Aberdeen VFW donates flag for Memorial Drive
Published 1:30 am Friday, November 7, 2025
Editor’s note: The Daily World’s salute to veterans special section can be found inside Saturday’s edition.
On Memorial Day this year, Dave Bielski, the owner and operator of Fern Hill Cemetery, mentioned at the annual Memorial Day Ceremony he hosts, that quite a few of the flags that they put up for Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day and Labor Day were either worn out and not being put out any longer, or were in need of retirement.
Dave said, “At one time a few years ago, there were almost 400 flags that were placed along the roadways in the Avenue of Flags in the cemetery every 10 feet, from the main gate to the top of the hill.”
He appealed to the audience for the donation of any burial flags from veteran families to honor veterans on the Avenue of Flags.
After hearing this, Terry Holderman (U.S. Navy veteran) and Adjutant for the Aberdeen Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), suggested that the Veterans of Foreign Wars provide some replacement flags. The suggestion was unanimously approved, and Chaplin Jim Daly was tasked with ordering the flags. After some research, Daly identified a U.S. company that could provide 40 U.S. made flags for this purpose within the budget that was approved.
The flags that are put out on the Avenue of Flags are typically burial flags that are given to veterans next of kin during military honors, that have been donated by families of veterans. But, burial flags are cotton, and do not survive the Grays Harbor weather very well. The flags that Daly identified are “Storm Flags” made of nylon, that will survive a lot longer in Grays Harbor weather.
When a burial flag is donated for display at Fern Hill, the staff prepares it for display, attaching the flag to a wooden pole and attaching the name of the veteran it memorializes. Then, on Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day and Labor Day these poles and flags are placed along the roads through the cemetery to remember the deceased veterans.
On Monday, Oct. 20, five members of the VFW and Twin Harbors Marine Corps League got together and folded the new flags into the traditional triangle, and presented them to Fern Hill On Wednesday, Oct. 22, Fern Hill prepared the poles that day. Then, on Wednesday, Oct. 29 seven members of the Aberdeen VFW and Auxiliary and two members of the Twin Harbors Marine Corps League, gathered to see the Storm Flags and flag poles along the roads in the cemetery, and accepted thanks from David Bielski.
