Lind: South Fargo resident flies flags with immense pride

Many flags will be flying on the Fourth of July. Two of them will be from poles in front of Wallace Buckingham's house.

But that's not unusual. Wallace flies those flags 24 hours a day every day of the year.

One of them is the U.S. flag. The other is the Marine Corps flag.

Family of Marines

Wallace and his wife, Doris, live at 1909 13th Ave. S., Fargo.

He's from Calvin, N.D.; she's from Edmore, N.D.

Wallace served in the Marines from 1946 to 1948.

He has two brothers who also were Marines. Vincent, now deceased, was wounded on Iwo Jima during World War II. Kenneth served after Wallace and now lives in Payson, Ariz.

After being discharged from the Marines, Wallace drove truck around the United States and Canada and then sold beer for Bergseth Brothers, Fargo, for about 26 years.

Following his marriage to Doris - 62 years ago, they lived in Grand Forks and then moved to Fargo in 1956 and bought this newly built house, becoming its first occupants.

Today, 13th Avenue is a busy street, thanks to the massive growth of Fargo to the south and west. But when the Buckinghams bought their house on the north side of the avenue, there were no houses on the south side, and traffic was next to nothing.

AMVETS flag

Wallace erected the pole for the U.S. flag about 50 years ago; the Marine Corps flag pole followed about 20 years later.

A floodlight on the roof of the house illuminates the flags, allowing Wallace to fly the U.S. flag at night, as per flag etiquette.

Wallace is an active member of the AMVETS, from which he gets a free U.S. flag every year when he turns in the old one.

The Marine Corps flag is another matter. When it becomes tattered, he has difficulty finding a new one.

'Nothing as beautiful'

Why do you fly the flags, Wallace?

"Because I can look at them every day," he says. "Nothing is as beautiful in the world as the U.S. flag with the light on it and with snowflakes coming down."

What will happen to the flags in the future?

"I don't know," Wallace says. "Well, maybe a grandson will get them."

But that's down the road. Monday, on this road called 13th Avenue South, the flags, as they do every day and night, will be flying high in front of Wallace and Doris Buckingham's home.

If you have an item of interest for this column, mail it to Neighbors, The Forum, Box 2020, Fargo, ND 58107; fax it to 241-5487; or email blind@forumcomm.com