SEBRING - During a ceremony celebrating its 90th anniversary, American Legion McKinley Post 76 in Sebring held a special Honor and Remember Flag presentation to Carey Meissner, the mother of Marine Lance Corporal Danny McVickers, who was killed in Iraq on Oct. 6, 2005.
McVickers, 20, served in Combat Service Support Detachment 21, 2nd Force Service Support Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force, and died from an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations against enemy forces near Al Qaim, Iraq.
He was a 2003 graduate of West Branch High School and joined the Marines with eight of his class buddies.
The "home sewn" flag, paid for by Fleet Reserve Association from the Akron/Canton area, was presented to Meissner by Sam Vechter, president of Branch 324 of the FRA along with four other FRA Branch 324 representatives. She was also presented with a certificate.
The Honor and Remember Flag combines stars used by the military to designate service, an eternal flame and a folded American flag in its design, which is intended to evoke reverence and appreciation for the lives cut short in service to America and the organization says its mission is to "create, establish and promote a nationally recognized flag that would fly continuously as a visible reminder to all Americans of the lives lost in defense of our national freedoms.
"All military lives lost not only in action but also in service, from our nation's inception."
In achieving that mission, the organization attempts to "place one personalized Honor and Remember Flag in the hands of living parents who have lost a child in military service to America."
The flag's origins lie deep in the Iraq War. George Lutz of Chesapeake, Va., lost his son, Army Corporal George A. Lutz II, in combat action in Iraq in December of 2005 and bearing the grief, designed the flag.
But that didn't occur until Lutz visited others who lost loved ones in the war and gained a sense of the two things they wanted most - their sacrifice was not in vain and the nation would never forget. That led to the "new national symbol recognizing all those who died in military service to America."
Vechter said the flag was the first one the Fleet Reserve Association Branch 324 Akron/Canton has presented. The Honor and Remember organization will try to present flags to family members "of every man or woman who died in military service to America."
Prior to the flag presentation ceremony, the post named Ray Early of Alliance as "Legionaire of the Year," Connie McFeely of Beloit as "Auxiliary Legionaire of the Year" and Jeff Schafer of Berlin Center at "Sons of Legionaires of the Year" for 2008.
For more about the Honor and Remember flag, visit www.Honor and Remember.org.
Larry Shields can be reached at lshields@salemnews.net
