Flags of our Fathers - Sheridan Mystery Cache

Cache:

This cache is not at the posted coordinates. The cache should not be attempted after dark out of respect for the hosts. It is a mystery cache with a very simple puzzle to find in the description below, then solve to get the final coordinates and a hint. The puzzle can be solved at your leisure.

Flags of our Fathers, or FoOF caches are dedicated to the memory of passed US Military veterans who served in the wars of our nation.  Each cache in this series will take you to the hallowed ground now occupied by one or more of those brave men or women, or to a place where their lives are honored . Please show your respect for their service and sacrifice.

^{Photo © 2024 by Kevin Springsteen, a.k.a. aghudley.}
Entrance to the final resting place of many local veterans.

Flags of our Fathers - Sheridan

This cache is placed with the blessing and honor of VFW Post 5065. This post is named for two local veterans, Lester J. Sitts and Eric L. Halvorsen. Only Eric survived World War II to become a father. The posted coordinates take you to the primary entrance to the Sheridan Cemenery, where many veterans are interred, including my father and brother, veterans of WWII and Vietnam. A way-point defined below will take you the grave of Lester J. Sitts and his parents. On the opposite side of the stone is the burial site of his sister and her husband.

Eric Halvorsen was born in Traverse City in August of 1923. He served in the United States Navy during World War II. After the war he received a degree at Michigan State University in Dairy Husbandry. He moved to Sheridan in 1956 and became a pillar of the community, and of VFW Post 5065, where he served for many years as Post Commander. He also served as Commander of VFW District Nine as well as Commander of the State of Michigan VFW. He passed away at the age of 96 in 2019, after which his name was added to the name of VFW Post 5065, his home away from home.

^{Photo © 2024 by Kevin Springsteen, a.k.a. aghudley.}
Grave marker of PFC Lester J. Sitts, with his mother and father.

Lester J. Sitts was born in Sheridan December 10th 1916 to Jay L. and Emma M. Sitts. Like many young people in 1940, as war loomed on the horizon, he enlisted on October 15th, 1940 in Ionia, as part of Comnay H (Ionia), 2nd Battalion (Muskegon), 126th Infantry Regiment (Grand Rapids) of the Michigan National Guard. Additional training took place in Louisiana before the regiment was sent to the South Pacific, first to Australia and eventually to New Guinea in August, 1942. The 126th entered combat with the Japanese in mid-November in what would become known as the Battle of Buna-Gona. The battle raged for two months and the 126th Infantry was hardest hit of the three regiments making up the 32nd Division. Of the 3 battalions making up the 126th Regiment, only 32 officers and 579 enlisted men were left, less than a full battalion. PFC Lester J. Sitts was killed in action December 20th 1942. This battle had to be devastating to the Grand Rapids area as the regiment was nearly all local boys. Solve Here!

VFW

THe Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States is a nonprofit organization made up of veterans of active duty branches of the United States military, National Guard, and Reserve units, who served in war zones with those units. The VFW dates to the Spanish-American War (1898) and the Philippine Insurrection (1899-1902). At that time, there were no military pensions or medical services available for returning veterans, many of whom were badly injured or sick. Veterans in Ohio, Colorado and Pennsylvania started to band together and created what would come to be known as the VFW. The movement quickly spread. The organization grew rapidly after the two World Wars and the Korean War. Today, there are more than 1.4 million VFW and Auxiliary members in nearly 6000 posts worldwide. The official date of creation for the VFW was September 29th 1899. 2024 will mark 125 years.

Since the unpopular Vietnam War, and the dwindling numbers of veterans of prior wars, many VFW posts have struggled to maintain existence. Since Vietnam, conflicts that America has been involved with have thankfully been on a smaller scale, however the mechanism of war has become even more deadly and maiming. Numbers of able bodied veterans are lower today than ever before. Remember that the VFW provides many services and activities for veterans as well as the communities they are part of. Volunteers are harder and harder to come by, making once popular activities such as weekly breakfasts and monthly dinners more difficult to support. For more information, visit The VFW Home Page and support your local post.

Sources:

• MiGenWeb Montcalm County: World War II Casualties.
• Wikipedia 126th Infantry Regiment (United States).