Over the past decade, Fort William Henry Museum has been collecting names of veterans and active-duty members of the military to honor in a Field of Flags installation on the Fort William Henry Hotel lawn each Veterans Day. This year’s display has more than 10,000 flags, each one recognizing a member of the military serving from the colonial wars to the present day. The public is invited to view the installation Monday, Nov. 4 through Monday, Nov. 11, Veterans Day 2024.
On Veterans Day, The Fort will host a Wreath Laying Ceremony at 10:30 a.m. on the hotel lawn. The ceremony will feature a musket volley by Fort William Henry reenactors and volunteers. Following the ceremony, the hotel will serve a buffet lunch in the Lakeside Restaurant. Tickets for the lunch are $24 with net proceeds benefiting the Adirondack Vets House of Glens Falls. Adirondack Vets House is a not-for-profit home for homeless veterans. To view the luncheon menu and purchase tickets, visit the Fort’s Veterans Day Fundraiser Luncheon webpage.
The inspiration for Field of Flags came from a 2014 art exhibit, “Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red,” that was installed in the Tower of London moat. The exhibit included 888,249 handmade ceramic poppies to represent each British and Colonial life lost in WWI. Since Canadian doctor John McCrae, who served in the First World War as a brigade surgeon, penned the poem “In Flanders Field,” red poppies have symbolized the blood that was shed in WWI and following conflicts.
Fort William Henry Corp. CEO Kathy Flacke Muncil sought to create an installation at the hotel similar to “Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red” to honor veterans. Her father, Robert Flacke Sr., who passed away in 2018, served in the U.S. Navy and the Reserves. Visitors to the Fort William Henry Museum were asked to enter into a logbook the names, ranks, and eras of service of military members in their families. There were 53 flags displayed in the first year of the installation. The number has grown into the thousands, and the museum has a goal to display 11,000 flags next year leading up to the nation’s 250th anniversary in 2026.
In Flanders Fields
John McCrae, 1872 – 1918
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
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