thedrifter
06-21-07, 06:39 PM
S.D. Turtle Races to include flags for fallen
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jun 21, 2007 18:01:02 EDT
VOLIN, S.D. — This year’s Volin Turtle Races, scheduled for Saturday, will include a somber message.
Organizers say about 3,700 U.S. flags will be placed on a hill on the south side of town — each flag symbolizing a fallen service member in Iraq or Afghanistan.
The treasurer for the turtle races, Jason Vollmer, also belongs to the University of South Dakota Veterans Club and is coordinating the appearance of the club’s traveling flag memorial.
The flags are to remain through Sunday, with lighting on them at night.
“I was in the Army from 1985-93, and this display is so important,” Vollmer said. “It’s really easy to lose sight of all the sacrifices of our service members.
“When you are putting them up, they are just flags. But when you have got almost 4,000 flags sticking in the ground, and you step back and look at it, then you realize each one of those represents a dead service member. The impact really hurts. They aren’t just flags anymore.”
The turtle races have raised about $4,000 each of the last two years. The money has gone to community projects and for Sgt. Corey Briest, a disabled Yankton soldier who suffered blindness and traumatic brain injuries in 2005 due to roadside bombs in Iraq.
Briest is scheduled to return home later this month after nearly two years of rehabilitation.
Ellie
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jun 21, 2007 18:01:02 EDT
VOLIN, S.D. — This year’s Volin Turtle Races, scheduled for Saturday, will include a somber message.
Organizers say about 3,700 U.S. flags will be placed on a hill on the south side of town — each flag symbolizing a fallen service member in Iraq or Afghanistan.
The treasurer for the turtle races, Jason Vollmer, also belongs to the University of South Dakota Veterans Club and is coordinating the appearance of the club’s traveling flag memorial.
The flags are to remain through Sunday, with lighting on them at night.
“I was in the Army from 1985-93, and this display is so important,” Vollmer said. “It’s really easy to lose sight of all the sacrifices of our service members.
“When you are putting them up, they are just flags. But when you have got almost 4,000 flags sticking in the ground, and you step back and look at it, then you realize each one of those represents a dead service member. The impact really hurts. They aren’t just flags anymore.”
The turtle races have raised about $4,000 each of the last two years. The money has gone to community projects and for Sgt. Corey Briest, a disabled Yankton soldier who suffered blindness and traumatic brain injuries in 2005 due to roadside bombs in Iraq.
Briest is scheduled to return home later this month after nearly two years of rehabilitation.
Ellie