#Middlebury #Veterans
The Freeport Flag Ladies – Carmen Footer, Elaine Greene and JoAnn Miller – haven’t missed a single Tuesday morning in 18 years, standing with U.S. flags on a corner in Freeport, Maine. Rain, snow storms, icy wind, heat and humidity, it didn’t matter. The Ladies were always there, waving at the hundreds of honking cars that passed. They were often joined by others who came to stand and wave flags.
And now they’re retiring from their Tuesday mornings.
It all started when the plane hit the second tower on Sept. 11, 2001. Not knowing what else to do to honor the lives lost, they grabbed a flag and went to a corner on the main street in town, waving the flag. Cars honked in response, and they promised to be there every week for one year to help with our nation’s healing. They stayed on to support the service members who were then placed in harm’s way. That was 18 years ago.
They’ve been busy, despite their advancing years. (Elaine Greene, 74, is the youngest of the three.) They’ve made appearances at Honor flights, candlelight vigils, parades, deployments from National Guard centers, homecomings, flag retirements and much more, always in support of service members, veterans and first responders.
There were all the airport greetings with service members coming and going, with thousands of photos being snapped and loaded on their website (www.freeportflagladies.com). Those last-minute airport photos are most treasured by the families who couldn’t be there. And then there are the lucky pennies, each placed in a tiny envelope with a card designed by the Flag Ladies and handed out at airports to departing service members.
While they’ll continue some of their activities, the Tuesday flag days will end in September.
Consider sending the Ladies a postcard just to say thank you: Freeport Flag Ladies, 17 School St., Freeport, ME 04032.
© 2019 King Features Synd., Inc.
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