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Nobody asked me, but flags matter

At the Comox Air Force Museum we recently installed two flag poles that now proudly fly the CF Ensign and the Air Force Ensign in our Heritage Aircraft Park. As they flew for the first time I looked up at them and thought to myself that “flags matter”.

They are proud symbols; they unify us as a nation and a society today just as they unified soldiers on battlefields in days gone by. The selection of a new national flag back in 1965 aroused strong emotions, both pro and con, and the outcome was our beautiful maple leaf flag.

This flag flies proudly on the shoulders of our men and women in uniform, and I know that people in a crisis turn to the soldier identified with the maple leaf, thanks to our great reputation as peacekeepers and, more importantly, as peacemakers.

The recent death of our ex-Governor General Romeo Leblanc saw flags at half-mast, this symbol of grief and respect is powerful. If you think selecting a new flag or flying it at half mast arouses emotions try seeing one burnt or otherwise debased: the reaction is very powerful and infuriating at a visceral level.

My wife and I attended the Boomer’s Legacy Fund Raiser in July, a wonderful cause that places money in the hands of our soldiers in Afghanistan enabling them to make a difference on the spot, all dedicated to Corporal Andrew Eykelenboom, the first medic to be killed in action since Korea. Numerous donated items were auctioned off: a $1200 racing bike went for around $1200, a $300 BC Lions game package raised about $300 etc. There were two Canadian flags that had each flown over the CF camp at Kandahar for an hour on Canada Day. The flags retail for around $40 each, yet when they were auctioned off they were sold for $1700 each. This to me is absolute proof that flags matter.

For more information contact:

Comox Air Force Museum
Military Row/Ryan Road, Comox, B.C.
Tel. 250-339-8126
www.comoxairforcemuseum.ca

“To live in a nation and not know its history is akin to being a leaf and being unaware of the tree.”

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