June 8, 2005

Trinity Lutheran raises flag for their special U.S. soldier

By Carol South
Herald contributing writer

       Students at Trinity Lutheran School have their very own GI Joe.
      In March, fifth and sixth grade students at the school began corresponding with Army Specialist Joe Zamora, a resident of North Carolina currently stationed in Iraq. They sent a package of letters written by students to Zamora and another soldier serving in Iraq. This effort was part of the school's celebration of National Lutheran Schools Week.
      Two months later, they were astonished at Zamora's response.
      In addition to replying personally to each letter, Zamora sent the students an American flag that had flown over Baghdad for a day, including a certificate of authenticity. Tapping Army friends, Zamora also had the flag flown in nine different locations around Iraq plus two bases in Kuwait. A good friend of his, he wrote to the students, also flew the flag on his truck during an eight-hour drive that returned it to Baghdad.
      "All of them were proud to help in making sure that this flag was unique and different from any other flag," said Zamora, 22, to the students in a letter accompanying the flag. "I truly hope that not only your class but even your school can have a piece of this history."
      School officials organized a ceremony Monday morning to dedicate the flag and raise it on the flagpole in front of the school. The Coast Guard Color Guard presented the colors while an honor guard from the local Veteran's of Foreign Wars post retired the old flag and dedicated the new one. Students, staff, parents and guests sang patriotic songs during the ceremony and together pledged allegiance to the new flag.
      Two students, Matt Hays, a fifth-grade student, and Meagan VanTil, a sixth-grade student, spoke about Zamora's gift.
      "The flag means we have freedoms and human rights to have our own religion," Hays said. "Not all nations are allowed to have the freedoms we have."
      Major General Alden Glauch, United States Air Force Retired, addressed the gathering at the beginning of the proceedings.
      A member of the Trinity Lutheran Church, Glauch grew up in Traverse City and served in the military for 39 years before retiring in 1981. A veteran of five wars, including World War II, Korea and Vietnam, Glauch said letters are crucial to soldiers in war zones. He endured many separations from his family during his service and noted that soldiers relish the words "mail call."
      "You develop quite a lonely feeling, as if no one cares," said Glauch of not receiving mail from home. "So this thing that you young people have done means a great deal to your GI Joe and to people who have had experiences such as I."
      "We all know that the price of freedom is not cheap and we are thankful for people like Specialist Zamora today," Glauch added.
      A helicopter from the Coast Guard Air Station conducted a fly over at the conclusion of the ceremony.
      A local connection brought Zamora and students at the Trinity Lutheran School together. Zamora's fianc‚, Breeanna Husband of North Carolina, has an aunt who lives in Interlochen. Her aunt, Judi Guith, works with the mother of a student at the school.
      Guith said that the letters and support of the school are meaningful to Zamora, a member of the U.S. Army Military Police Corps who has served in Afghanistan plus multiple hitches in Iraq.
      "He went over [to Iraq] shortly after Christmas and will be back for two weeks in June before returning until December," said Guith, noting Zamora wants to be a state trooper after completing his Army enlistment. "He's been in for almost four years."
      Zamora provides students with a living history lesson, noted Dan Dockery, a fifth-grade teacher at the school.
      "We've been studying Iraq and Kuwait but this is a face that makes the war for freedom real," he said, adding that the school will continue corresponding with Zamora.