City group, veterans keep flags flying high

Mike Lee, left, Roger Matlock and Bob Steger of J.E. Manning American Legion Post 258 open the more-than-100 new flags to be flown in Atlanta.
Mike Lee, left, Roger Matlock and Bob Steger of J.E. Manning American Legion Post 258 open the more-than-100 new flags to be flown in Atlanta.

Atlanta certainly is a flag city. So numerous are the streaming American flags along its city streets, they almost go unnoticed.

But if asked, residents can't recall another town in Northeast Texas that appears to have such an abundance of flags on display.

More than 100 are placed about town, thanks to the Atlanta City Development Corp., which buys them, and the J.E. Manning American Legion Post 258, whose members lift them up and watch them throughout the year.

And they are watched.

Some get stolen. They are immediately replaced.

Some tear or become too grimy. A passing Legionnaire who keeps scissors and a spare flag in his automobile-as most do-gets out and changes that.

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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/RICK MCFARLAND--07/24/09-- Evangelist Tony Alamo is led from the federal courthouse in Texarkana. FILE PHOTO

One well-known but modest veteran who wouldn't want the attention is known for going into a yard in which a flag is being flown improperly, is damaged, disrespected or uncared for, and, without permission, cutting that flag down and replacing it.

"He could be shot at. But he's a Marine. Holder of the Purple Heart. He just does it," said the veteran's friend.

At the other extreme, even a tangled flag isn't left to wrinkle.

"We've known of some youth who receive community service credit by being assigned to go and make certain every flag is unfurled properly and hanging free in its breeze. I think there is a Boy Scout troop here which has done that on occasion," Legionnaire Bob Steger said.

"I do it," he added.

The Legionnaires change the flags every six months. That leaves the post with a number of flags on hand in pretty good condition.

Here's what happens to some of them.

"We give away ones to people who ask and have a need. We share with Queen City and the Boy Scout troops there, which will put them up. If asked, we'll even go put up the flag on special occasions, and we replace ones here throughout the year," post leader Mike Lee said.

Lee said he considers the American flag special because it symbolizes freedom.

"It's who we are. It represents us, our nation," he said. "It's like the Statue of Liberty that the immigrant sees coming to the United States and is so happy to be here. It's what brings tears to the Olympic athlete who is standing on the podium when the American flag is raised and the American anthem played. This is what he or she worked so hard for and performed his or her best for.

"It's the freedom of America. You can be who and what you want to be. We're no longer like serfs tied to the ground. The government is not like a king to oppress us. We can work to become rich or read all day long in the library to become knowledgeable. We can be religious or not. These freedoms were endowed to us. We might need to be in some other country which doesn't have these freedoms in order to appreciate them."

The Legionnaires were not overly serious when they spent their Saturday morning a week ago putting up new flags. They teased each other with plenty of that freedom Lee speaks about.

No one is the leader of the flag detail either. The Legionnaires just put up the flags. It's likely one of the most satisfying activities a local civil organization undertakes.

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