By TSGT. ARLO TAYLOR
Special to The Leader
Little Rock Air Force Base Heritage Park was a solemn sea of red, white and blue with 1,400 miniature American flags marking Flag Day Thursday.
The Flag Day ceremony and prayer service were the idea of Air Force Reserve Chaplain (1st Lt.) John Weeks, who is assigned to the base chapel.
“We are in a high operations tempo, and people need to remember what it is we are standing for,” Chaplain Weeks said.
“The traditions and symbolic importance of the flag since that time,” he said, referring to the nation’s beginnings, “cannot be overstated. Most people don’t think too much about Flag Day and let it go by without much fanfare. I think it is important to our fighting men and women to honor their service,” he said.
The observance also offered an opportunity to remember fellow service members who are deployed fighting the global war on terror, the chaplain said.
“The goal was to highlight the patriotism that exists here and honor our fighting men and women,” Weeks said.
“I wanted to remind people that our mission here has a greater and more historic value than we think about in our day-to-day operations,” the chaplain explained.
“I also wanted to provide an opportunity for the community on base to express their prayer concerns about the global war on terrorism as it affects their friends, family, co-workers and all military members,” he said.
