National Veterans Flagpoles United planted 22 flagpoles for veterans on Sunday, November 5th, to bring awareness to the 22 veterans we lose every day due to suicide. A large group met at Jackson’s of Enid to prepare everything to break into three groups. According to Richard Riggins, this group was the biggest that had shown up for a flagpole ceremony in 3 years.
Once the groups were settled, Cale Grauberger and Vice President Roy went together for the first two flagpoles. All the flagpoles already had the cement settled and bases placed to save time for the ceremonies. It was an emotional moment seeing the veteran’s new flag being raised; as a symbol of the sacrifice that they made for this country.
The first veteran to receive a flagpole was Jerod Clark; a veteran who served in the Air Force. President of NVFU Cale Grauberger spoke to Jerod about his history serving the country. “I was an Egress Specialist . . . did that for five years, got out, worked for Vance Air Force Base for 20, and work is real taxing on the body.”
Cale asked him what he worked on in Vance, and he responded that he worked on ejection seats for the A10, A15, A16, T6, T31, and T37 aircrafts.
