Volunteers assemble flags for Healing Field

It may have been Halloween, but hearts and minds were set on Veterans Day as about 50 volunteers from Cub Scouts to veterans gathered Saturday to assemble flags for Naperville's first Healing Field of Honor.

The field promises to be an impressive site, covering Rotary Hill downtown with 2,009 American flags flying from eight-foot-tall poles, each one to honor a United States veteran or soldier.

Healing Field of Honor Committee Chairman Dave Wentz came up with the idea after seeing healing fields in other parts of the country. "I didn't serve in the military," Wentz said. "A lot of us who grew up in generations that missed major conflict deeply respect what the men and women in the military have been able to do, the sacrifices they've made for their country."

Wentz explained that a group of gold-star families who have lost a family member in the armed forces manufacture all of the flags in Utah. "Everything about this flag is made in the good old U.S.A.," Wentz said.

"The beauty of this event is that we've been able to pull together a very wide spectrum of organizations and clubs and people from all over the Naperville community," Wentz said. "We started with a meeting with Operation Support Our Troops a year ago." Then, at the suggestion of the mayor's office, he and his growing group of organizers met with the Park District to see if they could use Rotary Hill.

"Their eyes just lit up," Wentz remembers. "They said it (was) a fantastic idea."

But it was a long way and a lot of fundraising between that moment and Saturday's flag assembly event. Wentz explained that startup costs including purchase of the 2,009 flag kits came in at about $31,000. The group's goal was to raise that money plus $30,000 more to benefit the Fisher House — an extended stay facility being built for families of veterans getting treatment at the Hines VA Hospital in Hines. "(Fisher House is) not directly benefiting veterans like a hospital, so it receives no federal funding," Wentz said, adding that construction is slated for completion by February.

So far, the committee has raised $43,000 and counting. After gathering 20 community supporters pledging $1,500 each, the group has relied on flag dedication sales of $30 each to make the goal. For an additional $5, participants can order a special tag commemorating the soldier or veteran they're buying the flag to honor.

"Flag sale orders are pouring in," Wentz said, adding that the committee will place all 2,009 flags on Rotary Hill regardless of whether they've all been dedicated or not, but more flags sold means more money for the Fisher House.

Park District Executive Director Ray McGury said he is "very excited" about the healing field. "This has no political designation, no party designation," he said. "This is about us all being Americans. You put aside all your personal feelings and animosity. You 're just proud to be an American."

World War II veteran Harry Brozynski, who was a machine gun loader in the D-Day Invasion, was there helping to assemble flags and said he had purchased a flag in honor of his brother Clem Brozynski. Brozynski, one of six brothers who served in the military during the war, said his brother Clem convinced him to join the Navy because they had the best food. Purple heart Vietnam War veteran Ted Schultz came to help, saying, "I just want to participate (in veterans causes) anywhere I can."

Working assembly-line fashion, Saturday's volunteers finished assembling all 2,009 flags and stacked them in readiness for a procession to take place at 11 a.m. Friday through downtown Naperville. Wentz said the procession will include fire trucks, a patriot guard, and police vehicles down Jackson Avenue through downtown to Rotary Hill. Volunteers will begin setting up the flags about noon.

On Nov. 8, the group is holding a "tag your flag" ceremony allowing all who purchased a personalized flag to attach a tag and ribbon to whichever flag they want to dedicate.

The group will officially dedicate the healing field in a Veterans Day ceremony from 11 a.m. until noon. Anyone wishing to purchase a flag can log on to www.healingfield.org/naperville to order flags by credit card. Flags will also be available for purchase by cash or check at the field starting Friday through Veterans Day. Flag sale hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays, and from noon to 3:30 p.m. on weekends.

Volunteers to help with field setup Friday and Saturday and teardown on Nov. 15 are still needed. Contact Brad Wilson at 630-848-3532 or bwilson@napervilleparks.org or Kathleen Malecki at 630-281-1816 or kmalacki@lilfriends.com.