BOSTON – Every Memorial Day weekend, a sea of red, white, and blue covers Boston Common. More than 37,000 American flags gently sway in the …
BOSTON – Every Memorial Day weekend, a sea of red, white, and blue covers Boston Common. More than 37,000 American flags gently sway in the breeze to honor those who gave everything for this country.
But not this year, because of the coronavirus pandemic.
„All those flags waving in the breeze, it’s just — it’s a tear-jerker,” said Paul Monti, who lost his son in Afghanistan in 2006. „It’s quite devastating that we’re not able to do it.”
HOSPITAL WORKER HELPS PLANT 500 AMERICAN FLAGS AFTER CORONAVIRUS FORCES CANCELLATION OF ANNUAL DISPLAY
Monti’s son, Army Sgt.1st Class Jared Monti, was killed by a Taliban rocket-propelled grenade when he tried to save a wounded fellow soldier. In 2009, President Barack Obama awarded Monti a posthumous Medal of Honor.
“It was his care for others that eventually cost him his life,” Paul Monti said of his late son.
The proud father was crushed when he found out that he couldn’t help plant the flags on the Common this year. Nor could he do so at the Massachusetts National Cemetery, where Jared is buried.
