Exchange Club, Glacier High host Field of Honor over Memorial Day weekend

The Flathead Valley Exchange Club and Glacier High School are teaming up to give the community a chance to recognize their heroes this Memorial Day by hosting a Field of Honor at the school May 27-30.

For four days, the Field of Honor at Glacier High School will include a display of 1,000 American flags, which community members can dedicate to a hero of their choice.

“You can purchase a dedication for a flag for anyone deceased or alive who was a hero to the person making the dedication. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a member of the military,” organizer Kat Palmiotti said.

The Flathead Valley Exchange Club, which focuses on helping community nonprofit organizations, has been working on the project since the beginning of this year.

“We were talking at one of our meetings one day and thought this would be an amazing thing to do,” Palmiotti said. “One of our members had done this when he was in Billings and when he suggested it, the idea just took off.”

When the time came to find a location for the display, Glacier High School was an obvious choice.

“They have a good spot on the side of the school that has all the space we need and they have been so great and have helped us with everything we needed,” Palmiotti said. “There is a lot of work that goes into something like this.”

The school will host an event to kick off the Field of Honor from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Friday, featuring the Honor Guard from Malmstrom Air Force Base, the National Anthem performed by Glacier High School Students, comments from former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot and will close with the playing of taps.

The fully lit field will be open day and night until it closes at noon on Memorial Day. Taps will be played at 10 p.m. each evening.

Proceeds from the event will go to help the NW Veterans Stand Down & Food Pantry, Veteran Community Response, Vietnam Veterans of America NW Chapter 1087 and the Montana Veterans Home Memorial Foundation.

The Field of Honor and Healing Field events are held nationwide, and are programs of the Colonial Flag Foundation. The Colonial Flag Foundation established the Healing Field after Sept. 11, 2001 as a way to commemorate those lost. Hundreds of communities across America have since hosted a Healing Field or Field of Honor to raise money and awareness for various charitable causes.

Flag dedications can be purchased by visiting www.healingfield.org/event/kalispellmt22/ or at the event.