PERU — Clinton Delano, 86, of Peru is a World War II Army infantry veteran who loves the country for which he served and its flag.

“The American flag means everything to me, because my people fought to make this a country,” Delano said.

His ancestor, Jabaz Delano of Winthrop, served at the age of 16 in Gen. George Washington’s Army in 1776, along with Jabaz’s brothers.

That’s why he’s upset that the U.S. Post Office in Peru hasn’t been flying the American flag for more than a month and likely won’t have it up in time for Election Day or Veterans Day.

Delano said that two years ago a mechanism inside its flagpole broke, preventing the flag from being raised or lowered, so it isn’t being flown. He complained until the Post Office fixed the problem. Then the same thing happened a month ago, he said.

Frustrated, he contacted his friend Len Greaney, a Korean War veteran of Rumford, with whom Delano worked in the past to restore cemeteries and research veterans.

“Len is known for getting things done,” Delano, a retired logger and Rumford paper mill worker of 44 years, said at his Ridge Road home.

Greaney, in turn, contacted the offices of Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. Officials there told him they’d look into the situation.

Greaney said Thursday by email that he believes the postal service could remedy the situation until it could be fixed correctly.

He went to the Peru Post Office, where he said he learned that Postmaster Carol Powell had her husband, Selectman Richard “Dickie” Powell, place the flag on a wooden pole stuck in a cement block.

However, that makeshift flag was gone by Friday. Carol Powell said she was told to take it down, then deferred comment to Tom Rizzo, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service Northern New England District in Portland.

Rizzo said Friday that he wasn’t aware of who told Powell to take down the makeshift flag and pole, but would look into it.

He said Carol Powell has followed prescribed Postal Service procedures and submitted a request for funding to hire a local contractor to fix the pole.

“We will have it up as soon as practical,” Rizzo said.

He said Powell’s request is in the early stages of getting funding approval.

Delano and Greaney, however, are seeking a faster response.

“We are hopeful that the federal government will see the need to expedite a flagpole solution to have the American flag flying high on the Peru Post Office flagpole for the Nov. 6 election and for Veterans Day,” Nov. 11, Greaney said Thursday night by email.

He said the Peru Post Office “could have Old Glory flying from the existing flagpole before the Tuesday election” if the Postal Service would approve buying three “readily available” flagpole hardware parts.

These are a stainless steel pulley to attach to the top of the flag pole, a lanyard rope and a cleat to be mounted approximately 4 feet from the flagpole base to fix the position of the flag to full or half staff as required.

Greaney said the parts and an hour’s worth of labor to install them would cost $200 or less.

Greaney even suggested that a volunteer from the Peru Fire Department could implement the retrofit solution.

“The retrofit solution will allow a rapid response to the citizen complaint and provide a patriotic solution,” he said.

“To wait until mid- to late-November after the problem has already existed for over a month is not a process to admire,” he said.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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