To the editor:

I am writing to congratulate Peabody on the Avenue of Flags. What a neat display! I grew up on a farm southwest of Burns and my wife, Doris Roberts, lived on a farm between Burns and Peabody. She went to both high schools.

We try to come back each Memorial Day to put flowers on the graves of relatives at the cemeteries in El Dorado, Ebenezer, Pleasant Center, and Summit. My wife, her two sisters from El Dorado, and I finished up about noon Saturday at Summit and decided to come to Peabody for lunch and see what was going on.

As the women can’t walk too far we drove around in the car and then out to the cemetery. What a great sight! The poles, the nameplates, and the lights were really outstanding. As an old World War II Navy veteran, I was duly impressed. I have seen many bigger displays but none any better.

Whoever is responsible, whether the American Legion or the whole community, they are to be congratulated for a job well done.

Now the bad part. I read in the paper the flags had been vandalized. What kind of a warped mind does a person have to do something like that? I don’t think they have enough to keep them busy. When I was growing up during the Depression, we always had work to do. We managed to get in trouble occasionally, but probably the most destructive thing we ever did was tip over an outhouse on Halloween.

I hope they find who did it and show then the error of their ways.

Carl Guggisberg
Lawrence