Photograph of Three 5th-Grade Boys Taking Down School Flag Goes Viral
Three 5th-grade boys from Idaho are being recognized for their patriotic stewardship of the American flag at their school in Hayden, Idaho.
The boys attend Hayden Meadows Elementary School, and have the daily duty of taking down the school’s flag, folding it properly, and making sure it’s stored appropriately.
Schools around the country have a similar routine — typically, a handful of students are chosen and trained on the caring and handling of the American flag.
Parent Amanda Reallan told Inside Edition that she was waiting to pick her kids up from school one day when she noticed the boys’ attention to detail as they folded up the flag.
Reallan was impressed with the way two boys worked to fold the flag, while a third boy laid underneath the flag to make sure the flag would not touch the ground if accidentally dropped.
Reallan snapped a quick photo of the scene, which has quickly gone viral.
At Hayden Meadows, a custodian and Air Force veteran named Mac McCarty selected the boys for the job and trained them to care for the American flag.
“I’m a 20 year veteran of the United States Air Force, my father was a Marine, my grandfather was a Navy man,” McCarthy told KHQ.
“Mr. Mac,” as the students call him, believes in the value of giving students a sense of personal patriotism, and personally took it upon himself to pass down his knowledge to a younger generation.
The boys, Naylan Tuttle, Jack LeBreck and Casey Dolan, spoke with KHQ about what they’ve learned from taking care of the school’s flag.
“This is our nation’s flag, this is our school’s flag, it’s how we represent our country,” Jack said.
Naylan said he believes participating in his patriotic duty is something that would make his family proud.
“I think it would be very honorable for me, my dad and my grandfather, they’ve been in the service, in the military, so I probably think I would make them proud,” Naylan said.
McCarty is happy to boast about his mentees and their job well done.
“They did themselves proud, they did their families proud, they did our school proud and our community and I’m very proud of them and I’m sure their families are very proud of them as well,” McCarty said.
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