Armed Forces Day in Winnebago

Vicki, wanted me to share this: Saturday, May 19, 2012 was Armed Forces Day. In Winnebago, IL it is also time for our 9th annual Support the Troops rally. It was an awesome night, warm, a nice breeze and people came out to support our 99 active duty troops from the Winnebago High School. The flag was risen by a young man entering the Marine Corp and his recruiter. The flag that was raised once flew over the hospital in Balad, Iraq and was sent by my daughter, Maj. Katherine Robbel just for this purpose. The flag flies once a year. During the raising of flag the national anthem was sung and the President of the Village welcomed everyone. Our speaker was a Winnebago Grad who has served in the Army and now in the Air force. Our moderator kept things moving along and he is a former Marine who comes to help us each year. He is a friend of Winnebago. The Civil Air Patrol showed the crowd the proper way to fold the flag and the meaning of the 13 folds was read. This is a very moving part of the ceremony. You probably think that the 13 folds are for the 13 originals colonies and that is not the case. The 51 flags were then prepared for retirement. If you have any never seen a flag retirement you are really missing something. Once the flags are placed in the fire, there is a silence that falls over the crowded until the flames die down. Shortly after that I had the pleasure and privilege of presenting two Quilts of Valor Quilts. The first one went to Sgt. James K., he is our moderator and he is also a Marine that served in Iraq and has since returned to civilian life. The second quilt went to Maj. John S. who served as a US Army Apache Pilot from 1997 to 2006. Deployed with the Army to Albania in 1999, and to Iraq in 2003 and again from 2005 to 2006. He is now in the Air Force National Guard stationed at Truax Field in Madison, WI flying F16s. I have been in the Air Force since 2008. All in all it was a wonderful program and the presentation of the quilts went well. Avis Lind helped me with the presentation.