IONIA, Mich. — The veteran protectors of a Civil War battle flag, like the Union soldiers who carried it into combat, won't let it fall away, sending it off to be restored after a months-long fundraising effort.
"These people need to be respected and honored for what they did," said Shane Houghton, a former commander at the Ionia VFW Post 12082 who led the drive to repair the flag. "That [flag] represents them, they can no longer speak."
For more than a century, the flag hung on display in the Ionia County Courthouse, but was worn down by the weight of decades.
Last summer, the county considered turning it over to the state's flag collection. Located in the Michigan History Center in Lansing, around 250 battle flags rotate through a public display every month, meaning Ionia's flag would likely be seen only once every fifteen or so years.
"To let it go after all these years would be a betrayal," Houghton, who served in Vietnam, said. "If you forget, history may repeat itself."
In 1862, more than a thousand men from 18 counties in Michigan volunteered for the 21st Infantry Regiment. A number of their mothers, referred to as the Ladies of Ionia, stitched and sent them off with a deep blue battle flag made of silk, bearing an American flag and an eagle carrying an olive branch.
"The generals knew that if they captured your battle flag, they captured the heart and soul of your unit," said Eric Calley, the post commander of the Muir-Lyons VFW Post 4646 who also fought to keep the flag in its original resting place in downtown Ionia.
"There was no way we were ever going to 'unbestow' that promise to them," Calley, who served in Iraq, said. "You read about it, and you learn about the history of it, it swells you up and it makes you proud to be an American.”
Raising around $50,000, the veterans had the flag delivered to a Virginia-based company this week, celebrating the flag's forthcoming restoration during a ceremony at the courthouse.
“I think it's probably one of the most important things that I've done since leaving the service," Houghton said.
"The more that our historical artifacts are in the public eye," Calley said. "The better our communities and our country will be."
