thedrifter
10-04-07, 08:34 AM
Published: October 04, 2007 12:46 am
World War II veteran donates flag to Salem Friendship
Chris Cassidy
SALEM — Robert Christensen always loved ships, and he always loved the American flag.
As an 8-year-old boy growing up in Lawrence, he and a friend built their own raft and floated down the Shawsheen River — with a flag sticking up from the bottom.
After shipping off to World War II aboard the USS Hydrus, he stared up one night at the flag flying above him, thankful he had just survived the Battle of Okinawa and wondering if his brother aboard the USS South Dakota had done the same. He had.
When the ship docked in San Francisco after the war, it was the flag that welcomed him home.
“When they pulled into the States, the first thing they saw was the American flag,” said his wife, Lillian. “They knew the war was over, and they were finally home.”
So one night last winter, the 81-year-old Navy veteran’s love of The Stars and Stripes spurred him to order an 8-foot-by-12-foot Garrison flag to donate to the Friendship, Salem’s replica 1797 merchant ship docked at the Salem Maritime Site, where his daughter, Ellen, works as a park ranger.
“I told him, ‘Dad, we can wait until next week,’” she said. “But he was so insistent.”
Purchasing the flag turned out to be one of the last things Christensen ever did.
He died unexpectedly the next day, the flag still on its way.
So yesterday afternoon, Christensen’s widow, three children and one of his shipmates delivered the World War II veteran’s gift.
In a ceremony aboard the Friendship, the family presented National Park Service with Christensen’s flag, which was immediately raised on board.
Curious tourists snapped photographs while a short procession marched from the Custom House across Derby Street onto the Friendship, led by a color guard from Lynn-English High School and representatives from all four branches of the military.
As the flag was lowered to half-mast, taps was played and the ship’s bell rang out nine times. Three re-enactors from 1812 Marines fired volleys.
The flag won’t fly on the Friendship permanently, but it will be used for special occasions, such as the Fourth of July.
It was a brief but fitting tribute to a veteran’s lifelong love. On his gravestone, an image of the Friendship is engraved on one side, the USS Hydrus on the other.
“We flew the flag every day at our house,” Lillian Christensen said.
Ellie
World War II veteran donates flag to Salem Friendship
Chris Cassidy
SALEM — Robert Christensen always loved ships, and he always loved the American flag.
As an 8-year-old boy growing up in Lawrence, he and a friend built their own raft and floated down the Shawsheen River — with a flag sticking up from the bottom.
After shipping off to World War II aboard the USS Hydrus, he stared up one night at the flag flying above him, thankful he had just survived the Battle of Okinawa and wondering if his brother aboard the USS South Dakota had done the same. He had.
When the ship docked in San Francisco after the war, it was the flag that welcomed him home.
“When they pulled into the States, the first thing they saw was the American flag,” said his wife, Lillian. “They knew the war was over, and they were finally home.”
So one night last winter, the 81-year-old Navy veteran’s love of The Stars and Stripes spurred him to order an 8-foot-by-12-foot Garrison flag to donate to the Friendship, Salem’s replica 1797 merchant ship docked at the Salem Maritime Site, where his daughter, Ellen, works as a park ranger.
“I told him, ‘Dad, we can wait until next week,’” she said. “But he was so insistent.”
Purchasing the flag turned out to be one of the last things Christensen ever did.
He died unexpectedly the next day, the flag still on its way.
So yesterday afternoon, Christensen’s widow, three children and one of his shipmates delivered the World War II veteran’s gift.
In a ceremony aboard the Friendship, the family presented National Park Service with Christensen’s flag, which was immediately raised on board.
Curious tourists snapped photographs while a short procession marched from the Custom House across Derby Street onto the Friendship, led by a color guard from Lynn-English High School and representatives from all four branches of the military.
As the flag was lowered to half-mast, taps was played and the ship’s bell rang out nine times. Three re-enactors from 1812 Marines fired volleys.
The flag won’t fly on the Friendship permanently, but it will be used for special occasions, such as the Fourth of July.
It was a brief but fitting tribute to a veteran’s lifelong love. On his gravestone, an image of the Friendship is engraved on one side, the USS Hydrus on the other.
“We flew the flag every day at our house,” Lillian Christensen said.
Ellie