Healing Field of Honor
If you pass by Rotary Hill, a sea of red, white, and blue will definitely catch your eye.
The Healing Field of Honor Committee and the Naperville Park District partnered up to create a display full of 2,019 flags.
“The beauty of this is we can honor not only the fallen from World War I and those who did come back, but anyone who wants to can buy a flag in honor of a loved one who served in the military or is currently serving,” said Dave Wentz, Healing Field of Honor Committee co-chair.
2015 was the last time this display was seen. Now it’s back with this year’s theme – remembering a century of heroes and heritage.
“This time it’s to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the American Legion, the 75th anniversary of the Judd Kendall VFW, and the official 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. So we’ve lumped those three things together to make this beautiful field of flags,” said Marty Walker, Healing Field of Honor Committee co-chair.
Team Work
It was thanks to the work of around 50 volunteers setting up the poles, arranging the flags, and finally unraveling them to let the wind blow through that they finished in record time – less than one hour.
“Especially when we got snowed out on Friday and we couldn’t set up the field on the day that it was supposed to go up, we knew that when we found a new date and time to be able to do it, that the community and volunteers were going to jump at it and be out here to help us,” said the Naperville Park District’s Director of Recreation and Facilities, Brad Wilson.
Once all the hard work was done, volunteers and the community were treated to a surprise Lima Lima flight display right above the healing field.
Naperville News 17’s Aysha Ashley Househ reports.