Today my team had the pleasure of doing our organization’s first flag pole install. To say it went off without a hitch would be an understatement. We had perfect weather, perfect soil, and no issues whatsoever. The whole process took 2 hours from start to finish, and 40 minutes of that was doing nothing but waiting for concrete to set.
For that 2 hours of our time, we were rewarded with meeting Whitey and his son Tom. Whitey is a Korean War era vet who served in the Army and recently lost his wife of many years this year. This was a very deserving man of a PGI flag display and the whole team was gleaming with pride at the end of the job.
During that 40 minutes of dwell time we got to sit with Whitey on his carport and drink coffee and eat donuts while trading Army stories. I think I can speak for everyone on the team when I say this 40 minutes was the most memorable part of the day, and I encourage other teams to do the same.
Whitey told stories of doing stockade duty, his unit, the time period, and the ol’ M1 Garand. He told us of his daughters military service. Joe, Kyle, and myself told of some of our experiences. The funny thing is, when Veterans get together and tell stories it flows so naturally that it’s like another language regardless of our service periods in the history of this great nation.
Talking to Whitey was just like talking to anyone else I’ve served with or know to have served - like talking to my brother. It was absolutely an amazing experience and I’m excited for more of you to experience this camaraderie and feeling in the near future on your installs. And as the day came to close and the flags were raised high and proud, though tears Whitey provided us with a quote that socked us all in the heart… “thank you gentlemen it’s beautiful, I wish my wife could have been here to see this.”
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