VFW donates new flag to Santa Rosa Elementary

The Veterans of Foreign Wars Tracey P. MacPherson Post #12043 presented a brand new American flag to Santa Rosa Elementary School Monday morning.

VFW member Herb Bailey noticed the school’s flag was starting to look tattered one day when he brought his first grade granddaughter to school. He went back to the VFW to ask for a new flag to be donated to the school, and the group graciously agreed.

Post Commander Bernie Crouse was on hand, along with Bud Ryan, Pete Glowacki and Bailey to make the presentation to fifth graders from the school. Crouse and Ryan removed the old flags and raised the new, larger flag along with the Arizona state flag.

They demonstrated how to properly raise the flag and explained a little bit about their organization. “Veterans of Foreign Wars have been on foreign soil actually engaged in combat. The Maricopa Post was founded in 2005 and is now in its fourth year,” said Crouse.

He also explained that the VFW takes care of war veterans as well as their widows and orphan children. They provide moral support to those returning from overseas and provide assistance when they need it. “It’s vets helping vets,” Crouse told the attentive fifth graders.

Principal Rick Abel thanked the VFW saying, “We appreciate the donation of the flag to Santa Rosa, and we appreciate your service.” Abel said that he was happy to have the veterans there demonstrating how to properly raise and lower the flag. The fifth grade students participated in the presentation, as they will be the ones responsible for displaying the flag for the campus.

As the students were dismissed from the ceremony, one student’s voice rose up from the crowd with a “Thank you!” to the veterans.

Crouse told Principal Abel that the old Santa Rosa flag would become the ceremonial flag for the flag retirement ceremony that the VFW will hold sometime in the future.

VFW members hope to go into all the schools to demonstrate flag handling and flag history.

Photos by Carrie Vargas