Lieutenant’s gift honors community

Many homeowners in the Alley Pond Owners Corporation (APOC) display American flags on their doors and lawns. The APOC community now has a unique American flag in its possession, thanks to a lieutenant who served in Iraq.
Lieutenant Perez (who is now working in law enforcement and requested that his first name be withheld), of the Reserves, was a Naval Intelligence Officer. In 2006, he was mobilized in support of “Operation Iraqi Freedom.”
He served in Baghdad, Iraq from 2007-2008 and was attached to the Multi-National Forces-Iraq and the Multi-National Security and Transition Command, where he served as a Trainer and Advisor to the Iraqi Ministry of Defense.
Colonel James Harper, section chief of the intelligence transition team, presented Perez with the American flag that was flown at the U.S. Embassy Chancellery (the main embassy building) in Baghdad.
The flag will be flown all day and night at the corner of Cloverdale Boulevard and Union Turnpike from Armed Forces Day, May 17 through Independence Day, July 4 each year. It will be displayed in the APOC office for the rest of the year.
The community was “pleased, proud, and honored” to receive the flag, according to Vice President of the Board of Directors Patricia Rohde.
Although many American flags can be seen in the community, “This one, because it was flown in Iraq, has a special meaning,” Rohde added.
The office received several calls “saying it was very nice for us to put it on display,” said APOC Operations Director John Pasquale. Perez’s gift reflected “a strong sense of patriotism that someone came back, and came back safely,” he continued.
The community was notified of the new flag on May 6, the day after it was received in the office. It was put on display until May 16, when it was raised. After July 4, people can see it in the APOC office during business hours, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.