Living up to its name: Flag Day 2025 is made even more memorable for rural Lansing resident Walter Martin by Veteran Flagpole Initiative

Flag Day took on some extra special meaning for rural Lansing resident Walter Martin this year.

Observed June 14 each year, Flag Day commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States June 14, 1777, by resolution of the Second Continental Congress. During Flag Day 2025, Saturday, June 14, Martin was one of 24 Veterans of the Vietnam War from across the state of Iowa to be honored by the Veteran Flagpole Initiative, a group that has been installing new flag poles and providing new U.S. and State of Iowa flags to fly on those poles over the past four years to serve as “a permanent visual reminder of our appreciation for their service and sacrifice,” according to the volunteer organization’s website.

SERVICE AND HONOR
Martin served in Vietnam from June 1966 through the following June in 1967 as a member of the U.S. Army 62nd Engineer Battalion, which is a combat engineer unit primarily focused on mobility, counter-mobility, and survivability operations in support of combat initiatives. Martin attended boot camp in 1965 at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri, where he underwent Jungle Warfare Training. Like many who served in that particular conflict, although service to their country is a source of pride, it is rarely a topic of conversation.

With her own sense of pride in her father and his service to his country, Martin’s oldest daughter, Maria Miene of Waukon, nominated her dad for the honoring in March 2024, having his name added to a waiting list of Veterans to experience the accolades. The Veteran Flagpole Initiative website explains that an individual Veteran can be immediately sponsored for a flag installation for a $750 fee. Otherwise, as funds are raised from outside donated sources to an amount of $500, a nominated Veteran will be selected for such an honor from the accumulated waiting list.

“He was not guaranteed a flag, but I thought, what was I out by trying,” Miene explained. She was pleasantly surprised to be contacted by Veteran Flagpole Initiative President Eric Dolash earlier this year to tell her that her father had been selected to have a flagpole installed on Flag Day of this year.

This year’s focus on the flag pole installations has been geared more specifically toward Vietnam Veterans. As part of that focus, in addition to his flag pole installation during the late morning of Saturday, June 14, Martin was also invited to take part in a Vietnam Veteran Evening of Honor hosted by the Veteran Flagpole Initiative that same Saturday late afternoon into the evening in Waverly, an event offering Vietnam Veterans “the welcome home they never received,” according to event promotional material.

FLAG DAY INSTALLATION
The Flag Day installation involved a team of four volunteers from the Veteran Flagpole Initiative arriving later in the morning Saturday, June 14 at Martin’s home on State Highway 9 close to halfway between Waukon and Lansing. As one of seven install teams from throughout the state of Iowa, this particular team was conducting several flag pole installs that day and had made the trip northeast from their homes that are all around the Des Moines area, according to install team leader Aaron Creger.

Having gone through the proper locate channels with Iowa One Call to avoid hitting any underground utilities, the group got to work after initially meeting Martin and his family and friends in attendance. First augering a hole into the ground, the crew then mixed the concrete that would fill the hole, placing a PVC pipe in the middle that would serve to hold the flag pole in place.

Once the manual labor was complete, Creger said it was his honor to present Martin with an American flag, and then he and his crew helped Martin attach that flag and a State of Iowa flag also gifted to Martin to the telescopic flag pole, which also has a solar-powered light attached at the top. The flags were then raised on the pole as a final symbolic completion of the honoring, which Creger says is always one of his favorite parts.

“We love to meet the Veterans and their families, and to hear the stories they are willing to share,” Creger said. “But the feeling I enjoy the most is when those flags are finally raised and those family members and friends gather around their Veteran for photos and congratulations. It makes everything we do that much more worth it, knowing that this is our little way of thanking them for their service and seeing the emotions that can stem from that.”

To read the full article, pick up the Wednesday, June 25, 2025 print edition of The Standard or subscribe to our e-edition or print edition by clicking here.