Politics & Government

Photo Gallery: 'Field of Honor' Pays Tribute to Michigan's Fallen Troops

The flags and biography tags are on display this weekend at Guardian Angel Cemetery in Oakland Township.

Just inside the iron gates of on Rochester Road in Oakland Township, 245 American flags arranged meticulously in six rows flap in the breeze.

Each of the flags represents a Michigan serviceman or woman who died as a result of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and each flagpole bears that man or woman's name, photograph, hometown and a short biography.

“We’ve done the flags for the past couple years, and the idea to add the tags with the bios on it was a collective idea," said Guardian Angel Cemetery Director Wendy Mann. “We’ve been working on it for the past couple months. It’s definitely a project.”

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Mann said the Field of Honor was erected Tuesday near the silo, but heavy rain flooded the area and forced grounds crews to move the entire display to higher ground. Crews were putting the finishing touches on the patriotic display Friday afternoon.

“It’s really eye-opening when you see a photo of someone – when you see a photo of a boy, really, or a young girl – that’s on the cards that could be your neighbor or anything like that, and it’s just, to see all the cards up, it’s quite overwhelming.”

Find out what's happening in Oakland Township-Lake Orionwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Mann said the goal of the Field of Honor is simply to pay tribute to Michigan's fallen military members.

"Look at what these people sacrificed," she said. "It’s just amazing."


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