If you visit Bottineau this Veterans Day, you’ll find yourself ushered in through an amazing and beautiful Parade of Flags documenting the community’s immense patriotic pride in honoring those that served their country.

The VFW Flag Program was established in 1984 by Bottineau Post 8688 members Arland Hanson, Clarence Helgeson, Gordon Kittleson, and Almer Reing. The idea for this flag program was born when Gordon visited a friend in Washington State and saw a flag program there. Upon returning to Bottineau, he was very excited to start a similar program in Bottineau. These WWII veterans have since passed away, but their inspirational “Parade of Flags Program” lives on in the community and continues to grow, not just in numbers, but in the hearts of their families, our veterans, and our community.

The flag lined streets and Highway 5 into Bottineau are a breathtaking sight and display of patriotism when the flags are up, flying with “the last breath of each soldier, sailor, marine, airman, and coast guardsman who died protecting our flag.” The flags are raised on Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Our community is proud of this program. You can feel the pride, the patriotism in the veterans and community volunteers that come out at 5:30 a.m. to assist with raising the flags. Other veterans prepare breakfast for the flag crew.

The Parade of Flags Program was the sixth in the nation and the first and possibly still the only one of its kind in the State of North Dakota. It was dedicated on Veterans Day in 1987 when the first 70 flags in the program to honor deceased veterans appeared on the streets of Main and Thompson and on Highway 5. By Memorial Day that number had increased to 180. Today, there are 532 flags in the program, of which six are the 48-star flags of WWI veterans. The oldest veteran in the program is Joseph Kovarik Sr. of the Spanish-American War.

The casket flags are donated by family members of deceased veterans who were born and raised here and/or lived here. These flags become the property of the VFW Flag Program who accepts responsibility for their maintenance and replacement if that becomes necessary. Currently, some families choose to purchase a flag from the VFW to represent their veteran rather than donate their veteran’s casket flag.

Each flag enrolled into the program is attached to an eight-foot wooden pole which is numbered to correspond to the veteran. Originally, wooden name plaques were engraved with the veteran’s name and branch of service. These plaques were attached to brackets that were secured to the utility poles. Each bracket had a holder into which the wooden pole was inserted. In later years, the VFW purchased 3’x5′ nylon all-weather flags which have been attached to five-foot poles, and these flags are flown during inclement weather in place of the large 5’x9’5″ cotton casket flags.

After the passing of the program originators, Lloyd Awalt assumed responsibility for the program and later passed it to Ron Martin. After more than 25 years, the VFW found that many of the original wooden name plaques, which were made by Cecil Olson and engraved by Lloyd

Awalt, needed replacement due to the elements of our weather. A fund drive was implemented in 2006 to help raise a portion of the $10,000 needed to replace these plaques and brackets with aluminum ones that would better withstand our weather.

Ron Martin, assisted by Dale Simon, managed the program for several years. During his tenure, the VFW moved to its new location along with the American Legion and AMVETS. The three organizations share the Bottineau County Veterans Memorial Hall and work together for the good of our veterans and community. At present, Ron Bergman manages the program, and is working to add more flags to existing utility poles and expanding to other areas as the program continues to grow.

It took many people working together to get the initial program up and running, and to assist with raising and lowering the flags, re-rolling and banding them, and organizing them in storge until the next time. Over the years the project has become more streamlined, but with the size of the program constantly growing, it still takes many members and volunteers to get the job done each time.

The flags outgrew our streets and made their way into Oak Creek Cemetery where thirteen flags in the middle of the cemetery represent America’s original 13 colonies. Flags also line other roads within the cemetery as well as at St. Mark’s Catholic Cemetery. Plaques for these flags were attached to wooden sign boards.

On July 19, 2018, work on the Bottineau Veterans Memorial in Oak Creek Cemetery was finalized to complete the flag program and replace the wooden sign boards. Much of the materials and labor for the project were donated by Bottineau residents. Gail and Laurie College of Bottineau Lumber donated the cinder block, and the concrete was donated by Mikkelsen Aggregates which was owned and operated at the time by Monte and Darla Mikkelsen. Einar & Mark Onarheim (both now deceased) of Onarheim Construction donated the concrete work, and Joe Whetter of Whetter Masonry donated the masonry work. The names of the veterans whose flags line the roads in Oak Creek Cemetery were engraved on the granite slabs of the monument. Now, in addition to donating a flag for a deceased veteran, their name can be engraved on the memorial for an additional fee. Today, the Memorial Day Ceremony is centered around this new memorial, which was erected to honor all veterans, and was recently in the news for the artistic paintings that were added to the backside of the memorial by artist Nancy Cogdill of Souris, who also donated her time and materials for this Veterans Memorial.

There are many unsung heroes in the VFW and Auxiliary, American Legion, AMVETS, and the community that have contributed their time, talents, and/or money for the establishment and continued development of this program. We are thankful to all of them.