Trumbull Students and Vets Salute for Flag Day

Patriotism was on grand display yesterday at the Feroleto Children’s Development Center as Trumbull veterans students honored the stars and stripes at a Flag Day ceremony earlier this week.

The Center, which is located in the Trumbull Commerce Park, works with the non-profit organization St. Vincent’s Special Needs Services to provide care and service to children with developmental disabilities.

Among those present in addition to the school’s teachers, education assistants, and students were veterans George Areson, Ray Baldwin, and Grant Beeney, as well as Trumbull Police Department members Robert Schwartz and Thomas Richard.

George Areson was on active duty in the Army during the Korean War from 1954 to 1956 and now serves as the Commander of the American Legion Post 141.  His organization provided flags to all of the Feroleto Center’s students.

When asked what the American flag means to him, Areson said, “Have you ever heard that song ‘You’re a Grand Old Flag’? That’s what it means to me.”

Every June 14 the United States celebrates Flag Day. On this day in 1777, the Second Continental Congress passed a resolution to adopt the American flag as our national symbol.

The veterans led the parade and marched with the students and teachers through the school hallways to the strains of patriot music. The march was headed by students holding a giant flag banner, a drummer, and by Uncle Sam, who was actually one of the school’s education assistants, Marc Maignan.

Then the procession made its way out to the flagpole. The stars and stripes were raised by Baldwin, the former first selectman, who is now the President and chief executive officer of St. Vincent’s Special Needs Services.

Baldwin served in the U.S. Marine Corps in Vietnam from 1966 to 1970 where he was on a force that supported infantry operations. To him, the flag represents the freedoms Americans enjoy.

“It’s a symbol and hopefully an example of democracy for the rest of the world,” he said.

Baldwin stood beside another Trumbull veteran at the ceremony, Beeney, who was a Marine in Vietnam from 1968 to 1971.

When the flag was raised and flying, all assembled recited the Pledge of Allegiance, and then sang “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” and “You’re a Grand Old Flag.”

One of the Feroleto Center’s staff present at the ceremony is a member of the Armed Forces in addition to her role at the school. Tina Gottshall serves as an LPN (licensed practical nurse) for St. Vincent’s Special Needs and has been in the Army Reserves since 2005.

Gottshall said she joined the Reserves because she wanted to serve her country. She said that she was also inspired by her grandmother who was an Army Military Police officer in Germany during World War II. Gottshall was deployed to Kuwait in 2010 and returned home in March of this year.

As a soldier, Gottshall has done her part to fight for the values and liberties that the flag represents. She said that the stars and stripes should be a reminder to American citizens of all for which they should be grateful.

“Having the experience of being out of this country made me think about how a lot of us take our freedoms for granted,” she said. “People just need to recognize all the opportunities we have here."