Blind veterans in Florida got their hands on flag they can feel!

Blind veterans get a flag they can see with their hands

WCJB ABC 20 News
Landon Harrar 
June 13, 2019

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) -- Even if they can't see it, they know it's there and it's there for them.

Here's how blind veterans in Lake City are being honored with their own type of flag that they can see, with their fingers.

It may not be very big, but for the visually impaired veterans in Lake City, it's powerful. A plaque with the stars and stripes raised up so you can feel it with your fingers and the pledge of allegiance written in braille now adorns the VA hospitals walls.

The sight of the flag over Iwo Jima boosted the spirits of marines fighting there.

But there are now many veterans who can't see at all.

Humberto Rodriguez is a U.S. Army veteran who is totally blind who he said "it is important from the standpoint of being blind and the place like we are now in the VA hospital in Lake City. It's very important to know that you're remembered because we're a very small percentage of the population the blind percentage is less than 2 percent."

There are nearly one thousand legally blind veterans in North Florida and four times that many categorized as visually impaired.

Judy McMillan works as a case manager to blind veterans through the VA, she said "to not be able to see the flag is kind of sad. To be able to touch this and remember all the things that this means to you, this way he can touch that and it's going to bring back all those memories of colors."

James Hodges served in the naval reserved and is classified as visually impaired, he said: " you're never far away from it and it's never far from you. So to be included and know there's a flag there for vision impairment even though we can't see the flag, we still can."
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Flag Day to honor to most, tablecloth to HGTV?

HGTV: You Can Use a Flag as a Tablecloth
Spouse and Family News
by Amy Bushatz
June 13, 2013

“The last time I saw an American flag draped on anything was a coffin returning a fallen troop to his/her family.”

That’s what gold star mom Karen Meredith, whose son Lt. Ken Ballard was killed in Iraq in 2004, wrote to HGTV after they ran the post “Classic Fourth of July Table Setting Ideas” on their website.

“HGTV, boy did you mess up when you used the American flag as a tablecloth,” she wrote. “As the mother of a fallen soldier, I am offended that the American flag means so little to HGTV.”

The post, which has since been removed from their site, featured an American flag draped over the table as a table runner with a festive spread of colorful plates, food and flowers on top.

“Drape a large American flag over the table as a bright and festive table runner. Use a nylon flag so spills can be easily wiped off and the flag can later be hung with pride on a flag pole,” they advised.

You can see one of the photos here (we aren’t permitted to run them due to copyright restrictions).

Anyone familiar with American flag etiquette will immediately know what is wrong with this picture. Not only are they using an actual flag as decoration — but bonus! — they find it’s virtually spill proof and – double bonus! – it can be repurposed as a festive front yard decoration.
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Vietnam vet's flags to fly again

Vietnam vet's flags to fly again
4:29 AM, Jun 16, 2011

Written by
Dave Delozier

DENVER - Jim Carlson will remember Flag Day for the pain and anger he felt when his American and POW/MIA flags were stolen. He'll remember the next day for the overwhelming support he got from a community.

"It says veterans all stand together and when we see one of our brothers that is in a bad situation or hurting - everyone is coming," Patrick Valdez, president of Rolling Thunder Colorado, said.

Carlson is a Vietnam War veteran who flew the American and POW/MIA flag from a 20-foot flagpole in his front yard for the last 15 years. In the early morning hours of Flag Day, someone cut the rope on the flagpole and stole both flags.
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Vietnam vet's flags to fly again

Congressman Allen West underwater stunt violated Flag Code on Flag Day

This may have seemed like a good idea,,,,

The Greater Ft. Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau celebrates Learn to Dive Month with a commemorative dive with Congressman Allen West and Diveheart veterans dive group aboard Aqua View at the South Florida Diving HQ in Pompano Beach. An American flag planting on the Ancient Mariner Wreck took place on June 12, 2011 and the flag will go on the internet for auction.

but it was not to people aware of the rules on how the flag should be treated especially on Flag Day! This is one thing veterans will not tolerate since they risked their lives serving what the flag stands for.

Allen West flagged for scuba diving with Old Glory

By JENNIFER EPSTEIN
6/14/11 12:22 PM EDT

Rep. Allen West is in hot water with a local blogger after he led a group of veterans on a scubadiving trip off the coast of his Florida district over the weekend and planted an American flag underwater on an artificial reef.

The blogger on the Broward-Palm Beach New Times’s website is accusing him of violating the United States Code by putting the flag in water and flying it below ground level.

“Rep. Allen West going diving off the coast of Deerfield Beach with a bunch of military veterans — except for the fact that he violated U.S. federal law in the process and provided a pictorial of himself doing so,” a blogger on the Broward-Palm Beach New Times’s website wrote early Tuesday morning.

The accusation which, incidentally, comes on Flag Day, is that West, a first-term tea-party-backed Republican, violated the Flag Code, which stipulates that “[t]he flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor, water, or merchandise.”



Read more: Allen West flagged for scuba diving with Old Glory

Veterans: Show Some Respect For Flag Day

Veterans say to honor the flag is to pay respect to soldiers serving right now, those who have served and those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

Veterans: Show Some Respect For Flag Day
Central Florida News 13 - Orlando,FL,USA
Sunday, June 14, 2009 9:02:07 PM
Reported By Saul Saenz

PORT ORANGE -- It was a small, but hugely important celebration outside the American Veterans 911 post in Port Orange.

The gathering was in honor of the stars and stripes.

"I have the deepest respect for old glory, the one that I fought for," said Vietnam veteran Rick Bernardani.

The 89-year-old Air Force veteran's step is a little slower than in the days he fought in World War II. But his respect for the American flag is steadfast.

Bernardani says others have lost that respect and that fewer Americans fly it on the day set aside to honor the flag.

"The younger people are not respecting it. They don't realize they wouldn't have the life they've got if it wasn't for us," said World War II veteran John Rugglas.

Those veterans say that it’s because of the respect that they hold for the American flag that they take issue with governmental agencies that do not fly it on Flag Day; like a Port Orange post office, or this Daytona Beach post office or even the Daytona Beach City Hall.

click link for video and pictures

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.

go here for more
"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

and here,,,,,

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

Veterans honored on Flag Day in Santa Fe

Veterans honored on Flag Day

Two deceased veterans will be honored at Saturday's Flag Day ceremony in Santa Fe.

The family of the late U.S. Army Sergeant Enrique Valdez of Santa Fe will be presented with a special commemorative flag in recognition of his name finally being placed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. Valdez's name was the only name added to the wall at last month's Memorial Day ceremony.

The widow and daughter of former U.S. Marine Corporal Paul H. Clum will be presented with a Purple Heart Award and other medals that he never received from his service in World War II.

The event begins at 10 a.m. at the New Mexico Veterans Services Memorial Monument, located on the northwest corner of the Bataan Memorial Building at the intersection of Galisteo and Montezuma streets.

The Flag Day ceremony is sponsored by the Santa Fe Chapter of the Military Order of World Wars, the New Mexico National Guard and the New Mexico Department of Veteran Services.

Veteran Services Cabinet Secretary John M. Garcia will deliver the keynote address and present the flag and medals to the two families.

The public is invited to attend the free ceremony. Everyone is encouraged to bring an American flag, church flag, Scout or other service flag for a "pep rally" to honor the American flag and all those who've served their country.
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/Local-news-in-brief--June-11--2009