A New National Symbol of Remembrance

January 25, 2009 By CJ
Posted in Uncategorized

A new emblem has been created that will serve to honor and remember the sacrifices of military service men and women who have given the ultimate sacrifice to their nation.

CHESAPEAKE, Virginia — A flag that commemorates military men and women who died in service to their country is the subject of a petition to the Department of Defense and United States Congress for national recognition. Honor and Remember Inc., a Chesapeake-based non-profit organization, is circulating a petition to have the “Honor and Remember Flag” officially sanctioned as a national flag. The new emblem would fill a void in the officially recognized assemblage of American symbols.

“In the more than 200 years since our nation’s founding, 1.6 million men and women have made the ultimate sacrifice in wars and conflicts as members of the United States military,” said George Lutz, founder of Honor and Remember Inc. “Yet there is no tangible national symbol by which we honor these heroes, nothing to remind us daily that they should not be forgotten, nothing to say thank you.”

An unveiling ceremony for the Honor and Remember Flag was held on Monday, May 26, 2008, at the MacArthur Memorial Museum in downtown Norfolk. Congresswoman Thelma Drake was a special guest at the event, which included remarks from George Lutz, the flag’s originator. The ceremony also featured the singing of the national anthem, the ODU color guard and the raising of the Honor and Remember Flag.

The Honor and Remember Flag combines stars used by the military to designate service, an eternal flame and a folded American flag in its design, which is intended to evoke reverence and appreciation for the lives cut short in service to America. The goal of the petition effort is to have the flag flown continuously at all official governmental venues and by every household that wishes to honor those who gave their lives in service to their country.

“Our goal is to collect one point six million signatures on a petition that will be delivered to the Department of Defense and then to Congress, requesting that the Honor and Remember Flag be officially designated as a national flag. We want one signature for every life lost in service to our country,” said Lutz.

“The idea for the Honor and Remember Flag was the result of losing my own son in the Iraq War,” said Lutz. “Tony was killed by a sniper in December 2005, while he was on patrol in Fallujah. Our family went through all of the stages that follow such a tragedy: shock, grief , numbness and acceptance. But as I visited other families who lost young people in the war and as I attended the funerals of other fallen service men and women, it occurred to me that there was no lasting, tangible symbol that these families could use to honor their lost loved one. There are two things that parents long for when they lose a child this way. First, they want their child’s death not to have been in vain and secondly, they want their child’s sacrifice to be remembered.”

The Honor and Remember Flag is displayed online with an electronic petition, available at http://www.honorandremember.org/. So far, Lutz has received enthusiastic support and encouragement from various military and veteran representatives and organizations. Nevertheless, he intends to gain grassroots support for the Honor and Remember Flag through this petition.

One important goal of Honor and Remember Inc. is to place a personalized Honor and Remember Flag in the hands of every living parent who has lost a child in service to America.

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