SUMNER – A simple request for new flags resulted in Hartford-Sumner Elementary School students receiving some special ones and an inspiring lesson on patriotism on the first day of spring.
Sarah McCarthy, an aide to U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, presented the school an American flag that had flown over the U.S. Capitol in Washington. The flag came in a special case with a certificate of authenticity.
State Rep. Bruce Hanley, R-Paris, who represents Sumner, Hartford, Buckfield and Paris, presented the school a Maine state flag that had flown over the state capitol in Augusta.
The student body, parents and friends gathered to watch as staff Sgts. Angela Damon and Michael Labonte raised the flags. Damon and Labonte marched to the flagpole and raised the flags with military precision and honors as those watching stood at attention with their hands over their hearts. The sergeants had served together in Iraq with the 133rd Combat Engineer Battalion.
The group then gathered in the school gymnasium where Principal Lucy Johnson introduced the special guests. Numerous children’s hands went up when Johnson asked if any were related to Damon or Labonte.
Sixth-grade flutist Ashley Hutchinson played the national anthem as all stood facing the flag. The school chorus then sang a medley of traditional patriotic songs.
McCarthy spoke to the students about being good citizens. She shared Collins’ thought that an important part of being a good citizen is to help others and be a good steward.
Hanley encouraged the children to think of serving in government. He said they had the potential to serve at many levels, and even the White House was within their grasp.
When Damon, who graduated from Hartford-Sumner Elementary School a few years ago, took the floor, the students asked numerous questions. Damon spoke about how important the skills she had acquired at the school were in her career as a soldier. She also spoke about respect for the U.S. flag and the proper way to handle it.
In answering one student’s question about service in Iraq, she said, “Yes, some of it was scary, but some of it was fun.”
The children expressed awe when she said that her present boss required his staff to do 20 push-ups every hour.
Damon’s 2-year-old son, Gavin, sat proudly on his grandfather’s shoulders as his mother spoke. Her father said she first told him she wanted to be a soldier when she was 10 years old.
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