Ceresco’s Mark Rezac works to hang the American flag in remembrance of 9/11 on the morning of September 11, 2021 at St. Mary and St. Patrick Cemetery in Ceresco. Saturday was the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attack. (Elsie Stormberg/Wahoo Newspaper)
Article and photos by Elsie Stormberg/Wahoo Newspaper
Published September 15, 2021
CERESCO – Mark Rezac usually finds himself at the St. Mary and St. Patrick Cemetery at around 5:30 a.m. on the verge of a mile-a-minute kind of day.Armed with a carefully folded American flag stored in a Ziploc bag for protection, Rezac parks near the flagpole just as the sun breaks the eastern skyline and brisk morning air greets him.
He saunters over to the pole and begins to gingerly remove the 36-by-42-inch flag from its protective casing. Rezac then fastens the flag to the tan rope and slowly moves the colors up the pole releasing the red and white stripes and the stars as the soft breeze takes the flag in its embrace.
Ceresco’s Mark Rezac works to hang the American flag in remembrance of 9/11 on the morning of September 11, 2021 at St. Mary and St. Patrick Cemetery in Ceresco. Saturday was the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attack. (Elsie Stormberg/Wahoo Newspaper)
Knowing he has a busy day ahead of him at Prague Bank as the vice president and insurance agent, Rezac normally takes this moment to stop, slow down and think about those buried in this cemetery and their stories.
On the morning of Saturday, September 11, 2021, Rezac, who is also an emergency medical technician (EMT) and rescue captain with the Prague Volunteer Fire Department, found himself thinking about something much different.
This past Saturday was the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In honor of those families, innocent bystanders and first responders that were affected that day, Rezac raised the flag.
Like many people who lived through that tragic day, Rezac, as a first responder himself, remembers exactly where he was and what he was doing.
“I feel sick for those people that died that had done nothing wrong,” Rezac said.
On that Saturday, as he raised the flag, Rezac was thinking about the Twin Towers and took the time to catch his breath and think about what happened 20 years ago.
This type of veneration shown was exactly why Rezac was chosen to be the keeper of the flag.
In October 2019, Rezac received a call from his neighbor of 30-plus years and fellow patron of St. Mary Catholic Church, Martha Suchy. Suchy and her husband Bob had previously been the keepers of the flag and had gone out for every holiday, burial and other various events for the last 30-or-so years.
The couple was getting ready to retire from the position, but before going to St. Mary’s to let them find a new person to put the flag up, they went to the person who was next closest to the cemetery, Suchy said.
That person was Rezac.
He stopped over that day after work to pick up the well-worn flag.
“I said yeah that’s not a problem at all, I’d be happy to do that for you,” Rezac said. “So I stopped by and she handed me the flag and off I went.”
At first, Rezac struggled to remember to get the flag up for different holidays or burials, but eventually it clicked.
“It’s really on me to make sure that I get down there and get that flag up before I go to work,” Rezac said. “I had to change my way of thinking. I had to change my way of how I do things. I think it’s the least that we can do to pay respect.”
At the end of the day on Saturday, like other days where Rezac puts the flag up, he returned to pull the flag down, ensuring it did not touch the grass. The sun was setting and the cicadas were humming after the hot and humid day.
As Rezac disconnected the banner from the rope, he took another moment to say thank you to those who lost someone or who were lost 20 years ago. He folded the flag back up, finishing with the stars covering the small triangle shape and return it to its plastic casing, until next time.
“This is what makes America great,” he said. “We take the time to stop and think about it. We take the time to stop and pay our respects and let people know that we appreciate what they did.”
This article can also be found on the Wahoo Newspaper's website here.