Veterans remember comrades by placing Flags for the Fallen

POOLER, Ga. (WSAV) – “It’s kind of hard on days like this to remember back when they were all with us,” 1st Lt. Kenneth Beckman said.

Memorial Day is a time to pay tribute and remember those brave men and women who never made it back home from their missions. Staff and veterans at the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force did just that on Friday at their fourth annual Flags for the Fallen event.

Twenty-six thousand American flags are now on display, one for each of the Eighth Air Force airmen who made the ultimate sacrifice during World War II.

For Beckman, the sound of a B-17 and the National Mighty Eighth Museum is a time capsule.

“I think a lot about the folks that never had the opportunity to make it back. It’s kind of hard on days like this to remember back when they were all with us,” Beckman said. “The average crew lasted 16 missions. I was fortunate enough to get 48 done before the war was over.”

He and Tech. Sgt. Gordon Fenwick shared memories of comrades and friends.

“I saw my best buddy being blown up… so it does bring back some memories. I’m thinking of them and their families and our times together overseas,” Fenwick said.

He remembers the feeling of finally coming home.

“Oh, it was a great relief, of course. And what I landed from our last mission, I swore I’d never get on another airplane, but eventually I made myself do it. But to just forget the past and get on with the future is what we had to do,” he said.

The past is on full display at the Memorial Garden. Flags mark the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Their fellow soldiers who were left behind now deal with the pain and the loss.

“Particularly when we had to pack up their clothes and ship them to their wives and sweethearts, sisters, brothers, dads and mothers,” Beckman said.

He honored those family members by thinking of them as he placed one of the final flags in the ground.

The public can view this display at 175 Bourne Ave. throughout the Memorial Day weekend.