As Veteran’s Day approaches, it is a time for recollection and reflection. Sixty summers ago, it was cold and a little breezy at 5:30 am on the Ft. Lewis, Wash., parade grounds. It was our first day of ROTC Summer Camp, and my platoon of 44 men (as there were no women in ROTC in those days) was assembled in front of our platoon commander, Sgt. First Class Jack Carden, AKA God, all 5’ 8” of him. He told us that the first thing we were going to learn was how to salute.

He began by describing that the hand salute was a two-count movement. The fingers were to be extended straight and joined. There was to be a straight line from our elbow to the tip of our little finger. When saluting, we were to bend our right arm at the elbow and bring it up on our “gig” line, meaning from the bottom of our pant zipper continuing up along the buttons of our blouse (yes, that’s the US Army’s term for our outer shirt) to slightly above our right eye. As the sun began to rise, SFC Carden then told us we would soon hear Reveille’s refrain and our nation’s flag would be raised.

Almost on cue, Reveille sounded, and we could see at the end of the parade ground the flag being raised. SFC Carden immediately called us all to attention and gave the order, “Present Arms!” All of us proudly executed our newly learned hand salute.

Next was our daily exercise routine. We had all been told to memorize the US Army Exercise Drill Number One as we would be individually leading the platoon in its 12 exercises. I had done so and somehow just knew that I would be called upon to demonstrate my new knowledge. Sure enough, SFC Carden called my name to get “Front and Center.” I exited my squad line by taking a step backwards, turning to my left and running (we ran everywhere that summer; there was no walking for us) to the end of the line, executing a right face, running to the front of the platoon and centering myself on it.

I announced to the platoon that exercise number one of Drill Number One was the “high jumper,” an eight-count movement of which we would do 10 repetitions and I demonstrated it. The first count was to assume a crouched position and then jump as high as we could, extending our arms upward. The second count was to drop to the push-up position — the Army called it the “front leaning rest position” — and do two push-ups for counts down 3, up 4, down 5, and up 6. Count 7 was to stand up and 8 was to return to the attention position.

After completing our exercising, we began our morning run, in formation with SFC Carden calling out cadence leading us around the parade ground. But, he stopped us in front of the American flag flapping in the breeze. We were grateful for the rest, but SFC Carden had another motive.

SFC Carden pointed to the American flag and said, “That’s my flag, it’s your flag. Now let me tell you what it means.” SFC Carden was a combat veteran of three wars, WWII, Korea and Vietnam. He had our undivided attention. “It means freedom,” he said. This highly decorated, high school dropout was lecturing us ego-driven college juniors, soon to be crowned US Army commissioned officers, what the American flag meant to him. We learned why we should cherish our flag.

SFC Carden told us that his flag meant respect for each other and for the US constitution, which we all would soon swear to protect and defend just as he had sworn to prior to his fighting in three wars. He told us that the flag was never to be disrespected by burning except when it was retired, nor spitting or stomping on it. The flag was to be held high so all could see and revere it. He told us how our flag was to be honored but not held up as a reason for personal ideologies.

“No!” he told us. His flag was for all of us, and we were always to remember that.

And I have—always.

It’s My Flag, it’s Your Flag

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