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Ed Potter braved yesterdays heat along with a cadre of volunteers at Saugatuck Congregational Church to bring the Field of Flags to an end. The display featured 5,550 flags when it finished; one each for a soldier killed in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Someone walked up to me in the grocery store and told me this was the most powerful thing ever to happen in Westport, said Mary Ann West during the final flag update last Sunday. Each of the two weeks the field was up after the first weekend, volunteers added flags for those that died the previous week. At the memorials opening, there were 5,516 flags. An additional 52, with name markers specifically for the Connecticut fallen soldiers, lined the churchs driveway.
Other personal touches the Saugatuck Congregational Church added to the display included the tolling of the bell while reading the names.
According to information provided by West, roughly 10,000 cars passed the field every day. Visitors whose names appear in the guest book hail from as far away as Israel, France and the United Kingdom.
The Field of Flags is a travelling display. Its next stop will be the Congregational Church of Brookfield, opening July 16. It will remain there for three weeks.
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