Dear List, Well my working theroy for the Chairton Volunteer Fire Dept thanks to Roy's suggestion of Colorado is correct. Here is a letter I got from the Lucas Co IA list. Dear Freida, You are correct. Chariton always has had an extremely well-organized and active volunteer fire department, and the graves of its members back to the beginning, are marked with standards similar to those placed on veterans' graves and special flags are placed in them for Memorial Day. If you've picked the tombstone inscription up from a compilation, and haven't seen the actual stone, the reference may be to one of those standards rather than to something carved on the stone itself. Frank D. Myers [email protected]<br clear=all><hr>Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at <a href="http://explorer.msn.com">http://explorer.msn.com</a><br></p>