and sisterhood for me,” said Department of Florida Commander Chris Hamrick.

“We had a lot of people donate (to the rebuild),” Prentki said. “We are blessed with a lot of snowbirds in this area. We had a lot of those individuals donate. I wanted them to be a part of it. It was very moving for me to see the support we got, not just from the people that are here every day but from our snowbird community. And when we tried to decide on a date, we looked at what would be available. It was brought up on doing it today, on Veterans Day. That’s what we settled on.

“It’s late enough in the year that a lot of our northern guests are down and could attend; some of them came down specifically for this,” Prentki added.

“It’s been a day we’ve been waiting for, for two years… it’s here, we are open,” Farrington said. “It’s more than just a building. It’s a place we go for our veterans. It’s a safe haven. It’s a community spot where veterans can come, share their stories. We can work our wonderful programs with the American Legion Auxiliary, Sons of The American Legion can do their programs, we can just enhance our veterans through community service, and children and youth, and Americanism at its best and at its root.”