There are 102 cemeteries in Clarion County, and in each one of those cemeteries are graves decorated with small American flags.
The flags, and the markers supporting them, designate the final resting place of an American veteran.
For the past 27 years, Clarion County Veterans Affairs Director Judy Zerbe has been involved with placing those flags on the graves.
“You don’t want to forget those people. Those are your true Americans.”
This year, Zerbe helped to honor 10,080 Clarion County veterans, including 15 Revolutionary War veterans.
Each Pennsylvania county is tasked with the grave-marker program, which is administered by the VA director.
“The markers are mandated through the county code,” Zerbe said. “Every county is required to order flags and markers. The markers designate the veteran’s period of service. That is the main part of my budget.”
Tracking every grave is not an easy task.
“When I first started, we just had big burial books,” Zerbe said. “There were no computerized records. I went through the burial books and arranged them by cemetery.
“In 1935, the state of Pennsylvania hired people to go out and do an inventory of cemeteries to find where veterans were buried. I still have those cards.”
Zerbe said she tries to order flags and markers from Pennsylvania manufacturers, and the state must approve which markers are used. That once led to a problem.
“We had an issue when things started to heat up in Iraq and Afghanistan. That was designated as the global war on terrorism,” she said. “The manufacturers jumped on board and started to manufacture markers for the war on terrorism. Some of us ordered a few of those markers.
“Then Iraq and Afghanistan were named individually, and they started producing separate markers for them … the Persian Gulf marker … engulfs all of that.”
The 10 global war on terrorism markers Zerbe ordered are in storage. This year, she ordered 160 new grave markers for deceased veterans.
Zerbe orders the American flags at the end of January and she usually gets them the second week of April from Pennsylvania manufacturers. The COVID-19 shutdown, though, caused problems.
“Last year, due to COVID, I had a problem getting American flags and markers,” she said. “I couldn’t get them shipped from Gilbertsville (Montgomery County) because they were shut down. I had to get them from Kentucky. No one had the right size, but we made do with what we got.
“After it all settled down, I asked the Clarion County commissioners if I could get that order … and they approved it. That way, in case there was a problem this year, we would have them.”
“There are six veterans organizations that pick up flags,” Zerbe said. “Some of them have Boy Scouts or elementary students who help them with the distribution.”
Individuals also pitch in.
“I have a list of 23 individuals that pick up flags for Clarion County. A lot of them do it because their parents did them,” Zerbe said. “They don’t want this to fall by the wayside, so they step up and do them.”
The flags are in place by Memorial Day and remain until after Veterans Day. In some counties, the flags remain in place all year.
Retired flags are properly disposed of and the ashes are interned in the Clarion Cemetery.
Zerbe installs some of the flags herself. This year, she had help from Clarion County Commissioner Wayne Brosius.
“I like to read the stones,” she said. “The sad thing is that I have been here for so long that I look at the stones and I know most of the names. That does make me sad.”
Still, Zerbe said, “It is an honor to put a flag on their graves.”