The American flag donated to Brattain Early Learning Center by 1st Sgt. Reginald Daniels was burned and left flying at half-staff.
According to KVAL.com, after installing a new playground at the Springfield, Oregon school months ago, Daniels noticed the school did not have a flag on its flagpole.
“I say here, take this, display it in front of the school. I think it would be good for the community to see that,” said Daniels presenting the flag to the school.
Friday morning of last week a fellow active duty Marine got a call from the school saying they needed a price tag on the flag. That’s when Daniels was informed of what happened and made his way to the school staff meeting. He was at a loss of words after seeing someone had pulled the flag down from its pole and burned it.
“Some of the teachers kind of teared up a little bit and then they took me in to the back room and showed me the flag that was burned,” Daniels said.
Daniels got a new flag from his office and gave it to the school. A married father or 2 kids who has served 3 tours in Afghanistan and Iraq wants the community to be aware of what happened.
“The flag represents something a lot bigger than all the military services,” Daniels said. “We put the uniform on to protect it, so that you and I and the little kids in the school can have something better. “It’s bigger than you taking the time to burn the flag in our own country.”
He continues to say, “I love this country and what it stands for. I know everybody has their views, but I think everybody can have something that they can look proudly at, and that’s – I take pride in the flag. Someone out there thinks that this is OK. And this is the exact reason why I wear this uniform, so that – to show them that it’s not.”
