Last Friday the Stars and Stripes that has stood guard over Newport’s 1/1 Marine Memorial in Castaways Park, and Newport Beach itself, lost a small battle to Mother Nature.
A spring storm packing an unusually strong punch rolled into Newport Beach and the exposed bluff above Coast Highway and the flag were battered with strong winds. The pole apparatus and line that secured the flag was apparently broken by the intense winds. Exactly what happened is not known.
This reporter happened to be in Castaway’s park at around 6 p.m. last Friday on a photo safari. The weather was unusually cold, windy and downright nasty. A gale force wind battered the bluff where the flag stood.
When I rounded the corner that day and the flag and the memorial came into view I was taken aback at what I saw.
The U.S. flag was flying upside down and only a few feet off the ground. The wind was whipping the tattered flag and it was clear something or someone had damaged the line that held it in place.
What struck me at that moment was something that many people may not know. A U.S. flag flying upside down is a distress signal. This U.S. flag was clearly in distress for anybody to see. In my mind this flag was trying to tell anybody that came upon it, that it was in the need of help.
I called 911. The officer I spoke with at the NBPD could barely hear me over the roar of the wind. I relayed the information that the flag at the Marine memorial in Castaway Park was flying upside down close to the ground and that the line had broken.
The officer told me she would alert the city to the problem.
The next day when I returned to Castaway Park the flag had been removed. I expected a new flag would be up in its place very soon.
As the weekend passed and Sunday turned to Monday I again wondered if the flag had been replaced. I decided to go back and check Monday morning.
I was quickly disappointed because what I saw was an empty flagpole. no flag, nothing.
On the short drive home I remembered I had recently purchased a very large new cloth U.S. flag. I had hoped to display the flag at the annual Forth of July celebration at Mariner’s Park in Newport Beach last year, but it’s sheer size and weight overpowering any flagpole I have.
It dawned on me the flagpole at the Castaway Park and Marine 1/1 Memorial seemed the perfect match. I then contacted the City and offered to donate my U.S. flag to fly over the location.
The City responded kindly to my offer. They informed me that the flagpole itself was damaged and needed repairs before a new flag could be raised into place.
City spokesperson Tara Finnegan, City Manager Dave Kiff and Councilman Keith Curry all responded to it with gratitude and thanks. I even got the impression that my donated flag would soon be flying over the memorial in short order.
Tuesday, Finnegan informed me the city would be repairing the flagpole Wednesday morning and re-flying a U.S. flag immediately thereafter. The city, she said, had a replacement flag ready to go. No special ceremony would take place when the new flag was put up.
Wednesday morning I went out to the site to see a city crew fix the flagpole. They hoisted a new flag back up the pole. Once again the Castaways Park 1/1 Marine Memorial has a U.S. flag flying proudly over the site.
Remember, if you see a U.S. flag flying upside down, in Newport Beach or anywhere else, keep in mind the flag is probably trying to tell you something.
All you have to do is listen.
Maybe that ol’ flag was trying to say WE, the United States, is in trouble. What with all that’s going on now, I wouldn’t doubt that’s what the ol’ gal was trying to say…
I don’t know about everyone else, but I was a bit shocked when I first looked at this photo.
Even if the flag was blown down by high winds, it just does not seem appropriate to print a large photo like this and have it posted on any of our newspapers.
Not only is a flag flown upside down a signal of distress, it is also hung that way by haters of USA. Maybe the writer and publisher didn’t mean it this way, but to me, this photo is nothing but a embarrassment to our Country.