In the wake of the death of 13 United States service members, who lost their lives during President Joe Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, children from a community in Utah have put together a heartfelt display to honor the nation’s fallen heroes.
Jeremy Brown, of Herriman, Utah, usually places American flags up and down his street during American holidays, but his most recent flying of the flags was in tribute to the 13 fallen service members, who were killed in a suicide bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan this past Thursday.
Brown shared his feelings about the attack in an interview with Fox and Friends’ Steve Doocy on Wednesday.
“I was devastated, along with everybody else in America, to hear about the loss of life that occurred. I really just wanted to honor their memory and their sacrifice by putting some flags out so that the community can see those.”
Brown began placing the flags along his street on Sunday, according to Fox 13 Salt Lake City. His actions were well-received by neighbors and were soon accompanied by the actions of some young American patriots.
The display prompted action from four young neighbors, who wanted to honor America’s fallen heroes. In a showing of youthful patriotism, the children of the Bailey family, Reagan (13), Daxon (10), Anistyn (8), and McCoy (5), drew 13 pictures to correspond with each flag.
“We were drawing these pictures for them, and then we’d hang them up on the fence,” Anistyn told Fox News. Each picture identified one of the servicemen and women who perished on the August 26 attack. When asked by Doocy how she felt when hanging the pictures, Anistyn responded, “I felt sad because the people lost their lives.”
The tribute by Brown and the Bailey family has been well-received in the community and has helped bring attention to the identities of the soldiers who gave their lives while defending the United States last week. “We do get a lot of traffic by here all day long, and you know, I think people have been appreciative of it,” Brown remarked. “We get honks and we get people that drive by pretty slowly. I just wanted to make sure we were getting the most visibility.”
Brown, whose father was a veteran of the Vietnam War, explained how meaningful the symbolism behind the American flag is to him. “My dad is an army vet and served in Vietnam,” Brown stated. “The flag, the country, everything else it represents is very personal to me. Just really an immense amount of gratitude for our servicemen and women.”