PALMDALE – About 50 residents gathered at Poncitlán Square Thursday to celebrate the adoption of the Stars and Stripes.
The annual ceremony was hosted by the Antelope Valley Service Organization Association (AVSOA) in honor of Flag Day, which commemorates the anniversary of the adoption in 1777 of the official U.S. flag.
During the brief ceremony, city and state representatives joined veterans in paying homage to the American flag.
“Our flag symbolizes the greatest experiment in freedom in the history of mankind, bar none… I salute our flag,” said Isaac Barcelona, District Director for Assemblyman Steve Knight.
“It’s a symbol of our exceptionalism as a country,” said Norm Hickling, Deputy Supervisor for Michael Antonovich.
Mayor Pro Tem Steve Hofbauer thanked the service men and women who defend the freedom that the flag represents.
“Men and ladies that are out there wearing that flag, defending that flag so that we can have events like this here today,” Hofbauer said. “Thank you to all of our vets… thank you for your sacrifices.”
The Flag Day ceremony also featured the singing of the National Anthem by 2012 A.V. Teen Idol Winner Miranda Hickman. The audience joined Phil Roberts, of the Retired Enlisted Association, in singing “You’re A Grand Old Flag.” And Viola Lawrence, with the Daughters of the American Revolution, recited a patriotic essay titled “Flag Day.”
“The land and the people and the flag,” Lawrence read. “The land a continent, the people of every race, the flag a symbol of what humanity may aspire to when the wars are over and the barriers are down.”
The Flag Day Ceremony Thursday was one of four events the AVSOA holds every year in recognition of service members, past and present. The next event, POW-MIA Day, will be held in September.
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