JAY – Some people waved while tractor-trailer drivers honked their rigs’ horns as they passed by three people holding American flags Monday morning in front of the Jay War Memorial on Route 4 in Chisholm Square.

A sign “Proud to be an American” was raised above a sawhorse and “Support our Troops” signs leaned against the outer edge of the monument. In a pickup truck bed across the street, a handmade wooden bench sat with the words “God Bless America” routed in the back support.

“This is the first of I hope many,” Don Simoneau of Fayette said of the event from 8 to 9 a.m. Mondays.

Simoneau, his wife, Roberta, and Charlie Bennett of Farmington stood in front of the memorial with hopes to bring people together to make it a weekly Monday morning tribute.

“We just want to show our pride in our country and support our troops,” said Don Simoneau, past Department of Maine Commander of the American Legion and past commander of the George Bunten Post 10 in Livermore Falls.

“I’m here to support our troops and our flag,” said Bennett, American Legion 4th District commander of Franklin County and past commander of the Legion Post 28 in Farmington.

The idea blossomed between what the Freeport Flag Ladies have done every Tuesday morning since Sept. 11, 2001, which is stand proudly in support of the country and troops for an hour, and what Bennett has done by standing up for the flag when it was laid on the floor of a Farmington university and his giving away flags for five Fridays in a row, Bennett said.

The Freeport ladies were hoping the idea caught on as well, Roberta Simoneau, a member of the state and Unit 10 auxiliaries, said.

Don Simoneau said he had been waiting for his father, Bert Simoneau of Livermore Falls, the new president of Post 10, to feel better to begin the ritual. His father had been feeling better Sunday but was not on Monday, so he wasn’t able to make it, his son said.

A letter sent out by e-mail Sunday afternoon asking friends to “Please join us to stand up and show everyone you are a proud American! … Help us show our community, state, nation that yes, we are proud Americans. And yes, we love and cherish our freedoms in this great nation!”

Simoneau also wrote “But we must remember, freedom is not free, as the events on Sept. 11, 2001, in New York City, Washington D.C., and a field in Pennsylvania, Dec. 7, 1941-Pearl Harbor, April 19, 1775 – Lexington and Concord show us freedom is not free.”

No matter the weather, they’re hoping people will come out each Monday morning with flags. If people don’t have a flag to hold, they’ll find one for them.

“I just think it’s important. We have people in harm’s way all around the world and the freedom for me to be here are granted by those people and their love of our country,” Don Simoneau said as he sat in his wheelchair holding a flag. “It really comes down to we have people protecting us and we don’t say thank-you enough. It all comes down to sharing our pride in our flag and our country.”