Promise to Local 2075 veteran inspires Freedom Flag Monument

While at a UAW Local 2075 Veterans Day ceremony in 1998, a Vietnam vet told Greg Gebolys it was the first time in 25 years that someone had thanked him for his military service.

The men shook hands, and Gebolys, chair of the local’s Veterans Committee, vowed, “We can’t change the past, but we can change the future, and what happened to you will never happen again to any veteran in our plant.”

The exchange turned into an annual Veterans Day ceremony, and years later led to the dedication of the Veterans Freedom Flag Monument.

“It’s a thank-you carved into stone and steel for all generations in the past, for the present and into the future,” Gebolys said.

Dedicated on May 22, the monument is located in the Johnny Appleseed Metropolitan Park District in Lima, Ohio. At 36 feet wide and 22 feet tall, it’s the nation’s largest stationary flag of its kind and built entirely by volunteer labor and donations including: the UAW, General Dynamics Joint Systems Manufacturing Center – where Local 2075 members work – local businesses and individuals.

“We’re proud and honored to join our members in presenting this moving gift to veterans everywhere,” said UAW Region 2B Director Ken Lortz.

The monument was inspired by a cardboard design put together by Local 2075 member and millwright George McManus, who included the following ideas:

• Five pine trees behind it and the monument’s five columns represent branches of the U.S. military.
• Sixty-four boulders in the landscape, representing 64 wars and conflicts with U.S. involvement.
• Soil collected from Afghanistan, the Berlin Wall and Gettysburg, Pa.
• Wars in which the United States fought in Europe represented by a small poppy field and tall grasses representing wars fought in jungles.

In addition, a computerized wall of inscribed bricks allows a visitor to type in a name to access a veteran’s branch of service.

Gebolys said a POW flag near the monument symbolizes that “these brave men and women are always in our thoughts and hearts, and will never be forgotten.”

Sandra Davis

Order forms for bricks to be inscribed for the monument are available at uawfreedomflag.com.