{"id":2275,"date":"2026-10-09T11:32:59","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T18:32:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/northwestvets.com\/blog1\/?p=2275"},"modified":"2026-10-09T11:33:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T18:33:00","slug":"sea-cadets-carry-the-flag-mission-forward-by-jay-gal-founder-guardians-of-old-glory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/northwestvets.com\/blog1\/sea-cadets-carry-the-flag-mission-forward-by-jay-gal-founder-guardians-of-old-glory\/","title":{"rendered":"Sea Cadets Carry the Flag Mission Forward by Jay Gal, Founder, Guardians of Old Glory"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sea Cadets Carry the Flag Mission Forward<\/strong><\/h2>\n

By Jay Gal, Founder, Guardians of Old Glory<\/em><\/h3>\n

On October 3, Guardians of Old Glory had the privilege of presenting 100 new, American-made American flags to the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps\u2019 Scorpion Squadron 13-2 during a special ceremony at the U.S. Naval Undersea Museum in Keyport, Washington.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Approximately 50 people attended the ceremony, including Bremerton Mayor Greg Wheeler, members of the United States Marine Corps, Sea Cadet leadership, cadets and their families.<\/p>\n

The 100 flags were purchased by Guardians of Old Glory<\/em> with funding generously provided by Frank Siller, founder of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation<\/em><\/a>. Their support helped put these flags directly into the hands of young Americans who will now carry the mission forward in their own communities.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Sea Cadets will use the flags to identify homes and businesses displaying worn, faded or tattered American flags. They can then offer to replace those flags at no cost and ensure the old flags are retired respectfully and properly.<\/p>\n

But there is another important part of the mission.<\/p>\n

We asked the cadets that when they replace a flag, they take a moment to ask the homeowner a simple question:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat does the American flag mean to you?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

That question can open the door to some remarkable conversations. The person they meet could be a veteran or first responder reflecting on years of service, a military family sharing the story of a loved one, or an immigrant who came to this country, became an American citizen, and can describe what the flag and the promise of America mean to them. It could also be someone remembering a parent or grandparent who served. Every answer is personal, and those stories matter.<\/p>\n

Guardians of Old Glory was created not only to replace worn American flags, but also to help preserve the respect, history and personal meaning represented by the Stars and Stripes. By putting flags into the hands of young people and encouraging them to engage with veterans, first responders, military families, new Americans and other members of their communities, we hope to help pass that sense of responsibility and patriotism to the next generation.<\/p>\n

We are extremely grateful to the Scorpion Squadron 13-2 cadets and their leadership, the Marines who participated in the ceremony, Mayor Greg Wheeler for showing his support, the U.S. Naval Undersea Museum for allowing us to gather at such a meaningful location, and Frank Siller and the Tunnel to Towers Foundation for helping make the donation of these 100 flags possible.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For Guardians of Old Glory, the ceremony in Keyport wasn\u2019t the end of the story.<\/p>\n

It was the beginning of 100 new opportunities for a young person to walk up to a home, replace a worn American flag with a new one, respectfully retire the old flag, and hear firsthand what Old Glory means to the person who flies it. So their story can be heard and live on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sea Cadets Carry the Flag Mission Forward By Jay Gal, Founder, Guardians of Old Glory On October 3, Guardians of Old Glory had the privilege of presenting 100 new, American-made American flags to the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps\u2019 Scorpion … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-feature-stories","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/northwestvets.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/northwestvets.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/northwestvets.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northwestvets.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northwestvets.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2275"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/northwestvets.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2285,"href":"https:\/\/northwestvets.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2275\/revisions\/2285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/northwestvets.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northwestvets.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northwestvets.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}