Volunteers needed to help set up Fremont Flags for Forgotten Soldiers display

Volunteers are needed to help with Fremont Flags for Forgotten Soldiers at 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 6, at the Fremont Veterans Park, 1630 E. Military Ave., in Fremont.

Volunteers will help set out miniature flags to recognize suicide prevention. This year, 532 flags will be placed to bring awareness to the number of veterans who lose their life to suicide each month. The display of flags will remain standing for one month.

Flags for Forgotten Soldiers was founded by Howard Berry in memory of his son, SSG Joshua Berry, wo died by suicide on Feb. 13, 2013. Berry suffered from PTSD after serving in Afghanistan and after witnessing the Fort Hood shooting on Nov. 5, 2009.

After the loss of his son, Howard and his family became one of 660 families who lose a veteran to suicide every month in our country. The mission of Flags for Forgotten Soldiers is to organize displays in each of the 50 states.

In 2018, Meredith Smith brought Flags for Forgotten Soldiers to Fremont after losing her father, Allen Way (Fremont High School Class of 1964) to suicide in August of 2017. Way, a Vietnam veteran who struggled with PTSD, had been diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury and after death was diagnosed with Stage 3 Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).

With the help of the Avenue of Flags team, everyone at Veterans Park and a group of volunteers, Flags for Forgotten Soldiers was displayed for the first time in Fremont in 2018. This year marks the seventh year of the program in Fremont. The Veterans Park and Avenue of Flags committee said they will continue this program until the day there are zero veteran suicides.

Anyone with questions may contact .