Boulder City Magazine is a monthly publication full of information about Boulder City and Southern Nevada. Boulder City Magazine features the Boulder City Home Guide, a real estate guide to Boulder City and Southern Nevada.




Short Stories

Boulder City's Yellow Ribbon Project
by Sharon Craig

Boulder City is a small town oasis with strong ties to the military. We have the beautiful Southern Nevada Veterans’ Cemetery, as well as the only home for Veterans in Nevada, the Nevada State Veterans’ Home, both located on Veterans’ Memorial Drive.

Also located on Veterans’ Memorial Drive is a long row of “yellow ribbon” signs attached to light posts in the center median, which honor our active duty military personnel.

This “yellow ribbon” project originated after Legionnaire Glenn Nakadate visited Butte, Montana and admired small, yellow, ribbon-shaped signs emblazoned with the names of service personnel on several street posts. Upon his return home, he suggested Boulder City’s American Legion Post 31 sponsor a similar project, but improve Butte’s excellent idea by making larger signs.

Many hours of work were put into bringing this project to fruition. A $2,000 grant was awarded for use on the project by Caesar’s Palace Casino through Boulder City’s Cascada Community Support Program. Joe Rowe, a mover and shaker of Post 31, raised additional funds by selling “yellow ribbon” magnetic ribbons and stickers.

Our Boulder Dam Credit Union tellers greatly aided the project by furnishing the names and addresses of potential honorees. The Credit Union has a bulletin board posted in the building containing information about local active duty service personnel.

The project has been tremendously successful, and has served to highlight our local service men and women for visitors and locals alike. It has also served to create a sense of pride in their families, as well as in the entire community of Boulder City.





















Have you ever wondered how the yellow ribbon became a national folk symbol in supporting our troops, as well as wishing for their safe return?

The late Gerald E. Parsons, folklorist and librarian for the Folklife Reading Room, did a magnificent job finding the answers to this question.

Mr. Parsons’ research uncovered a folk tale legend about two men on a railroad train. One was very quiet and reserved and only with considerable prodding did the other man finally persuade him to talk about himself. He had been imprisoned for many years and his kinsfolk were too poor to visit him and too uneducated to write so he had written them and said if they wanted him to return, to put a white ribbon on an apple tree near the tracks and if he didn’t see it, he would stay on the train and start his life elsewhere. He couldn’t bear to look as they neared the tree. The other man cried out that the tree was covered with white ribbons.

In 1972, Levine and Brown copyrighted a song, “Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree”, based on that story they heard while in the Army. They said they changed the color to yellow from white because the sound was musical and romantic.

In November 1979, Iranian revolutionaries stormed the US embassy in Tehran and held Ambassador Bruce Laingren and the embassy staff hostage. Ambassador Laingren’s wife, Penne, decided to tie a yellow ribbon around an oak tree and said that it would remain there until her husband returned home to untie it and suggested other families might use it as a banner to show their determination to be reunited. The hostage families met and formed an association, the Family Liaison Action Group (FLAG) and with a number of allied groups such as the AFL-CIO, based their strategy around Emerson’s maxim that “A good symbol is the best argument and is a missionary to persuade thousands”. Thus was born the yellow ribbon pin.

Boulder City is proud to honor our active duty service men and women with this small token of appreciation. A short article about this project was printed in the American Legion Magazine in October.




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