TULSA, Okla. — Saluting America, for one veteran means sticking hundreds of flags in the lawns of his neighborhood every year.
On this Independence Day, Gary Britt had to get creative.
To anyone driving by, the hill on Britt’s front yard is just a pile of gravel, but he saw it as an opportunity.
“I saw that stack and it made me think of that other picture of the four, five people in World War II planting the flag on the hill,” said Gary Britt.
When Britt looks at the American flag he stuck in the middle of his gravel hill, he gets, “a feeling of hope, that everything’s going to be okay.”
Britt served during the Vietnam war from 1964 to ‘72. The most important attribute of that time Britt says he carries is, “discipline, discipline, do the same thing the same way every time.”
That even translates into a prideful ritual. The patriot never misses a chance to stick a flag on the lawn. He does the neighbors’ too.
“Each time I put them out, I ask a neighbor, ‘Do you mind if I put some in your yard? I’ll put them out and take them up,’” Britt said.
For four years, placing American flags around his neighborhood is tradition during every military-related holiday. Except, he had to change the routine July 4, 2020.
Material was delivered two days ago to reconstruct the front yard. So, along with the pile of gravel, stacks of bricks get flags too.
Britt said, “It’s about other folks appreciating what people who gave their lives to the military, what they did for this country.”
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