It’s only six weeks until Memorial Day. Is your flag fit to fly?

It may seem a bit early to prepare for a holiday many Americans barely acknowledge any more, but Fran Ramirez can’t start soon enough.

Every Memorial Day for the past decade, the 72-year-old Ramirez has made it her business to ensure that each of the 5,000 flags that flutter over the graves of American veterans buried in Union Cemetery is clean, pressed and free from wear.

As a member of the United Veterans Memorial Day Committee — a collective of local veterans’ groups that organize Memorial Day services at cemeteries — Ramirez starts the process two months ahead, carefully checking each flag for stains or tears. Before she took on the job, the 8-by-12 inch cloth flags were stored tightly rolled, leaving them wrinkled and misshapen when placed on the graves the following year.

The wrinkled flags “didn’t look right,” says Ramirez, who is the daughter, sister, wife and foster mom to American veterans. Now when the holiday is done, the flags are removed from the graves, carefully washed and ironed, then stored flat. Ramirez soaks the flags’ 14-inch staffs in bleach water to remove dark dirt stains before they, too, are stowed away for another year.

Despite such tender loving care, sun and sprinklers take their toll on the flags, which are properly disposed of by the Boy Scouts when they begin to show signs of wear. And some flags aren’t around long enough to wear out, thanks to thieves who think nothing of plucking a few from their sacred sites.

Clearly, the proper care and protection of the flags, and keeping enough on hand, is a big job. This year, Ramirez and the committee are getting some special help.

The idea that there may not be enough flags to honor each veteran is repugnant to Bakersfield High School's ROTC cadets, who, in February, adopted a zero tolerance policy against such a possibility.

Their solution? To buy 5,000 new flags and deliver them to Union Cemetery in time for this year’s Memorial Day weekend. Which means the cadets must raise $5,000 — they’ve already collected about $1,000 — by April 25.

It’s a tall order but the cadets are hustling to make it happen, selling pizza coupons and soliciting local businesses for donations. Genieca Risner, chairwoman of the committee, says they never expected the cadets to set their sights so high.

“They’re wonderful,” Risner says. “We told them to replace as many as they could, so we’re happy with whatever they can get for us.”

Privately owned cemeteries in Bakersfield furnish their own flags for veteran’s graves, but it’s up to the grateful citizens of Kern County to honor the veterans at rest in the county-owned Union Cemetery. Citizens who wish to do so may send donations to Bakersfield High School, ROTC, 1241 G St..

A flag on a grave — it's a small thing, but it honors great sacrifice. And it's the least we can do for our veterans. "It's why I do what I do," Ramirez says. "They took the time to serve, I've got the time to serve them."