Happy Fourth of July

[Randolph]

A few days after the tragic events of 9/11/2003, I built and erected a 35 foot flagpole at my shop and now I fly the Stars and Stripes every day. I am a little embarrassed that it took a tragedy like that to inspire me but at least I do it now. I have seen, we all have, so many examples of others who were similarly inspired by that time and who put up flags which are now hanging weathered and neglected. It is a good thing to display the flag of your country, whichever country that might be, but, PLEASE ---- do it right!!

[nitacboss]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Randolph:
A few days after the tragic events of 9/11/2003, I built and erected a 35 foot flagpole at my shop and now I fly the Stars and Stripes every day. I am a little embarrassed that it took a tragedy like that to inspire me but at least I do it now. I have seen, we all have, so many examples of others who were similarly inspired by that time and who put up flags which are now hanging weathered and neglected. It is a good thing to display the flag of your country, whichever country that might be, but, PLEASE ---- do it right!!</font>

Hey, me too! I wanted a flagpole and never bothered until 9/11. I got 2" and 1-1/4" galv pipe from work (with the bosses permission for a change I might add!) along with some reducers, a pulley, a stamped Stanley chest handle mounted backwards for a rope cleat (couldn't find a proper cleat anywhere) and clamped the flagpole to a heavy concrete-anchored fence post. No digging that way.

I wanted a big eagle on the top but, after consulting a few catalogs, decided I couldn't afford the fancy ones at $80 and up so... I took one of those tiny dark gold plastic ones from a cheap flag-pole-on-the-porch kit. It was about 3" from wing tip to wing tip. The flagpole itself is 18 feet tall.

And it changed my life just a little bit…

About an hour after my handiwork was done I'm outside and this old man, who walks by the same time everyday stops, and with great effort, looks up at the flag waving up there.

He asked me where I got a flag from (remember how you couldn't find one at the time to save your life) and said I had had it in storage but just had, until now, no place to fly it. He then asks what the thing at the top is? I look up and, being the smartass that I am, I tell him it's a parakeet. He just about fell down laughing.

I saw the old man a couple of more times and we stopped and chatted. He was a Marine in the Pacific during WWII. Being ex-service (Army 81-89) we exchanged war stories. Everyday he said he'd stop by and look at the flag and the "parakeet". He said he liked my flagpole better than others in the area because I had made it from scratch. (I had even used American made materials, try finding an American made 3/8" rope pulley with a swivel-mounting loop!)

Then I noticed the old man stopped coming by…

Fast-forward about three months... One day the doorbell rings. There is an old woman at the door with her middle-aged daughter. They introduce themselves. She is the wife of the old man. He had passed away about a week earlier. I guess he had spoken quite a bit about the flagpole and had told her of our war stories. He had asked her to do something for him. She handed me an old weathered black presentation case.

He wanted me to get one of his two Purple Heart's he had gotten. (Though my DD214 reflects that I am entitled to one I never got the actual medal itself and had told him so.) What do you say at a time like that?!?

She also had something wrapped in, what I think was an old triangular bandage. I unwrapped it and there was an American flag crudely sewn onto a white strip of fabric along with a rusted safety pin. It was his invasion flag for his arm. He had told me how they were given the flags and cloth and told to sew them together. But once the invasion started, it was the island of Tarawa if I remember correctly, nobody in his unit wore their flags.

He had said I should get that flag armband because he had made it himself just like I had made my flagpole. Well tears flowed for a good long time…

Since shortly after 9/11 the flag, which has been replaced twice because of fading, has flown 24/7/365. I’ve only taken it down for maintenance on the pole itself and twice in really bad windstorms to keep it from tearing away or maybe even bringing down the whole pole! Because of the landlord I can’t light the pole at night but I don’t care. There is enough light from the street lights so that you can see the flag.

I miss talking to the old man. As I am typing this I have his armband flag right in front of me. I’m going to stop now because I’ve gotta go wipe my eyes…

Happy 4th of July…

[chip's]

Happy 4th everyone!! Please let us all remember how grateful we should be for what have in this country. Again happy 4th everyone!!

[Benjamin Borowsky]

After 9/11 New York was awash with Flags. 6-9 months later, they were gone. How quickly we forget.

I put mine up, it has stayed up, and will stay up as long as I am.

There are good countries around... but we know what we've got. Have a good fourth.

B2

[wierdscience]

Yes we do have short attention spans,I was reminded the other day about how much of a sacrifice our founding fathers faced,many lost entire fortunes,homes and plantations,their sons,daughters and wives,and quite a few their own lives.It makes you wonder what would make a person sacrifice their all for a belief in the value of this thing we call freedom.I figure myself most fortunate that I was born in a country as blessed as ours.I am fortunate that my father and grandfathers all returned home from war safe and sound when so many others did not.So today I pray and thank God for giving us heros willing to make the ultimate sacrifice like their fathers and great-grandfathers so long before them.

[Turbo]

I'm military and currently stationed at Camp Page Korea. Today we had a 4th of July celebration on post. The post was opened to the local Korean population who wanted to join our celebration. All went well. My comment is simply this. At the end of the day 9:00pm we had a fireworks display (one of the best I've ever seen). The first thought that came to my mind as the first blasts occurred overhead was what a great country I serve. I was looking over the crowd of Korean nationals, and while I can't know exactly what they were thinking, I feel like they were thinking what an awesome country the United States of America must be. I was so proud to be here. We're awesome guys, trust me.