Dear Readers >> This day, on which we remember and honor those who have given their lives in the service of our nation, I’m reminded of this column, from January of 2011.

Johnnie >> Some friends and I were talking about the flagpole that was on Fourth Avenue by the city building. Since it is dedicated to the veterans of World War I, we were wondering what happened to it.

There was talk about putting it back on Main Street, but none of us can remember seeing it anywhere around town.

Can you tell us where we might find it? Thanks. — Pat, Susan, Trina and Rod

Dear Pat and Friends >> Thanks for waiting patiently for an answer. Sometimes answers come easy to Johnnie; sometimes they don’t.

Sometimes Johnnie finds an answer that the reader wasn’t looking for. Such is the case with the memorial flagpole.

To your question: The World War I memorial flagpole now sits at the east end of Roosevelt Park. The Sons of the American Legion Squadron 32 had the flagpole refurbished and placed there in 2001, after it was removed from the Fourth and Kimbark location.

I thought you might want to learn more about the flagpole’s history, so I turned to Chris Palmer, commander of Squadron 32 back in 2001, to Times-Call archives and to the Denver Archdiocese (I’ll explain why later).

The flagpole was first raised in 1915, in the middle of the intersection of Fourth Avenue and Main Street, and it was rededicated as a war memorial in 1918. At that time, lighted tablets were added to its base. They listed the names of local men who gave their lives in World War I. These bronze tablets remain at the pole’s base.

In the early 1930s, the flagpole began to be viewed as a traffic hazard as Longmont became more metropolitan. So, on June 19, 1933, the original 65-foot pole was cut away from its footing and moved to Fourth and Kimbark. It then stood at 51 feet.

Just before the turn of the century (no, this century), the Downtown Development Authority began talking with the Sons of the American Legion about moving the flagpole back to Main Street, as part of the downtown renovation project. However, city engineers were concerned about what might happen if a vehicle struck the pole.

It turns out, renovations to Roosevelt Park were about start, too.

“When they put plans in for Roosevelt Park, they had no flagpole there,” Palmer said.

The east end of the park became the perfect location for the memorial flagpole, opposite the Memorial Rose Garden, which was placed at the park following World War II by the Longmont Lions Club.

After a month of refurbishing, including sandblasting and powder-coating, the pole was raised and dedicated in December 2001.

But you might be wondering about the rest of the story.

Palmer told me that he believes there are as many as three local men who died in WWI but whose names do not appear on the plaque.

The one name he remembers is Solomon Cruz, who Palmer said was the first parishioner at St. John the Baptist Church to be killed in World War I.

Palmer said he once heard from an old-timer that city leaders at the time would not allow Cruz’s name to be placed on the plaque because he was Hispanic and because he was Catholic.

I can’t say if that’s true or not. Reports at the time of the 1918 dedication state that the Knights of Columbus marched in the parade, so it seems unlikely to me that this man’s name would have been passed over because he was Catholic.

And there’s nothing on the tablets that claims that the list of men who gave their lives is complete. But I do know this: “More than 20 men from the parish were sent overseas to battle (and) the first military funeral held in the church was for Solomon R. Cruz on July 14, 1917.”

I found that in a Times-Call story published in 1996.

Backing that account is information I received from archdiocese archivist Karyl Klein. It’s a copy of Cruz’s death record, which states that he was the first Longmont soldier to be buried and was buried with military honors.

The rest is in Latin, but my reading of the dates and numbers on the record is that he died at age 22 and was entombed July 16, 1917.

And I know that Cruz’s name does not appear on any of the memorial plaques.

— Send questions to johnnie@times-call.com.