Retired general dedicates flag in Greenwood

While in central Wisconsin to promote various veterans causes, retired U.S. Army Major General Robert Dees helped dedicate a new United States flag site in Greenwood that will remind the community of what its service women and men have done for them.

At the city-owned Branstiter “Old Streets of Greenwood” museum on the afternoon of June 12, Dees joined local veterans’ leaders and city officials in offi cially recognizing the new flagpole and soldier’s cross silhouette placed along Main Street recently. The pole and silhouette were donated and put in place by a group that has placed dozens of flags in area cemeteries to honor veterans buried there, and Saturday’s dedication two days before Flag Day was organized around Dees’ trip through the area.

A 31-year Army veteran who commanded forces around the world and is still involved in national veterans causes in his retirement, Dees also visited The Highground veterans memorial near Neillsville on Saturday. In Greenwood, he noted the importance of keeping American flags flying in small communities to remind citizens of the freedoms they enjoy.

“In America today, there’s a lot of people trying to get rid of American flags,” he said. With flags waving, he said, “We can be reminded of what our nation stands for.”

After touring Greenwood’s local museum, Dees said this town, like so many others, had men go off to war when they were called, and some of them are buried here now.

“Have you ever asked where would we be without our veterans,” Dees said. “We don’t have to answer that question. We are the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

Dees also remarked on the mission of The Highground and its Camp Victory facility west of Greenwod to help veterans coping with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to their time in service.

He told a story of the time, as a young parachutist in the 101st Airborne Division, when he was called one night to the home of a sergeant to find out the sergeant had just killed himself. The next day was Easter, he said, and he recalls helping the new widow with her child’s egg hunt so she could have a normal experience.

Thirty-one years later, Dees said, the veteran suicide rate is worse than it ever has been. Twenty-two veterans kill themselves each day, he said, and more needs to be done to stop it.

“What’s wrong with that picture?” Dees said. “That should not be happening in America. We’ve got to break the back of this suicide epidemic in America.”

Jim Kitchen, one of the veterans who has organized the cemetery flag placement program and who also serves on the Camp Victory board of directors, said he noticed as he traveled through Greenwood that it had no flag in a public space to honor veterans. That had to change, he said, so his group got it done. With every flag the group places, Kitchen said, it’s another attempt by veterans alive today to pay tribute to those who have gone.

“You’re not forgotten,” he said. “We’ll continue to do this until we pass.”

Dave Boe, commander of the Greenwood American Legion Wallis-Hinker-Brux Post 238, presented a flag to be placed on the new pole when the original one is worn. The Post will give a new one each Flag Day, he said.

DEAN LESAR/STAFF PHOTO