One neat thing about living on an Army post is that you hear a canon and trumpet played to tell the time instead of church bells. The flag goes up for the day at Reveille and comes down at Retreat. It is held at the division headquarters here at Ft. Campbell which is right near the PX and Commissary so we hear it every once in a while if we come at the right time of day. Once you hear the trumpet sound you stop, stand toward the flag, and wait until the bugle call is over before resuming what you were doing. Cars pull to the side, soldiers stand at attention saluting the flag, and civilians stand with their hand over their heart. Margo and I watched (her from the inside of the warm car since it was below 30 degrees and she doesn't like the canon blast!) and I have to say that I had tears in my eyes when I saw the soldiers take down this massive flag today. When lowering it they ran to catch the sides so that they didn't touch the ground - such respect and honor was shown today and I am glad I got to watch on this historic MLK holiday. I am so proud of this flag. For the nation and the people that she represents.
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| The flag is lowered at 1700 (5:00pm) |
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| A view of the flag and 101st Division Headquarters |
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| The soldiers who are charged with lowering the flag. |
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| The canon (with blanks in it of course) is fired after the first sound of retreat and then the bugle calls. |
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| A view with the canon smoke. |
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| Lowering the flag. |
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| Again, catching and lowering the flag. |
I am a military brat and Retreat was always a proud moment of the day for me. Where else do you see in society people stopping and revering the flag and honoring its meaning on a daily basis? I love this series of photos and I have used your "lowering the flag" pic as a placeholder in a video I compiled to promote our 20th High School reunion (for Seoul American High School - Yongsan Army Base, Seoul, Korea). I would be honored if you would allow me permission to use the photo in the final product. I can show you the video for your review and would be more than happy to add a photo credit at the end.
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