By Dave Stafford, Herald Bulletin Staff Writer
PENDLETON — Ashley Bartmas’ and Adam Garretson’s senior class project didn’t get finished until midway through their freshman year of college, but veterans on Wednesday saluted their effort.
Representatives of each branch of the United States services, along with Bartmas and Garretson, raised flags in a new installation in front of Pendleton Heights High School. The flags of the U.S. Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard and Merchant Marines fly in a semicircle below the United States and Indiana flags, making a proud statement to passersby on Indiana 9/67.
The installation and flags were in place for Veterans Day, but Wednesday marked a formal dedication.
“It just caught my eye and I almost wrenched my neck driving by,” said event emcee State Rep. Scott Reske, who as a retired Marine colonel raised the branch’s flag to the strains of the Marine anthem.
Bartmas and Garretson said that when members of the Class of 2009 were formulating their senior projects last year, they had the same idea and had got uncommon permission to work together on a project that they knew would require much more than they were able to do on their own.
“Service members don’t get the respect they need,” said Bartmas, who is now a first-year cadet at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. “This is our way of letting them know they’re not forgotten, not unknown.”
Garretson, who is now a freshman at Purdue University, said he and Bartmas went door to door last year to raise donations for the installation. It cost in the neighborhood of $3,000, and any additional donations will be set aside for maintenance and lighting. “We’d like to thank all the donations from a lot of people,” he said.
Pendleton Heights Principal Glen Nelson paid tribute to Bartmas and Garretson for seeing their project to its conclusion. “Through their hard work and fundraising, it became a reality.”
“I’m very proud,” said J.R. Irby, who retired as an oiler from the United States Merchant Marine, and was among an audience of veterans and school officials who attended the dedication.
When serving in any branch, “When you go through boot camp,” Reske said, “They instill service pride.”
But Reske said that when he retired after 28 years in the Marine Corps that included combat, he had come to appreciate each branch of service.
“Every one of them pulled me out of the wringer in one way or another,” he said.
