Children and grandchildren of veterans gather outside a memorial featuring American flags arranged at St. Gregory Catholic School in Zelienople on Thursday, Nov. 10, 2022: from left, Olivia and Landon Eifler, whose late grandfather served in Vietnam, and Addison and Luke Kovacic, who's father recently returned from a deployment near the Persian Gulf. Chris Kopacz/Butler Eagle

Hundreds of flags fill a field along the corner of Route 68 and Pine Street, outside St. Gregory's School, were placed to honor veterans. Chris Kopacz/Butler Eagle

ZELIENOPLE — The 300 American flags drivers see as they travel along Route 68 near St. Gregory Catholic School this Veterans Day represent stories of service and sacrifice.

“I just wanted to do something to give back to the veterans,” said Melissa Leck, president of St. Gregory Parent-Teacher Organization. “With COVID ... we lost so many of them, and they didn’t get their full ... rights, military rights.”

“I had no idea we would get 300 flags,” she said of the school fundraiser that generated community and student support. “I mean, that was amazing.”

Among the families planting flags to honor loved ones are the family of John Kovacic and that of Andrew J. “A.J.” Smith.

John Kovacic, whose children attend St. Gregory, has deployed four times for military service in Kuwait and Qatar, where he often specializes as a firefighter.

Their father’s deployments have lasted up to seven months, and that’s a sacrifice for everyone, said his wife, Katie Kovacic.

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