By May 2013, City Plans to Install Veterans Flagpole

Over Veterans Day weekend, a local construction company’s boom truck along with a U.S. Army veteran nicknamed “Piper Dan,” made sure an American flag flew over where the old Veterans flagpole once stood in downtown Anchorage.

The Mayor’s Office said that a new flagpole will replace the old Sitka Spruce that was knocked out in the September windstorms by May 2013 depending on the ordering and shipping process. In a Sunday email, the municipal said “The next task is to secure municipal money from year-end funds, order the galvanized steel pole and start the shipping journey from the Lower 48.”

Piper Dan, known for his bagpipe playing, approached the construction company working on the old Unocal building across the street from Veterans Memorial on the Delaney Park Strip, according to David DeRoberts, Criterion General President.

“He did the leg work getting a permit from the city and mentioned that our boom truck would make a great flag pole,” DeRoberts said. “We have a 22-year-old Marine Veteran, who served in Afghanistan, working for us and he raised the flag as Piper Dan played his bagpipe on Saturday.”

The city said the old Sitka spruce flagpole was cut up into logs and will be made into plaques that will be given to Alaska veterans and to the Anchorage Fire Department employees that erected the original pole and the time capsule that was inside it.

The city reported the original flag missing in late October and said it plans to replace it.

Many constituents have offered their support, according to the Mayor’s Office, and the city has been coordinating with the Veterans Memorial Committee to erect the new pole and flag. Horizon Lines has offered to donate its services and ship the pole for free.

The temporary flagpole remained on the park strip until late Monday afternoon.

Contact Neil Torquiano