On Saturday, July 17, 2021, the Flag Poles Honoring Our Veterans honored Danny Dodson of Blackwell, Oklahoma. North West Chapter President, Cale Grauberger and Vice President, Roy Powell presented Mr. Dodson with an American flag and pole. Dodson is a 12-year veteran of the United States Army and served during the Desert Storm era. Dodson’s daughter-in-law Skylar Hardemon, a disabled veteran, contacted the Fat Guys Club and Veterans Upward Bound to find out how to have an American Flag and pole presented to her father-in-law, Danny Dodson. The information she received lead her to contact the Flag Poles Honoring Our Veterans organization.

The event started with the gathering of family, digging the hole for the flag pole, mixing the cement and the pour. Roy Powell presented Dodson with a certificate reading, “This is to certify that the flag of the United States of America was flown aboard a United States Air Force T-38C Talon over Enid, Oklahoma, in the Vance 1A Military Operations Area, executing a Single Ship Initial Transition Training Mission. The flag was flown on July 15, 2021, T-38C Tail Number 68-8144; 1st Lt. Cristian D. Alfonso was the instructor pilot with 2nd Lt. Johnathan R. Russell as the student pilot.” Powell said, “All the veterans flags presented from our chapter are flown for more significance of the presentation.”

The event continued with the raising of the American flag while reciting the Pledge of Allegiance by the group. Grauberger asked Dodson to share his military story and recorded the review on Facebook live to share on the group’s Facebook page.

Dodson joined the army in 1983 in the delayed entry program. He went to basic training January 1984 at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and trained for the 13 Romeo AIT at the Fort Sill base. Then to Fort Benning, Georgia for jump school and trained for the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He got out of the military for about a year, met and married Connie and went back into the Army. Dodson was stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, for 212th Field Artillery Brigade training, then he went to desert storm. After returning from desert storm he went to Hawaii in 24th Infantry Division and went through air assault school and stayed there for three years. He then returend to Fort Bragg and retired from the Army.

“I have watched some of my friends go by the way to protect it and they are the ones that really counted in something like this,” said Danny Dodson about the presentation of the pole and flag and what it meant to him. “There is no price, it is priceless to defend the flag by those people to protect our way of life and freedom.”

When taking the flag down and folding it, Grauberger and Powell spoke about the significance of the 13 folds of the American flag with the first fold a symbol of life. “Thank you for your service and everything you have done for our nation,” said Cale Grauberger, President of the Flagpoles Honoring Our Veterans North West Chapter to Mr. Dodson. Dodson and his wife Con

Dodson and his wife Connie have five children: Earl Hardemon, Shane Hardemon, Dianna Kuhn, Micheal Dodson, and Brianna Dodson.

John Gau, a corporate sponsor, makes special wooden flags to be presented to those who do not have a yard to install a flag pole; he also makes metal signs for the Flag Poles Honoring Our Veterans.

Flag Poles Honoring Our Veterans is a 501(c) 3 Non-Profit organization based entirely of volunteers. People who would like to nominate a veteran to receive a flag pole may email flagpolevets@gmail.com. To donate for the purchase of poles and flags, become a corporate sponsor, or volunteer please contact Cale Grauberger at 580-554-5011, mail donations to Cale Grauberger, 624 Brewer, Garber, Oklahoma, or email flagpolesforvetsnw@gmail.com. You may follow on the organization’s Facebook page at Flagpoles Honoring Our Veterans North West Chapter.