Around the Rivers: North Hills Area Church Lawn Transformed into 'Field of Flags'

Throughout the day Friday, a small army of volunteers planted 6,600 American flags on the lawn of Memorial Park Church, located at the corner of Duncan Avenue and Peebles Road, in McCandless.

The "Field of Flags" is a traveling memorial exhibit which will be on display at the Memorial Park Church until May 1.

"This is an opportunity for our community to publicly honor those who have laid down their lives so that we may continue to live free," Jaime Dean, director of Community Care for Military, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Dean, 47, of Marshall founded the organization in response to her son Jarret's yearlong deployment to Afghanistan in 2011.

"I created this outreach without our church name in the title because I wanted it to be for the entire community," Dean, who also serves as Memorial Park Church's director of small groups, told the P-G. "There was no support group for military members and their families in the North Hills, so the Army Strong Center does outreach for the Reservists, and the National Guard now refers them to us."

Dean told the Post-Gazette that became of aware of the traveling memorial and thought Memorial Park Church's front lawn would be perfect for such an eye-catching display.

A ceremony Saturday morning will honor the nearly 300 of Pennsylvania's deceased service members, with the "Field of Flags" as a backdrop. Volunteers will read each service member’s name.

Dean told the P-G  she wanted to give everyone, including veterans, a chance to honor those who didn't make it home.

"Iraqi and Afghanistan vets who were over there when their friends were brought back here didn't get to go to their funerals," she said. "This is a way for them to attend the funeral now."

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