Lighted flag will fly over military park

The Yuma park that honors members of the military will now fly the flag of the country they have served.

A group of volunteers erected a 50-foot flagpole at Yuma's Armed Forces Park Wednesday morning.

"The veterans whose names appear on plaques installed on the walls of this park served the flag, so this is also to honor them," said Donald Foltz, chairman of the Yuma County Chamber of Commerce Military Affairs Committee.

The flagpole will be lit by lights at its base and a flag will be flown from it on a 24-hour basis.

However, Art Nottingham, the assistant chairman of the Military Affairs Committee, said a flag can't be flown from the pole until the lighting is installed, which could be sometime next week.

Erecting the flagpole didn't go entirely smoothly. The flagpole's base initially didn't line up with the foundation in the ground.

The task was completed with the help of the Yuma Fire Department, which used one of its hydraulically powered tools to reshape the base of the pole.

Erecting the flagpole were Mike and Marty Jones of Cross Country Construction, Michael Bann of Westmark Engineering and a group of city Public Works Department employees. BLT provided the crane.

In a brief ceremony afterward, two Marines from Marine Corps Air Station Yuma temporarily raised a 5-by-9-foot flag to the top of the pole.

"I thought it was appropriate to have some active-duty personnel be the ones to raise the first flag, and they volunteered," Nottingham said. "It looked nice up there. It was beautiful."

Foltz said the committee has been trying to get the flagpole installed since February, but had a few problems along the way.

The first flagpole they planned to install, Foltz said, was donated by MCAS Yuma, but it was bent and they were unable to use it.

The second flagpole, which they bought for about $3,000, was damaged during shipping, but the company replaced it with the flagpole raised Wednesday.

The one-acre Armed Forces Park, located at 291 S. Gila St., consists of tiered walls covered with black granite plaques honoring members of the military, past and present. Work first began on the park in 2000 and was finished earlier this year.

"It's been a labor of love," Foltz said.

Each time a soldier, Marine, Navy, Air Force or Coast Guard member with Yuma ties is killed while on active duty, a plaque is mounted at the park by members of the Yuma County Chamber of Commerce Military Affairs Committee.

The plaques are individually engraved with the person's name, rank, dates of service and the insignia of the branch of service in which they served.

Foltz said there is space on the park's original walls for just one more plaque. Once that space is filled, plaques will be put up on some new walls built on the southwest area of the park.

The park is located on city-donated land. It will be maintained by the city of Yuma Parks and Recreation Department.

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James Gilbert can be reached at jgilbert@yumasun.com or 539-6854.