17 FLAGS: After seeing a list of memorials in The Era in honor of the late U.S. Army Master Sgt. Thomas Maholic, Bruce Sherwin called us with one more.

Master Sgt. Maholic, who died June 24, 2006, at age 38, during a cordon and search mission near Ghecko, Afghanistan, was in the paper because a Bradford bridge is being renamed in his honor.

Bruce, treasurer of Bradford Masonic Union Lodge #749, called to say the lodge puts up a patriotic tribute every year.

After Maholic died, Bruce tells us, “I wanted to respect that man somehow, some way.”

Bruce talked to the soldier’s family and told them he’d “be very honored” at the idea of having the local Masonic Lodge put up flags to honor Maholic. They were open to the idea.

“So we put 17 bright American flags” on telephone poles along West Washington Street between St. Bernard Cemetery and Dorothy Lane.

In fact, they’ve been putting up those flags for several years now, and the lodge members voted again last month to continue putting the flags up. He explained the flags go up each year around Memorial Day and are taken down around Labor Day.

The lodge purchases new flags to replace ones that are worn.

Bruce tells us that a local man who is not a Mason — Hal Kenyon — has volunteered his time for the past 11 years to put up and take down the flags.

He said Hal told them he wasn’t sure if he could keep doing it, so a couple of the younger Masons will likely take over the task next spring.

Sometimes Bruce notices there are more than 17 flags in the row along West Washington Street.

Those extra flags, he’s since learned, are from neighbors who secure their own flags to the end of the Mason’s row.

Regarding the bridge-naming, a public ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at the bridge, which traverses the East Branch of the Tunungwant Creek on Minard Run Road. The road will be closed between U.S. Route 219 and High Street for the ceremony.