May 24, 2015 7:58 pm • By Carmen Duarte

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More than 2,000 flags mark veterans’ graves at Evergreen Mortuary & Cemetery this Memorial Day.

Members of the American Legion Morgan McDermott Post 7 — the oldest in Tucson, dating to 1919 — along with volunteers put Old Glory at the graves to honor all veterans for their service.

Memorial Day, which was formerly known as Decoration Day, was established in 1868 after the Civil War. In 1971, Congress declared it a national holiday and moved it from May 30 to the last Monday in May.

For post auxiliary member Mary Manges, the day brings back emotional memories for those who survived war but saw buddies die on battlefields. The day is emotional for the families, relatives and friends of soldiers who never returned, and for those who did but were forever changed by the bloodshed.
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January 14, 2015 6:00 pm • By Carmen Duarte

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When employees at a north-side flooring company arrived for work Monday morning they were stunned to discover that someone had stolen the American flag from the company’s 70-foot flagpole.

“The flag disappeared sometime after 5 p.m. Friday and before 5 a.m. Monday,” said Amy McDaniel, a sales representative for J.R. McDade Flooring Co., 3650 N. Oracle Road, just north of West Prince Road. “Who would steal an American flag?”
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By Jocelyn Valencia | Published 09/10/14 7:18pm

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A historic moment will take place at the Chase Building, Tucson’s first skyscraper, today at 9 a.m. for the first time in 75 years. Flags for the Flagless, an organization that installs flags on unused or abandoned flagpoles, founded by Tucson police officers Charley Foley and his partner Bradley Clark, arranged the ceremony.

Two American interment flags that draped the coffins of Tucson World War II veterans, Alvin E. Miller and Joseph C. Yanek, will be raised at the skyscraper. The flags were donated by the families of the veterans, Miller’s son and Yanek’s widow, in an effort to bring them back to life.
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September 09, 2014 6:00 pm • By Kimberly Matas

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Patriotism and peace are the themes for two events today in remembrance of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

At 9 a.m., flags that draped the coffins of two Tucson veterans of World War II will be raised on poles recently reinstalled on the Chase Building downtown, 2 E. Congress St.
The flags were donated to Flags for the Flagless by the families of Alvin E. Miller, a sergeant in the Army Air Corps from 1941 to 1944 who died in 1989; and Joseph C. Yanek, a command sergeant major in the Army from 1942 to 1973. Yanek, who also served during the Korean and Vietnam wars, died in 2008.
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