50-year time capsules highlight Flag Day’s importance to Batavia

While shining a light on the father of Flag Day and Batavia’s storied past, it was the hands of the town’s youngest citizens, turning tight two 50-year time capsules, that best embodied the town’s patriotic promise.

With a procession in Revolutionary War-style uniforms by the Sons of the American Revolution, performances by the Batavia Community Band and commemorations by the Batavia Knights of Columbus, the city celebrated Flag Day on June 14 outside City Hall.

Kids mustered to squeeze shut metal time capsules placed into the Flag Day Monument’s memorial wall. The two containers are crammed with letters written to Batavia’s residents five decades into the future, tidbits on community organizations that dedicate their service to others, and essays from the town’s third graders on what Flag Day means to them.

Austin Dempsey, president of the Fox Valley Patriotic Organization, the group that spearheaded Batavia’s Flag Day Monument, said he hopes Batavians a half century from now open the capsules and see how much the community cared for one another.

He said fostering legacies that define what Batavia stands for begins with its youngest residents.

“This is an opportunity for any one of those young volunteers to really carry what they learned here forward and be inspired by the true patriotism that begins right here in our community,” Dempsey said. “If we want to make the world a better place, we need to start here at home.”

After three decades of advocacy, Batavia resident Bernard Cigrand succeeded in having President Woodrow Wilson recognize Flag Day in 1916. Dempsey said honoring Cigrand’s life and dedication runs congruent with the thousand of volunteers, from students to organizations and businesses, who united to help build the Flag Day Monument.

“Batavia is a community that’s not afraid to roll up its sleeves and get to work together,” Dempsey said. “It resonates with what we hope is a message to the future, for our community, and for anybody who comes to this monument, we hope they’re really inspired at the hard work and the foundation that generations of American have laid before us that we stand on today.”

Following patriotic renditions by the Batavia Community Band, James Reeves, commander of Batavia VFW Post 1197, said he was proud to see young children in the crowd soaking in the importance of the ceremonies.

“Batavia has done a great job of instilling patriotism from a young age, which helps keep hope alive that events like this will continue for years to come,” Reeves said.

He said support from the community can be life-altering for veterans who are in need of a helping hand.

“One of our main missions is veterans helping veterans,” Reeves said. “Community events allow us to be visible so people can approach us when they need our help. We host events like our last veterans fair, where we provided assistance to 20 veterans that were down on hard times and needed connections with Veterans Affairs resources. One veteran even needed help with a broken truck, so we reached some money out of our pockets to help.”

Batavia Mayor Jeff Schielke said remembrances of the fallen are all around, reminding today’s citizens the importance of caring for one another.

“We have a history in Batavia of dedicating ourselves toward service to others,” Schielke said. “Our war monument at Batavia Avenue and Wilson Street lists 46 names of everyone from Batavia who died during service in World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam. Even at the Pearl Harbor Memorial in Hawaii, one of the names at the top of the list of soldiers killed is Francis Alberovsky who was one of our own and whose father was our police chief.”

Schielke said that spirit of service connects to events such as Flag Day, highlighting the town’s solidarity and patriotism.

“It shows we learned the lessons of history teaching us the importance of bringing ourselves together as a community,” Schielke said. “From before the Civil War, being open to Blacks, Batavia has continued being a community open to every race, religion, color, creed, sexual orientation. That’s been one of our true strengths. It makes me proud that the younger generation is seeing the real compassion and tribute this whole thing brings to ourselves and the admiration it brings to Batavians.”

After giving a presentation of Cigrand’s life, historical researcher Tom Emery said although he is an outsider, he leapt at the opportunity to speak in Batavia because of how reverent the annual event remains.

“Seeing children in the audience means something to me, you see people of all walks of life coming together for something like this. It’s something we need more in America today, and it’s great to see Batavia keeping it alive,” Emery said.

He said Flag Day serves as testament that the past is never just history, but an active part in defining our every step going forward with greater understanding.

“The patriotism you see here today, from people wearing flags, the honor and color guards, the great band concert, it’s not something you see all the time,” Emery said. “I know Cigrand would be really proud of Batavia today.”