HENRICO COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — A patriotic display in a central Virginia community is showing appreciation for heroes, one flag at a time.
More than 140 American flags stand tall off of Williamsburg Road in the Sandston area of eastern Henrico County. “Flags for Heroes” is helping to honor heroes this Veterans Day, Sandston Rotary Club members put up the display for the holiday.
“It does give an extra opportunity for us as a community to step back and appreciate the sacrifice that people have made. And they’re still making,” Sandston Rotary Club member Tracy Pendleton said.
Beneath some of the flags are nametags, representing different heroes in people’s lives.
“Their definition of a hero, whether it’s someone who served in the military or someone who’s just a personal hero to them,” Pendleton said. “I know a great number of the names on these tags.”
Pendleton tends to the display often. His own father served in the military, and he said it’s an honor to give back to the community in this way.
“I’m very proud of his service. He wasn’t a lifelong military server, but he did serve during the Korean War,” Pendleton said about his father. “I’m very patriotic. So just flying the flags means a lot to me. Being able to do this for other people means a lot.”
Pendleton said the flags also go up on Memorial Day every year as well. He said they have hopes to go even bigger in the years to come.
“We think we can go to about 300-350 flags,” Pendleton said. “I think people respect what we’ve done, so that’s a nice feeling.”
The display will be up until Nov. 20th, weather permitting.
