Ahead Of Memorial Day In Newton 230 Flags To Go Up On Bridges

NEWTON, MA — The bridges over the highway in Newton are about to get some American flags. Each year for the past several years the Newton Sons of American Legion members and friends take American Flags and signs thanking veterans and drape them across highway bridges and around the city. This Saturday the group is inviting anyone who wants to help to join them.

"We take 230 flags because we have 23 bridges - between Newton, Weston, and Needham - and we hang 10 on each bridge," said Nick Pasquarosa, commander of the Newton Sons of American Legion post 440 is leading the effort this year.

Pasquarosa's brother Paul thought of the idea some six years ago, as a way to increase the visibility of veterans, and the post counted up the bridges and ordered the 3 x 5 nylon flags through the city's veteran services office.

Then, a couple dozen volunteers took the flags to the bridges a week before Memorial Day and set them up so cars passing by would see them from the highway. They take them down a week after the holiday, wash and repair the flags and then take them out to put them up again a week before Vetern's Day.

"We end up repairing 50-60 a year," said Pasquarosa, who added that particularly in the winter, the wind whips the flags and can tear them.

"This year we had to retire 50 flags, meaning we've repaired them so much they were beyond repair," he said.

The Sons of Legion held an official flag retirement ceremony on Veteran's Day this year.

Throughout the past six years the group has gotten only positive feedback, until last year when he got a call letting him know some of the flags were cut and torn ahead of Veteran's Day.

"They were cut in a very unceremoniously way, so we knew it was vandalism," he said. Members of the Sons of Legion stood watch on the bridge where the flags were defaced, and police upped their presence. >> American Flags Torn From Bridge In Newton

But what was heartwarming, he said, was that after other Sons of Legion posts members heard several sent in checks to help cover the cost of replacing them.

Memorial Day in Newton

The Newton Memorial Day Parade will be held on Sunday, May 26 beginning at 3 p.m. at Newton North High School. The parade route follows the same route as previous years: from Walnut Street in Newtonville to cross over the Mass Pike turning right onto Watertown Street and finishing at the reviewing stand at Magni-Coletti Park in Nonantum.

Monday morning the city will conduct its annual wreath laying ceremonies at the Newton Cemetery beginning at 10 a.m., officials will take 10 minutes to read the list of names of all of the Newton veterans killed in war from WWII forward will be read.

Following that ceremony, there will be a new celebration this year to honor Newton veterans, who are still living, at City Hall on Monday, May 27 at 11:30 a.m.

"It's very somber," said Pasquarosa. But there's also something very special about honoring those veterans who are still living, he said.

"We just finished a symposium with the Newton North students where we brought in five vets and talked about the meaning of service, that was very special. And the students were great." he said.

RELATED: American Flags Torn From Bridge In Newton

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).