Flag act passed for fallen first responders

A flag flown over the U.S. Capitol will be provided to families of EMS personnel and first responders who die in the line of duty

May 11, 2016

By Ken Newton
St. Joseph News-Press
WASHINGTON — Families of first responders have a daily goal, that their loved ones return home safely at the end of each shift.
The line of work being what it is, that doesn’t always happen.

(Pixabay Image)


Congress acted Tuesday to afford those families a measure of respect from Washington.
By voice vote, the U.S. House passed the Fallen Heroes Flag Act. The Senate approved the measure last month, and it goes now to President Obama, whose signature will turn the act into law.
The measure provides that a flag flown over the U.S. Capitol be provided to families of police officers, firefighters, rescue and ambulance crew members or other first responders who die in the line of duty.
Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, the co-chairman of the Senate Law Enforcement Caucus, introduced the legislation, which got a bipartisan group of 24 co-sponsors in that chamber.
A companion bill in the House had been introduced by Rep. Peter King, a New York Republican.
“We can never in any way fully repay the debt we owe them or that we owe their families,” the Missouri Republican said on the Senate floor regarding the legislation.
“These are people who go to work every day, with the greatest goal for their families being that they come home safely that day, and they have more reason to worry about that than most of us have. All we can offer instead is our gratitude.”
In this speech, Blunt mentioned Missouri first responders who died in the line of duty in 2015. He cited, as one, Harrison County Sheriff’s Deputy Brett Hawkins, who died of a heart attack following an emergency response last September.
Nine Missouri first responders died while on the job in 2015.
U.S. Rep. Rich Nugent, a Florida Republican who served 38 years in law enforcement before going to Congress, told his House colleagues Tuesday that he has had to preside over line-of-duty deaths.
“It’s really lifting up all of our first responders,” Nugent said. “This is not a huge thing, but I’ll tell you what: To a grieving family, it is a small token of the appreciation that the United States of America and this Congress … can bestow on a family at their deepest sorrow.”
Copyright 2016 the St. Joseph News-Press
McClatchy-Tribune News Service

you receive one of these flags you get a notice of the day and time it flew. they have a crew of people zipping them up and down all day. most fly for less then it takes to raise them up and down. but it's the symbol for the survivors that is the nice part. not he mechanics of providing a flag that has flown over the nation capital. the sere size of the country and the numbers involved make it hard to have one that flew for more then this.

John ED Renstrom said:

you receive one of these flags you get a notice of the day and time it flew. they have a crew of people zipping them up and down all day. most fly for less then it takes to raise them up and down. but it's the symbol for the survivors that is the nice part. not he mechanics of providing a flag that has flown over the nation capital. the sere size of the country and the numbers involved make it hard to have one that flew for more then this.

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I don't get active flags for our veteran's here. We fill out a form and take to the post office and get them a brand new one.

The flags that have flown over the Capital are reserved for those First Responders that have died in the line of duty, by this new legislation.

there are a number of people that can receive one of them. first responders have just been add to that list.

We got one from the PA State Capitol after an LODD in 2009, and the Commonwealth of PA let us *borrow* the LODD flag. They suggested we hang it on the wall. No. That's bad morale, we don't want to be reminded of the worst day we've had, every time we walk in. We got things from all over the US, messages from other countries, from firefighters, cards. It was all very appreciative, but in the same sense, overwhelming, when we were already stressed the _____ out. Oddly, we had another LODD in our history, the same EXACT DATE, 111 years earlier. A four story, twin section ladder, with hose laid up it came detached, collapsed and rendered the fireman unresponsive, and he later died, never having woken up. You wouldn't think a hand pumper could produce that amount of pressure?

When this was pointed out... It was noted that hanging behind all of our trucks, on the wall, for the prior 37 years, was this 1896 American LaFrance Ladder. When the new fire station was built, it was left to sit in the old station with the hose cart, etc. They sold the old station in 1972. So they hung this old ladder on the wall as a memento of the past. Yeah, we took that SOB down and tossed it out back. That's just strange and bad karma right there!

Sorry, I had to add some humor. Out of all the horrible and tragic things I've seen in the past 20 years, the simple cardiac arrest, but a brother, was the absolute worst call of my career. That call broke me, and I'm getting upset just thinking about it. We've lost members over the years, and it sucked, badly, but so suddenly and with us in attendance, it was horrible. You never realize how much your brother and sister members mean till one is gone. We lost more than we bargained for that day, it was just too much.