Larry “The Flagman” Eckhardt will be in Gentry on Wednesday to line the funeral route with 2,380 American flags for a local U.S. Marine who died earlier this month.
Lance Cpl. Benjamin W. Tuttle, 19, of Gentry died July 14 at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany following a medical evacuation from the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz during a scheduled port visit in the 5th Fleet. The incident is under investigation, according to a news release.
Eckhardt asks for volunteers to meet him at Gentry City Park at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday to start planting the flags.
“I am coming to help the citizens of Gentry pay respect to one of their own,” Eckhardt said.
Eckhardt plans to line the funeral procession route with flags, beginning their placement Wednesday and leave them up until about 5 p.m. Thursday. That’s when Eckhardt needs to get started to another military funeral — this one in Ohio on Friday.
Tuttle’s body will be brought to Gentry early Thursday morning, sometime before 7:30 a.m., for public viewing at the First Baptist Church, 221 W. Main St., from 8 a.m. until noon Thursday. The funeral service will be at 2 p.m. Thursday at First Baptist Church. Burial will follow at Coffelt Cemetery in the Vaughn area.
A representative from the Benton County Funeral Home said the expected funeral route procession would be along Arkansas Highway 12. The route will be lined with miles of American flags in honor of Tuttle.
For the past seven years, Eckhardt has driven across the country from his home in northern Illinois to honor fallen U.S. military members by lining funeral routes with flags in their honor.
“It’s the least we can do to honor these fallen soldiers,” Eckhardt said. “I told my daughter I may come home some day completely broke, but I’ll still feel good about what I’ve done.”
Tuttle was assigned to Marine Aircraft Group 11, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing at Marine Corps Air Station in Miramar, Calif.
Tuttle was a 2012 graduate of Gentry High School.