Chadron Community Hospital Home Health and Hospice loves to honor and serve our area veterans.
In 2017, our staff was inspired by a You tube video that showed a deceased Veteran, draped by an American flag, pushed down a hospital hallway. What was so amazing about this video was that all staff or fellow residents stopped what they were doing and placed their hand on their heart in silence as he was taken out of the building. This video was so moving, we decided to try to implement a similar practice for our patients that were in nursing homes.
We assembled a small task force with members from the Chadron American Legion Post #12 and our local VFW Post 1375- Grey Eagle to discuss how we could respectfully and properly have our own flag ceremony for deceased veterans. We came up with a protocol which included reading the poem “A Hero’s Welcome” by Robert Longley.
A Hero’s Welcome
Time to come home dear soldier
Your tour of duty through
You’ve given as much as anyone
Could be expected to do
Just a few steps further
The smoke will start to clear
Others here will guide you
You have no need to fear
You have not failed your comrades
You clearly gave it all
And through your selfless actions
Others will hear the call
So take your place of honor
Among those who have gone before
And know you will be remembered
For now and evermore
We received a donation initially of 40 flags donated by the Chadron State College ROTC program. And since, we have received another 50-60 flags from ROTC, the Chadron Legion and VFW. In the beginning, we did flag ceremonies in nursing homes only. That didn’t last long because it was easy to see it would work easily in the home of a veteran as well. We even used a few flags to honor a few veterans that passed in our hospital. Now, all our flags have been used, Casey Walton came to our rescue.
To read the article printed in the Sheridan County Star, click here.
