I was reading the paper one night earlier in the week, probably actually several days accumulation, as I seem to let them pile up and then sit and spend an hour or more trying to get caught up. And though there is usually little worth reading, mostly local news of a trivial nature, I do try to at least skim till I get to Dear Abby. Always something of interest there - seeing that other folk have problems I'd have never even dreamed about. That advice column is usually the last thing I read, and sadly, the highlight due to the comics not really being amusing any more.
The little bit of interest I found, I think on Monday night, was a letter to the editor. From some person who is involved with the local veterans organization. They are a group that sponsor putting up flags along a portion of Victory Drive in the median. I've written about this before, when I went one time to help get the flags 'installed' on poles that are stored at the Veterans' Welcome Center on Victory Drive, near South Commons and the Civic Center. The letter I read was a request for people to make donations to help replace some of the flags that were getting weather worn and tattered.
From the article I know the group can purchase a flag for $25. I sent a check for $100, along with a note requesting that the flags they will buy with my donation have the names of veterans written on the binding of the flags before they are used. I hope the veteran's names will be written with a permanent marker on the white binding between the two grommets that are used to attach the flags to the poles. The names I listed were my dad, my pen-pal/friend in Greenville, SC, and two of the service men I accompanied on one of the Honor Flights to Washington.
I also suggested that the group that does this three times a year on weekends nearest federal holidays try to contact other similar organizations in the state to enlist their support, and hopefully find others who will assist with the on-going need to replace weathered/tattered flags. I'm all for flag flying at every opportunity, and know that I live in a flag-flying town, with lots of retired veterans that would bleed red-white-blue if they could. I made copies of the letter that was printed in the paper, and sent it in notes to three of the veterans to try to engender more support for the project.
If you are interested in 'sponsoring' a flag, I still have the info/contact number for the chairperson of the Chattahoochee Valley Veterans Association. Can't you just hear those lively John Phillip Sousa 'marches', with pounding drums and cymbals banging away? Don't it make you want to get up and applaud? The address for the vet. org. that will continue to sponsor the flag raising three times a year, should you be so inclined: Valley Veterans Council, P.O. Box 12208, Columbus, GA, 31917.
They will be putting those flags up each May for Memorial Day, every July to celebrate our Independence, and again in November for Veteran's Day to honor those who served and defended. Whether you pitch in and help support them with a check or not, you will still be living in the land of the free and home of the brave., I don't think writing a check to purchase another flag is too much to ask?
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