Posted on 11/03/2012 6:18:43 PM PDT by Son House
A flag that was aboard the space shuttle Challenger when it exploded 25 years ago still flies in the Pikes Peak region, most recently Tuesday night at an Eagle Scout Courts of Honor.
The flag belongs to Boy Scout Troop 514 of Monument, which loans it to troops and organizations for special events. The troop has also carried it in parades.
Zach Anderson’s Eagle Scout ceremony Tuesday featured the flag, and he said he considered it another honor. The 17-year-old earned 43 merit badges in scouting — the highest number in Troop 777. His scouting career has brought him full circle, from receiving the top award in the same room where he starting scouting.
“The space exploration badge was the first merit badge I achieved,” he said.
The flag will be displayed at a dinner Thursday in Colorado Springs commemorating the Challenger tragedy. The event is a fundraiser for the Challenger Learning Center of Colorado.
Troop 514’s flag was part of the official flight kit that survived the doomed liftoff of Challenger in January 1986.
Sending the flag on the shuttle was the idea of retired Air Force Maj. Bill Tolbert, then scoutmaster of the Monument troop. The flag was recovered from the Atlantic Ocean and presented to Troop 514 in December 1986 by an astronaut who had flown on earlier Challenger missions.
The flag previously had flown over the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., and was given to the scouts by former Rep. Ken Kramer, R-Colo.
In 1987, Warren Berger, former chief justice of the United States and president of the Bicentennial Commission, designated the flag “the official flag of the bicentennial of the Constitution.” The Challenger flag also was displayed in Salt Lake City during the 2002 Winter Olympic games.
Read more: http://www.gazette.com/articles/flag-111789-challenger-troop.html#ixzz2BDAuIR9a
Bump
Just watched this rally and it was incredible. And I’m someone who came late to Romney in all this.
I’ve heard him mention the Challenger flag at other rallies, but this one being near Monument, Colorado, he invited the scoutmaster up who displayed the flag.
I have to say it was one of the more remarkable goosebump moments that I’ve seen in politics in quite a while.
Romney’s good some serious mojo going right now, and it couldn’t come at a better time for our nation.
Cool.
I have one that was flown on an AH64D Apache helicopter during the Kulang Hellion Air Assault.
OPERATION KULANG HELLION was the largest air assault since the onset of OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM and became a defining moment against a determined enemy force. This coalition assault force composed of American, Canadian, British and Dutch forces demonstrated valorous combat action by seizing key objectives, destroying insurgent forces and restoring security while aiding the terrorized Afghan people within the Upper Sangin River Valley.
Thanks for posting. Was at the Fiddler’s Green event on Saturday.
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