Community Corner

A Field of Flags for Heroes in Fairfield

Greenfield Hill Congregational Church will display a field of 6,700 flags through July 21 to honor the American soldiers killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and their families.

By Caitlin Mazzola

Rev. David Johnson Rowe can form his own name, several times over, when he looks at the notebook in Greenfield Hill Congregational Church listing the names of the 6,700 American soldiers killed to date in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars."I saw my name in all those names—it helped personalize the wars for me," he said of the list.

That sparked a desire to memorialize each fallen soldier individually. After Somers Congregational Church created a Field of Flags to remember soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan through October 2005, Rowe decided to recreate the display in Fairfield.

The Field of Flags has unfurled on Greenfield Hill Congregational Church's lawn twice before -- in 2009 and 2011. This year, about 80 volunteers came out to "plant" the 6,700 American flags needed to individually recognize each U.S. soldier killed since the Afghanistan and Iraq wars started in 2001 and 2003, respectively.

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The "exhibit" of flags is on display through Sunday, July 21. Alongside the flags the list of casualties will be showcased on a board showing the name and rank of each American casualty.

Friends and family members of fallen soldiers as well as veterans have come from throughout the state and region during the past two exhibits, Rowe said.

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One visiting veteran told Rowe, "This is our Arlington," as he sat on a bench overlooking the flags.

"We do this so people can remember," Rowe said.

The church will hold a worship service on Sunday, July 7, at 9:30 a.m. to celebrate the birth of the United States as well as the fallen soldiers. 

Greenfield Hill Congregational Church began holding such memorial services for soldiers when the casualty count hit 1,000...and then 2,000, 3,000, 4,000, and on, Rowe said.  

Each year, the church printed the names of the thousand soldiers to be added to the memorial service. The growing list inspired this poem by Rowe:

Is my name there?

I scan the list,

one, two, three

six thousand and more

looking for a familiar name

or town

or age

Is my name there?

A Rowe or two?

Yes, there are, two,

and Davids here and there

across the page

and, to my surprise,

men of my age

and women, too.

Look on,

is your name there?

Your father's name,

a family name, perhaps,

different but the same,

like Pokorney and Pokorny

Torres and Torrez with a "z",

Hunt and Hunte with an "e",

James Lambert and James Lambert III

and too many Smiths

almost as many Johnsons

Ah, my name – 

My grandfather's name

and my mother's.

Yes, my name is there,

among all the others.

The public is invited to view the field anytime through July 21. Greenfield Hill Congregational Church is located at 1045 Old Academy Road. For more information on the exhibit, call the church at 203-259-5596. 


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