DAN'S PAPERS, July 4, 2008 Page 196 www.danshamptons.com
Dan’s North Fork
North Forkers Reflect On The Special Flags In Their Life
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By Phyllis Lombardi Keep your eye on it. Especially this weekend, this Fourth of July weekend. Our grand old flag will be flying high all over the place. Fourth of July. What an old glory time of year. A season of warmth and promise. Much like what our flag represents. Now I imagine most Americans have a flag story. A flag folded carefully and presented to a grieving parent. A flag passing in review, held upright by a Boy Scout son, a Girl Scout daughter. A 9-11 flag. There have been several special flags in my life. Memorable all. But especially a tiny American flag clutched by a chubby three-yearold. Our children are all adopted and our
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youngest son was not born in this country. From Toronto, Canada, he had to be registered each year as an alien until that day we brought him to Riverhead, to the courthouse, where he was granted United States citizenship. All kinds of candidates for citizenship were in the courthouse that day. Other youngsters, of course, but many older people, too. People who’d worked and prayed their way to citizenship and whose emotions showed in smiles and tears. When the ceremony was over, there were congratulations all around. Then the judge presented each new American with a small, very small, American flag. But it was a big, very big, gift. In our family’s case, for weeks our little son walked around our home singing “Nited States of Merica.” Over and over again. His parents hear that song still. On this North Fork there are others who remember special flag-occasions. Southold’s Irene Stewart has a little-boy story, too. Irene works at Arcade Department Store in Greenport. One day a two-year-old boy, in a stroller pushed by his mother, spotted an American flag just inside Arcade’s front door. He gestured toward the flag and his screams were so loud that other customers, and Irene, came to attention. The embarrassed mom bought the small flag and gave it to her son, now quiet and happy. Mom explained to Irene that this child just loved American flags and that there was at least a dozen of them displayed in her son’s bedroom. I like to think the little boy is on to something. Why not acknowledge what we love? Maybe even shout it out. Irene didn’t get the child’s name. I hope it’s Everyboy. Then there’s Peter Schmidt. He owns, and has read, hundreds of books about our nation’s history and he flies our flag proudly. He has tucked away, in a cedar chest in his Cutchogue home, a 48-star flag he flew for decades way back when he lived in Baldwin. “I just can’t part with it” said Peter. I think I understand. The 48 stars were part of Peter’s childhood, his young manhood. And they are part of our country’s history. We are 50 stars now but I suspect the starlight is no brighter than the radiance from the 13 original stars. So keep that 48-star flag, Peter. Let your grandson, Andy, hold it. He will know what was once – and what can be. In another Cutchogue home is displayed a very special American flag. Flown in Iraq, it now is cherished by Stan and Bobbi Rubenstein. They were given the flag by their son-in-law, a helicopter pilot. Geoff Boehm is married to the Rubenstein’s oldest daughter, Sharon. Geoff is a member of the National Guard – out of Otis Air Force Base in Massachusetts. On August 15, 2006, the flag “flew” in a helicopter to Tallil, Iraq. Custom has it that upon return to the home base, the flag is flown for a period of time. In this case, home base for Geoff was Camp Buehring in Kuwait. There the flag flew and when Geoff returned to the U.S. he presented it to Stan and Bobbi. They have a treasure, I think, in both the flag and their sonin-law. But it is our treasure, too, yours and mine. On a lighter note, I’ll reveal that Geoff frequently soars right over the North Fork. He flies training missions out of Otis and claims he’s often flown over the Rubenstein’s home. Look carefully, Geoff. We’re down here waving and saluting. While the North Fork is special in so many ways, when it comes to our American flag, our little piece of Long Island is no different from the rest of the country. From the Pacific to our Atlantic. Every heart beats true.