Volunteers are being sought to help honor US Army Sergeant Howard Gordon Malcolm of the Salem and Mt. Vernon area who died while a prisoner of war while in captivity during the Korean War. His remains were positively identified late last year as part of the ‘No One Left Behind’ program and have been returned for funeral services and burial. Visitation will be held from nine to 10:30 Tuesday morning at the Sutherland Rankin Funeral Home in Salem, with the procession leaving the funeral home at 10:30 down Route 37 in Salem to the Bethel Cemetery on the Southside of Mt. Vernon where graveside services will be held at 11 Tuesday morning.
‘The Flagman’s Mission Continues’ is planning on setting up US flags along Route 37 to honor Malcolm. Jeff Hastings is in charge of the program that honors fallen heroes within a 400 mile radius of St. Louis.
“We have 3×5 foot flags on 10-foot poles and we bring all the tools and equipment we need for construction and just need people to meet us at Bethel Cemetery on Highway 37 in Mount Vernon at 4pm on Monday and we just need just as many volunteers to help take them down on 4pm on Tuesday and we will give them instructions. The more volunteers we have the more flags we can setup. We are going to bring 600 flags so we will have plenty and hopefully we will have enough volunteers to set all of them up.”
Hastings says they will start at Bethel Cemetery with the flags and will also place some in Salem.
Meanwhile, those who would like to honor Malcolm are asked to line the route of the funeral procession at 10:30 Tuesday morning, with flags in hand if possible, from the Sutherland-Rankin Funeral Home south to the Bethel Cemetery along Route 37.
