As you move from the 8th green to the 9th tee of the Liberty Lake Golf Course this weekend, you’re going to be reminded of the meaning behind Memorial Day by the 139 or so crosses sitting next to the cart path in Richard Shutts backyard.
“If they wore the uniform and served this country, they deserve to be honored,” Shutts says sitting in his camping chair in the middle of the memorial. “I cry for every one of these crosses every year.”
Shutts started the tradition 15 years ago with his late wife with just a few crosses honoring those he served with and friends he lost in Vietnam.
“I took it as this is my way to pay back and honor not only the people i served with but friend that i lost during Vietnam,” Shutts says. “It’s really a story for our today’s generation that they would understand the sacrifice and cost to have the freedoms that we have in our country today.”
The display grows every year thanks to passing golfers who are either greeted by Richard, or a sign he has up, encouraging them to write the name of a loved one who served and is no longer with us on one of the blank crosses he makes. Richard then adds the cross to the collection and places an American flag next to it.
“A lot of golfers will stop and I’ll see them on their hands and knees, giving thanks because they’re grateful of what they’ve sacrificed so that they could be here and play golf. ” Shutts says. “People come from all over the country when they’re visiting this way and fill out a cross.”
It’s a tradition Richard says he doesn’t plan on stopping any time soon.
“As long as I do this, I’ll honor every cross,” Shutts says. “I put them away, store them every year and put them back up.”
As golfers finish up on the 8th hole this weekend, mirrored in the mulligans of the day and nestled in the rough they’ll find reminders on their way to the 9th tee of why they’re able to be out here in the first place.
“My hope and prayer is people will just take a moment,” Shutts says. “This is sacred ground. (It’s) their site to honor them.”
