After more than 100 years, Old Glory will fly over this historic cemetery for Independence Day
Many Fourth of July holidays have come and gone since 1912 when ground was broken for the Rubonia Cemetery without an American flag flying at the gates.
Community activist Charles Miller Sr., 69, a Vietnam War Army veteran, decided this year that enough was enough.
An estimated 50 veterans are interred at Rubonia Cemetery, and Miller thought that the least the community could do was install a flagpole there and run up the red, white and blue.
Miller attacked the problem with the same vigor and persistence that he has shown in other battles for the improvement of Rubonia, including demanding better sidewalks and drainage, keeping the community center open and putting up signs advertising the Mardi Gras.
He enlisted the support of his neighbors for a community sale, the Manatee County Veterans Service Office, and the Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Sarasota-Manatee to raise the $1,350 needed for the flagpole.
This week, he showed a visitor to the cemetery the new flag flying over the cemetery that will be formally dedicated at 9 a.m. on Independence Day. The cemetery is located on Sim Barco Road, off 69th Street East, just west of Interstate 75.
"It's the first time in its history that it has had a flagpole," said Miller, a retired U.S. Postal Service employee.
Not to say that veterans in the cemetery, such as Miller's favorite uncle, LeRoy N. Mitchell, a World War II Army vet, were forgotten.
The community always put miniature flags on veteran graves on Veterans Day and Memorial Day.
"This cemetery goes way back," Miller said. "All of my family is here. My wife, my grandfather, my grandmother, my mom, my dad, cousins, uncles and aunts."
Lee Washington, 49, the Manatee County Veterans Service Officer, will be guest speaker on July 4 for the dedication of the Rubonia Cemetery flagpole.
"I am very pleased and honored to do that," said Washington, a Marine Corps veteran.
An estimated 40,000 veterans live in Manatee County, and the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee, the Manatee County Veterans Council and the Manatee Veterans Service Office are working together to compile the most accurate and complete picture of that population, Washington said.
Longtime Rubonia residents Eddie Bostic, 90, and Randolph Hodo, 77, were sitting outside Chuck's Convenience Store when asked about the cemetery's new flagpole.
"Well, I think it's a wonderful deal. We've got a lot of veterans out there in that cemetery and they needed to be recognized with that flag," Hodo said.
This story was originally published June 26, 2018 at 3:29 PM with the headline "After more than 100 years, Old Glory will fly over this historic cemetery for Independence Day."