Flag day turns into thank veterans day in Tennessee

"Proud to be an American" festival parades patriotism
WBIR-TV - Knoxville,TN,USA
Jim Matheny
Updated: 6/15/2009 12:28:09 AM
Posted: 6/14/2009 11:53:59 PM

More than 2,000 people attended the first "Proud to be an American Parade and Festival" Sunday afternoon in Maryville. The Flag Day celebration's success has organizers considering making it an annual event.

"When I first came up with this, I thought it would be a one-time thing," said founder Carol Russell. "But so many veterans have been coming up to me assuming there will be a 'next year' and wanting to help. I like the sound of that, so we might just go for it."

Russell said she chose Flag Day since it falls neatly between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July.

"It just happened to be on a Sunday this year, which was perfect," said Russell.

Organizers said the event was all about thanking veterans for their service in the armed forces. The simple thank you was something some veterans never expected.

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"Proud to be an American" festival parades patriotism

But it is also something that happened in other places of the country and it's a wonderful thing!

Vets honored at Flag Day ceremony
By: MANASEE WAGH
Bucks County Courier Times
phillyBurbs.com - Philadelphia,PA,USA


The past and present merged this weekend when volunteers stuck 58,000 flags in the ground to honor fallen soldiers.

About 200 people, including war veterans, community leaders and state representatives, gathered before a field of red, white and blue on Sunday for the 24th Flag Day ceremony in Falls Community Park. The memorial is an annual tradition of the Delaware Valley Vietnam Veterans.

A schoolteacher is thought to have started the first Flag Day tradition in 1885. It was a way to celebrate the official adoption of The Stars and Stripes as our nation’s flag, according to the National Flag Day Foundation.

Today, the holiday has deepened into an observance honoring all veterans and currently serving soldiers.

“It’s a special group of people that step up and say ‘I will fight the fight.’ Their sacrifice demands our respect, our admiration and our veneration. We gather to draw special recognition to the symbol of our nation, and it is incumbent on us to recognize the sacrifices of all those people,” said Bucks County Commissioner James Cawley on Sunday, where he joined a long list of speakers during the event.

Members of the Delaware Valley group and community volunteers stuck thousands of flags in the muddy park grounds on Friday, each representing a fallen soldier in the shape of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. An array of nearly 2,000 black flags interrupted the patriotic colors, a sober reminder of soldiers who are still missing in action.

Roaring motorcycles heralded the start of ceremonies as a biker brigade rolled into the park. Veterans show their support each year by riding to Falls from the Bristol Township
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Vets honored at Flag Day ceremony

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Thousands pay tribute to Vietnam vets at State Capitol
Saturday, 13 June 2009
by T.W. Budig
ECM Capitol reporter
Coon Rapids ECM Publishers - Coon Rapids,MN,USA

Thousands gathered on the State Capitol mall today (Saturday, June 13) to celebrate and remember Vietnam War veterans, the soldiers, airmen and sailors who did what their country asked and in some cases waited decades to be thanked.

VIEW SLIDESHOW OF DAY'S EVENTS (click link below)

Minnesota has some 147,000 Vietnam veterans, and more than 1,000 Minnesotans were killed during the long struggle in Southeast Asia.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty and other officials thanked and praised the assembled veterans.

“We did our mission,” Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs Commissioner Clark Dyrud, a Vietnam veteran.

“We did it well,” he said.

Pawlenty called the veterans American heroes, lamenting the “shameful” treatment some veterans received the public they sacrifice to serve.

The celebration featured fly-overs, a replica of the famous Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial in Washington, big reunion tents and Vietnam War-era military equipment.
Thousands pay tribute to Vietnam vets at State Capitol

Veteran Opens Memorial Museum for Flag Day


Posted: 9:44 AM Jun 15, 2009
Last Updated: 9:44 AM Jun 15, 2009
Reporter: Ben Zblewski
Email Address: news@wsaw.com
WSAW - Wausau,WI,USA


An area Vietnam veteran honored Flag day by cutting the ribbon on a brand new veteran's museum Sunday. Charles Hamilton Jr. of Irma, who served two years overseas, says he couldn't think of any better way to honor the stars and strips than to open a museum dedicated to the people who fought to protect it. Hamilton has been working for more than a year to remodel an old church into the museum, and says he did all of the work by himself

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Veteran Opens Memorial Museum for Flag Day