The Eagle Field of Honor flies for the 18th straight year

Volunteers met up at Merrill Park on Friday to cover the soccer field with American Flags to pay tribute to current and past service members.

• Eagle Field of Honor is the longest consecutive Field of Honor in the country at 18 years running.
• There are over 600 flags.
• The group is hosting "Coffee with a Veteran" at 10 AM on Saturday, May 18th.
• Flags are still available. If you want to sponsor a flag click here .

( Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)

For 18 years Eagle locals have seen over 600 American flags elegantly waving on the soccer field of Merrill Park. I'm your Eagle neighborhood reporter Alexander Huddleston and I joined volunteers as they covered the lawn with the stars and stripes.

"Vets are just very very special to me. It is important to honor them," said one volunteer.

Every year for the last 18 years volunteers meet up at Merrill Park and cover the soccer field with American flags in honor of veterans or those who are serving.

Approximately 1.3 million of the us population are active duty military members. Another 18 million are veterans. One of these veterans, Chuck Hawkins, pays volunteers every year.

"At Panmunjom, Korea. I came back to the States for 13 months and then I went to Okinawa and worked as an armed forces police in Okinawa," says Hawkins.

I talked with Hawkins for a while. He told me all sorts of stories of his time serving. However one stuck out in particular. It was when he returned home from overseas.

Hawkins recalled, "I had vivid memories three times of people hollering at me, yelling here comes one of those baby killers, because they referred to a lot of Vietnam troops as baby killers, and it really ripped me up."

Hawkins went on to explain that this tradition makes him remember that he and other servicemen and women are cared for and appreciated.

"I just think this is one of the very best ways we can," smiled Hawkins.

Kathy Coburn, one of the organizers of this event explained that this is the longest consecutive field of honor in the country, and if folks want to be a part of it and sponsor a flag, they are still available.

"We need the name of the person, the rank, the branch of service they served in, and the campaign or war or time period they served in," said Coburn.

Coburn says when a flag is sponsored, all of that information would then go on a ribbon which would be attached to a flag.

Coburn continued, "If you look out in the field and just see the beauty of the flags flying in the wind, when you see the ribbon on it it becomes very personal for that person and that family. It brings meaning to what it is to serve and serve in the military."

The Eagle Field of Honor will be flying for 10 days so you have until May 28th to come see the beautiful view.