Volunteers from throughout the San Jacinto Valley converged on Gibbel Park in the early morning hours of Saturday, Nov. 9 to “plant” 1,776 flags in advance of the City of Hemet’s annual Veteran’s Day Ceremony the following Monday.
What started as a Hemet-San Jacinto Exchange Club the Flags of Freedom project in 2012 has grown into a community-wide show of support for veterans and their families.
Lakshman Koka, who heads the flag committee for the Exchange Club, said, “For me, it’s an honor to serve our community. I was not born here so I did not have the opportunity to serve this country in the military so I want to serve the community in any way that I can.” Koka was born in India and came to America as a teenager.
At 6 a.m., David McDonough of Hemet pulled his flatbed trailer filled with all the rolled-up flags onto the park’s grassy area nearest the Hemet Veterans Memorial. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Hemet provides a storage unit for the flags during the year. McDonough joined the Exchange Club to keep active in the community. “My father was in the club, and I followed in his footsteps,” he said.
Hemet Mayor Joe Males is the former Post Commander for American Legion Post 53 in Hemet. The Marine Corps veteran said he got involved in helping each year “because of Koka, a man I look up to.” Post members Robert Farris (Second Vice Commander) and Aree Williams Jr., are both U.S. Army veterans who were lending a hand with the flag placement. Williams is part of the Post’s Honor Guard participating in Monday’s ceremony.
Christine Formica was able to secure at least 50 volunteers through www.justserve.org that lists volunteerism opportunities in the community. She has been assisting, alongside her husband Ed Formica, since the Flags of Freedom project began.
“In 2020, some people thought we shouldn’t do it because of COVID but we came and did it on a smaller scale, wearing masks and keeping six feet apart, of course,” she said. “It was so uplifting. Cars were honking as they passed by, and it just added to this project’s continuity.”
Koka said JROTC cadets and Explorers participate each year, as well as many club members from local high schools looking for projects to fulfill their high school graduation requirement of community service hours. Christine Formica was happy to help them get certified for the time they spent setting up the 3-ft.x 5-ft. flags.
The process is a group holds up rope in a straight line so rebar can be laid down on the ground under it. Once the rebar has been pounded into the ground, the hollowed-out flagpoles can be easily placed over each one.
Exchange Club member Mike Gow has been volunteering every year since the project began. He helps out by providing off road vehicles that can hold the 1,776 pieces of rebar in the beds.
Koka said the sea of flags represents something different to everyone and many people visit the park just to walk among the flags and reflect. Some are veterans, some have lost family members to war, and some are just proud patriots. “Everybody has a story,” Koka said.
The concrete walkway that leads to the entrance of the Hemet Veterans Memorial that is fenced off from the park, is flanked with memorial flags. Anyone is free to donate $35 to have a yellow ribbon added to the flagpole that honors someone or just supports the project.
Kevin Harrison of Hemet has close friends in the Exchange Club and is happy to help take care of the flags. “I was there to help put this together back then,” said Harrison, who served in the U.S. Navy for two years. “I appreciate what this means not only to veterans who have served but to America. The flag has so much meaning. They call me the keeper of the flags and I feel that these are like my children.”
Harrison takes flags to the Hemet Veterans Memorial for Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Flag Day when the branch of service flags are posted there.
Jeremiah Herterich, who works for Bullard, a global company that makes training and safety equipment for firefighters, has been volunteering for years and has family members who are veterans. “It’s a great way to pay respect to them,” he said, as he was joined by three of his five children that morning. “I think it’s important that they learn that everything comes at a cost. This gives us an opportunity of teaching our young ones that freedom is not free.” He said paying homage to those who served this country by putting out all these flags for Veterans Day is “the least we can do.”
Kirby Herterich, 12, said, “It makes me feel good to be here. I get to see how the magic happens.” Lily Herterich celebrates her 17th birthday on Veterans Day. “Once I was old enough to comprehend, I thought it was really cool and so special to share a holiday that is so important to this country.”
Cyndi Lemke, the Business Development Officer for Legacy Bank and former Executive Director for the Hemet San Jacinto Chamber of Commerce, said she started volunteering with the Flags of Freedom project to honor her late father who served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. She has also gotten to know many of the veterans from American Legion Post 848 in San Jacinto.
“That’s why I do so much for veterans,” Lemke said. “It makes me feel closer to my dad. It’s so important that every veteran knows that there is help out there for them.”
Porter Rusche, 12, was volunteering for the third year, doing whatever was needed. “My great grandpa was a veteran,” he said. Victoria Shockey, 17, has been helping since she was very young. Her father, Steve Shockey, is a Marine Corps veteran and was one of the early arrivers at 6 a.m. to help plot out the morning’s activities.
Matt Huff, who teaches physical education at McSweeney Elementary, was appointed the unofficial director of the event and used his PE teacher voice to galvanize the group into action. He was very effective and with all the extra hands pitching in, the job was completed in just a couple of hours.
“Anything and everything can be done if you have a good group of volunteers and we sure did this morning,” Koka said.
Veronica Damian-Hawkes is the Executive Director for The Greater Hemet-San Jacinto Chamber of Commerce and when she learned about the event at the Nov. 7 Hemet State of the City address, she committed to being there. “It’s nice to be able to come together as a community,” she said. “It’s an honor to be able to come out to do this for our veterans.”
The City’s 10 a.m. The Veteran’s Day ceremony commemorates the brave service of local heroes, ensuring their legacies are forever honored. Following the ceremony, community members could enjoy festivities and access veteran-related services at the park. Gibbel Park is at 2350 W. Latham Ave. in Hemet at the northwest corner of Kirby and Florida avenues.
