Florida post reunites father with late son's flag

Charlie Long never expected to get the flag that adorned his son Mike’s coffin.

Mike Long was a staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force when he died in a motorcycle accident near Winter Garden, Fla., on Sept. 3, 2007 — Charlie’s birthday in a tragic coincidence. Charlie had full custody of Mike since he was 18 months old, but through military protocol, Mike’s mother received the flag after the funeral.

Charlie received a replica flag, but it was destroyed in a fire 11 years ago at Charlie’s home in Akron, Ohio, along with other memorabilia celebrating Mike’s life and military career.

Then, in January of this year, American Legion Hugh T. Gregory Post 63 in Winter Garden received the flag.

“We had a local citizen drop off a shadow box with a very cryptic note that said, ‘I found this in a tenant turnover, can you find out who owns it because it looks important,’” Post 63 Commander Kurt Gies said.

The Legionnaires were able to trace the flag in the shadow box to the Longs.

“They wanted to mail it to us, to a Legion post in Ohio, they would give it to us, and I thought, we were going to come down to Florida for six weeks anyway, so I would just make the trip happen to where we could come here,” Charlie said.

On March 14, as part of Post 63’s centennial celebration, the Longs received the refurbished shadow box.

“The box we got was in pretty bad shape,” Gies said. “It was scarred up, the flag was dirty, the interior lining was all falling apart, it just wasn’t in presentable fashion. So we reached out to a local antiques dealer here in town, and she refurbished the box, and my wife, who’s an artist, worked on the rest of it and was able to clean up the flag, was able to clean up the interior lining, and basically, you see what it looks like tonight, it’s beautiful.”

“I couldn’t believe they found it,” Charlie said. “My heart sunk at first, because I couldn’t believe (it got to this), but then it was jubilation because I was elated to know that someone would go through all the trouble to get it back to us.”

Gies said that’s just part of The American Legion’s purpose.

“I think the biggest thing that really touched me was when I first got to meet Charles (tonight) — I had been talking to him a lot over the last month to make sure everything was coordinated — but when he came in, he was telling everybody, these people, ‘They don’t know Mike and they’re doing this for him.’ And my response to him was, ‘That’s not true.’ I’ve never met him, but I know him. He’s a veteran. Anybody who’s served, we have a common bond. And that common bond makes us do things that normal people wouldn’t do,” Gies said.

“It’s amazing that you can give so much serving, and you can come back here and still serve even though you don’t have to,” Charlie said of the Legion.

While the shadow box will stay with Charlie for now, he’s eager to pass it on to Mike’s son, Trip, when he’s old enough. “When I am done loving it, I’m going to give it to my grandson, and he’ll love it just as much,” Charlie said.

Trip was born just over a month after Mike’s death, and Charlie praised Mike’s fiancée for making sure Trip knows the father he never met.

“It makes me feel like he did something great and that maybe I can do something like that,” Trip said of his father’s service.

“He knows his dad was a heck of an airman, and he had a great sense of humor. He brought an energy with him wherever he went,” Charlie said.

Also at the March 14 event, the post:

• Unveiled a photo display of the post’s namesake, Hugh T. Gregory, an Army lieutenant in World War I;

• Acknowledged the team that refurbished the Longs’ shadow box: Tina LaVallee, Lana Gies and Christopher De Felice;

• Thanked the electricians who donated some $10,000 in labor and materials to bring the post building up to code: Curtis Duffield, Sean Donnelly, Roberto Pagan, Briar Brownell, Francis Beyhl, Anthony Shipman and Uriel Soto;

• Presented $250 to the JROTC Cadet of the Year, Pedro Sousa Barreto of West Orange High School;

• Recognized $1,000 scholarship recipients Paul Atwood of West Orange High School, Reagan Black of Ocala Forest High School, Natasha March of Windermere Prep High School and Maya Gardenier of Olympia High School;

• Recognized American Legion Florida Boys State delegates Sousa Barreto, Sebastian Anglin also of West Orange High School, Carter Lopes of East Ridge High School, and Aidan Sakata and Leo Lindsay of Windermere Prep High School;

• And recognized Firefighter of the Year Lt. Brandon Sabat and EMT of the Year Shann Cliburn of Winter Garden Fire Department, Law Enforcement of the Year Sgt. Carlos Chapparo of Winter Garden Police Department, and Teacher of the Year James Grosshans of Foundation Academy.