What a display of gallantry.
One Eagle Scout to another.
Posted on 04/23/2005 1:46:47 PM PDT by BenLurkin
LANCASTER - It was an American flag, faded, dirt-stained and frayed, ready really for respectful destruction. But it was a special flag, distinguished enough that someone just couldn't let it go.
A Boy Scout who fought with the Marines in Iraq brought the flag home. The flag flew during the battle of Fallujah, and later, it whipped in the wind above Baghdad International Airport, formerly Saddam International Airport.
The Boy-Scout-turned-Marine, who requested anonymity, wondered if the flag might be used for some future good purpose. To raise funds for Scouting, maybe? And perhaps to serve as a piece of woven history.
A gathering of 400 Scouts and their families, community supporters of Scouts, also Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, SpaceShipOne maestro Burt Rutan and dozens of troops recently home from Iraq turned out for the American Heroes Dinner at the Essex House on Thursday night.
The dinner was organized to honor the memory of another Boy Scout supporter, the late state Sen. William J. "Pete" Knight. It was a dinner to remark on Knight, the hero X-15 pilot with astronaut wings earned in test flight, a veteran of 253 combat missions in Vietnam and the Antelope Valley's political elder statesman before his death last year.
The Heroes dinner raised nearly $90,000, with proceeds devoted to Scouting programs, event chairman Ron Smith said.
Escorted to the stage by Knight's police officer son, Stephen, the senator's wife, Gail, accepted honors.
Looking at the distinguished company, Gail Knight said, "The only thing missing is Pete."
The dinner was literally a night of American heroes, and more. It was a night of big moments.
Burt Rutan regaled the audience with a spellbinding description of the future of people in space. Walk of Honor hero, retired Air Force Col. Larry D. McClain delivered a speech in poetic meter about the joy and terror of the pilot's life.
"I've hit about everything that can be hit with a plane … birds … bullets … the ground."
Among those big moments, few would be more emotionally overwhelming than the drama surrounding the flag, and a particular family, with close ties to Scouting, and to service to community and church.
Organizers of the dinner accorded special honors for an Eagle Scout, Justin Wotasik.
Eagles have special meaning in America, Buzz Aldrin told the gathering, recalling that his Apollo moon lander was dubbed "The Eagle." In Scouting, Eagle is the highest rank. An eagle symbolizes the American spirit, he said.
Justin Wotasik was an Eagle Scout, and an elite Air Force para-rescue commando. He was killed in the line of duty in a night operations training flight, just shy of his 20th birthday. He became an Eagle Scout at the age of 14, and the skills acquired in Scouting helped propel him through the rigors of Air Force commando training that involved parachuting, underwater operations and other hazardous duty.
He was killed training with the 66th Rescue Squadron, whose mission is recovery of downed air crew. Their motto: "We do these things that others might live."
On Thursday night, his parents, Gary and Julie Wotasik, were honored for their son's contribution to Scouting and his country.
Justin's grandfather and grandmother, Bill and Louise Norris, have raised generations of Scouts, including Airman 1st Class Wotasik's younger brother, Jared, an Eagle Scout who is now 20, just a bit older than the age of his brother when he was killed in the tragic helicopter crash at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada almost seven years ago.
"He lived the dream," Julie Wotasik told a room full of people who spent a night hearing about dreams and deeds that ranged from flying to the moon, to flying and crashing test planes, to building the world's first privately built space ship and sending it aloft safely.
"We want to thank you for honoring Justin, and for honoring his memory," Gary Wotasik said.
Flags flown over the national and state capitols were presented to one of the Valley's first families of Scouting by representatives for Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon and Rep. William "Bill" Thomas. Also presented were scrolls, certificates and plaques from state lawmakers including state Sen. George Runner and Assemblywoman Sharon Runner, R-Lancaster. Each award was accepted with grace. Justin's sister, Julianne , a missionary in Papua, New Guinea, was able to see her brother's honors.
Symbols like the eagle and the flag have power in people's hearts and emotions that defy description in words.
Lancaster Councilman Ed Sileo, active in the Antelope Valley District of Boy Scouts of America, described ground rules for an auction. This special auction, he cautioned, needed to run free of bidding frenzy or an atmosphere of commercialism. Money raised would be used to send children from disadvantaged families to Scout camps.
The flag was not simply up for grabs to the highest bidder. It needed the respect earned not only for its natural majesty, but for the American troops who watched and saluted it and shed blood beneath it in combat with a ruthless enemy.
"It's true that whoever bids the highest amount gets to take the flag home," Sileo told the packed room. "But whoever bids the highest amount becomes the conservator of the flag. What is a conservator, exactly?"
Sileo explained the high bidder's responsibility would be to work with Boy Scout officials to handle the artifact in such a way that Scouting would benefit, and that young people could be educated about Old Glory and this flag and its particular significance as colors that had seen battle.
Bidding was fierce among the Scout boosters, and quickly narrowed to a trio of competitors. They were Frank Visco, former GOP state chairman, Dr. Abdallah Farrukh, prominent physician and Antelope Valley Hospital board member and attorney R. Rex Parris.
Who would own this flag? The bids nudged up in $500 increments, sometimes $1,000 benchmarks, and sometimes the ante went up a couple of thousand bucks a bid. A series of intense silent gestures signaled the passion in the quest for guardianship of this flag of honor.
The bidding reached it high mark at $17,000, exciting quiet gasps from the audience. Attorney Parris submitted the high bid and walked purposefully to the head table to collect the triangle of cloth, folded neatly in a ceremonial case.
The attorney cradled the case in his arms, turned about and crossed the room in the direction of his own table.
Almost reaching his seat at his table, the attorney shifted direction and carried the flag to a nearby table. There, he offered the battle-scarred colors to the mother of Airman 1st Class Justin Wotasik, Eagle Scout, killed in the line of duty, Sept. 3, 1998.
ping
Oops, wrong rat.
bttt
What a display of gallantry.
One Eagle Scout to another.
glad it was posted, I guess I missed it on the news -
forgot the "sarc" :O)
This is a great story. Many people delight in taking shots at California but you and I know that there is another California that doesn't make the news. It's a place with broad vistas of mountains, deserts, canyons and valleys.
It was settled and is still inhabited by people who are independent by nature and possess a rugged disposition, unafraid of a little discomfort and willing to drop everything for the sake of a fellow in need.
They vote for and are represented by people like Pete Knight, Buck McKeon, George and Sharon Runner, and let's not forget Tom McClintock. I'm proud to have had the opportunity to cast a ballot for most of these individuals and I'm glad to say that I've never been disappointed.
Agree 100%
A gift for EagleUSA !!! ;-))
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