Veteran’s widow makes sure flag is flying high

By Chris Rosenblum

Vera Jane Watson didn’t want her husband’s flag hidden from view, stashed away in a drawer or a box.

She received the 10-foot-long Stars and Stripes at his military burial three years ago. Taylor Watson flew 51 bombing missions during World War II as a B- 17 ball turret gunner.

The Julian Cemetery, near Watson’s

house, gave his widow an idea.

Wayne Richards, a Port Matilda garage owner, organized a cleanup of the old cemetery last year in time for Memorial Day, and has been directing maintenance efforts since. Several headstones mark the graves of veterans going back to the Civil War.

This year, Richards hopes to install a new flagpole, possibly with the help of a local teen’s Eagle Scout project.

Watson, who has helped restore the grounds, decided she could supply the rest.

“I thought a long time,” she said. “Rather than have the flag some place where nobody can see it, I knew what Wayne was trying to do, and together we could do it.”

So Watson gave the thick, pristine flag to Richards — in exchange for a promise.

“I will not let the flag stay down there unattended, for fear someone would vandalize it,” he said. “That’s not going to be allowed.”

Until he obtains a pole substantial enough to carry the weight of the enormous flag, the gift remains in safekeeping.

“That was hard-earned,” he said. “That was a hard-earned flag.”

Based in Italy, Staff Sgt. Watson amassed 360 combat hours over Europe, receiving the Air Medal with two oak leaf clusters, among other decorations. He fended off German fighters with twin .50-caliber machine guns while folded into a turret so cramped his parachute wouldn’t fit.

“My husband was a small man, but he had more courage than you could imagine,” Vera Jane Watson said.

She has some practice in donating flags.

Her first husband, Joseph McCann Jr., fought in Korea with the Marines. After he died in 1980, she gave his flag to the St. John’s Catholic School in Bellefonte.

But this time was different. Richards grew up with her son. She admired his commitment to the cemetery and its veterans, one of whom she knew from her Philipsburg childhood.

“Wayne has been so diligent in his desire to have the cemetery look proper, and I knew the flag would be well taken care of,” she said.

All things considered, it made sense to her to have Taylor Watson’s flag displayed as he served his country — up in the air.

“There’s no flag there,” she said, “and I thought it would be a good tribute to my husband.”

Chris Rosenblum writes a weekly column about news from the Bald Eagle valleys. He can be reached at 231-4620 or at crosenbl@centredaily.com.