Veteran’s Corner
THE GIFT OF PATRIOTISM
By Sandra McKinney
“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.” ― Charles Dickens The Spirit of Christmas-giving started early this year…in fact, it started in the month of May when our local veterans began collecting funds for a giant flagpole and United States flag. It started with pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters, and then the paper money began to be stuffed into the collection boxes. The idea of the flag started to “catch fire” and local businesses wrote checks for large amounts. Gallup is, after all, the Most Patriotic Small Town in America. Collections were made throughout the summer at every event the veterans attended. People from all around the Four Corners contributed to the flag project. We wrote about Randal and Vesta Hasler back in the May issue of the Journey telling how the “idea sparked” to have a large flag placed somewhere within Gallup. It truly was their
idea which got the donations rolling in, although, many other veterans and civilian residents of Gallup had the thought in the back of their minds. “As the donations began to quickly grow,” Randal said with surprise, “we were astounded! Originally, we thought the project would take at least a year, or maybe even two years. We could not believe sufficient funds were collected within a few MONTHS!” Then the idea came about to raise the flag on the day that Governor Martinez and other veteran officials would be in Gallup to dedicate the land for the National Veterans Cemetery. This is when the flag became a community project. Randal and Vesta Henry went to work contacting the crews that would be needed to complete the project. Community businesses stepped in to assist: Robert Roche of Gallup Land Partners donated the land for the flag. The McKinley County Road Crew graded the road up the hill to the flag. The City of Gallup Electrical Department started the various holes for the base of the flag and dug the trench from the flag position to the transformer for the electrical conduit. Matthew Long with Murphy Builders stepped in with his crew to finish digging the 8-foot hole; they placed the sleeve in the hole that would hold the flag and prepared the hole with the framing for the concrete. John Kozeliski of Bubany Lumber Continued on page 30
Raising of the flag at dawn for the test run the day the National Veterans Cemetery was dedicated 28
December 2017
