There’s a lot of talk about giving gifts during this holiday season. We rush from store to store, looking for the perfect present. We wrap them in bright paper and tie on lavish bows. We give them to friends, folks at work, family and loved ones. And at the end of Christmas Day, when we’re sitting in a pile of crumpled wrappings, enjoying the glow of gifts received, we reflect on those who have given.

Well, this Christmas morning, I’d like to ask you all to consider a different kind of gift. It isn’t a pair of leather slippers, or a new silk tie. Not a wooly sweater or a sharp set of steak knives. It’s a gift of the heart, given to our community by they members of the American Legion Honor Guard, Post #143.

They aren’t young men. The youngest is 64. The oldest is 85. But every week they don sharply pressed uniforms and carry our nation’s flag with honor and respect. They are veterans of the United States Armed Services. They served in time of conflict — World War II, Korea and Vietnam. Army, Air Force and Marines, most of these men have seen some pretty hard action. Most of them gave their youth, their innocence, fought fights they didn’t pick against an enemy they didn’t know, all to protect our American way of life. They are retired members of our community, veterans who still serve our nation by honoring our flag.

If you’ve attended a parade in Carrollton, or Bowdon, you’ve seen them. They walk proudly along, carrying two flags — Old Glory and the flag of the American Legion. And if they’ve had enough old soldiers, you’ve seen two armed with rifles. They don’t move as fast as the little tap dancers from the local dance school. They don’t lift their knees as high as the young whippersnappers in the marching band. But their heads are high, and their eyes are proud as they bear the symbol of our country, the colors of our nation. I’ve met several of them. Know a few of them pretty well. And I know how physically hard it is on arthritic knees and feet to walk the full length of a parade. But somehow they do it. The same spirits that got them through battles and horrors that we can’t imagine makes them take it start to finish.

They also teach our children. On Veterans Day they go out to schools like Central Middle, Bay Springs Middle and Roopville Elementary to talk about America and the importance of freedom. They share some of their wartime experiences, letting the kids know a small part of the sacrifices that have been made in the name of our country. They speak about the colors of the flag, how they represent “truth, honor and courage.” They tell them about how to respect our nation’s symbol — how to light it if you’re going to fly it at night; how you only fly it upside down if you’re in distress. And t hey taught them about folding our flag. The Honor Guard also retires flags. When the local Boy Scout troop called them to tell them that their flag was faded and ragged from use, they came and performed a ceremony to put the flag to rest. They retired the colors and burned them.

But the duty that touches me the most is their last and final honor to a fallen comrade. This group of men goes twice, sometimes thrice a week to honor veterans for the last time, at their funerals. They stand, soldier-straight, while folks all around them weep and cry. They fold the flag, 13 times, and hand it, with great ceremony, to the spouse or children of the veteran who has passed away. They speak about remembering his love for his country, his dedication to freedom, and his willingness to answer the call, to defend that right. After the presentation of the flag, they play taps and offer a farewell salute.

This honor is the last gift that they offer a fallen soldier.

They aren’t young men. And one of their numbers just passed away. They folded the flag over him, as he himself did over countless veterans in Carroll County. And at the rate of 60 plus funerals a year, in our county alone, these veterans’ ranks are getting mighty thin. But they’re hoping younger veterans will step up to help them. They’re hoping that men and women who served our nation honorably in times of conflict will come and be the ones to bear the flag. But until then, they will continue to honor our nation and give us the gift of their service. And I think there’s no gift finer.

(Gentry is a Carroll County resident. Her column appears Thursdays in the Times-Georgian.)