Sedona Fire and Navy Veteran Chief Mezules addressed 140 Sedonians’ and 8 visitors at the May 26th Sedona Memorial Day Ceremony conducted at the Posse Ground Pavilion.
The weather was perfect as was the sight of the newly installed flagpole donated by APS to the City of Sedona with the support of Mayor Jablow. Camp Verde Bugler Ron Wright delivered the traditional bugle calls and Red RockAppella gave moving renditions of the National Anthem and God Bless America.
SAVCO’s Don Clarke presented the retired American Flag to Clare Isquith in honor of her husband, Captain David Isquith and his years of dedicated Naval service.
3 Comments
We all owe a debit of gratitude to the SAVCO members for helping to keep patriotism front and center in our all year round.
It was very nice, I havent missed one in 11 years.
I have to say after they presented colors, they spoke about the stars and strips, the meanings. Well lets say it is sad the filth that sits in the Oval Office, and does not represent the flag one bit! LOOK UP THE MEANINGS!
WS Dave,
the SAVCO ceremonies are always professionally conducted and by some of Sedona’s finest Veterans. Sadly, our flag has become meaningless to many who wear it as clothing, use it as a couch covers and curtains, drag it on the ground from their pick em up trucks or even sexually grope it while screaming bloody murder when someone burns it in protest.
I used to do Taps and Revelry Flag Calls on many of the bases I was assigned to, some of them NATO or UN bases. Ours is the only country that has laws protecting its National Flag with rules of when, where and how it is to be displayed, presented, stored and even destroyed. Foreign soldiers were always amazed at how much pomp and ceremony there is surrounding our flag. Their Flags are symbols of their own countries and their individual histories but none of them cares about things like “accidentally touching the ground” or how they get folded. Many countries have simply emulated our military’s ceremonial flag procedures but have no formal policy.
The one that gets me is the recent advent of the “KKK hood” manner in which our country and state flags are now displayed like hooded klansmen using an angled support to keep them “pointy” just like traditional KKK hoods. Must be by design as many others have commented on this.
We did not use such displays when I was in the military. Flags were either “cased” “properly laid out to dry when wet” or “flying from a flagpole” or “un cased and on display using a standard floor stand or pole mounted at a 45• angle” from a wall mounted flagpole.
The flag doesn’t mean much to me anymore. I still respect it for its historical significance but I’ve learned that the people I served with mattered and matter far more than any piece of cloth ever could or should. Using the flag as political messaging on clothing, vehicles, weapons and at protests as a means of intimidation or to promote hate like the Fascist March upon Charlottesville in, the Fascist Anti American Insurrectionist attack of 6 January 2020 upon our nation’s Capitol are as appalling as when Lois Farrakhan burned one in protest of Fascism. Despite Federal Flag Laws some Americans still have Constitutional rights and protections that permit them to use the flag while protesting, while others have no Constitutional rights or protections whatsoever because our current government administration feels that our laws and Constitution are all subject to interpretation on a case by case, color by color, dollar by dollar basis. Trump can hump the flag all day every day for all I care. Makes him a disgusting Anti American Anti Democracy pig not I. He has that right thanks to those of us who actually served their country rather than slander those of us who do so. He does not have the right to take away the rights and freedoms of others like he has and continues to do. The biased Trump/MAGA aligned Judges may say he can or does but history will show them to have been very very wrong. They have their jackboots upon the necks of many right now, with their sights set upon many more. One day they will be the ones with the boots on their necks and they will whine, cry and beg for mercy but there will be none.