[StBernard] American Flag Flies Again Over St. Bernard

[Westley Annis]

American Flag Flies Again Over St. Bernard

October 19, 2005

By: Steve Cannizaro


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Richard and Glen Moity said their late father, Joseph Moity, who maintained
the American flag at Pearl Harbor Park on Paris Road in Chalmette, would
have been proud of a ceremony Wednesday in which the flag was raised over
St. Bernard Parish for the first time since Hurricane Katrina.

"It's important that it goes back up,'' Glen Moity said of the flag-raising
ceremony, in which two St. Bernard firefighters on a ladder truck provided
by the Dublin, Ohio Fire Department placed the flag on the pole at Pearl
Harbor Park.

"This flag is the first thing people see when they enter St. Bernard Parish
(on Paris Road,'' said Glen Moity. "When they see the flag they know things
are better here.''

Indeed, passing motorists honked as they saw the flag raised.

Building the park and maintaining the flag there was "a dream of my
father,'' said son Richard Moity, who worked with his father in the group
the Disabled Veterans of Louisiana, which put up Pearl Harbor Park and
recognized Pearl Harbor day in ceremonies each Dec. 7.


The flag that was raised Wednesday was donated to St. Bernard Parish
government by the family of Joseph Moity, who headed the Disabled Veterans
of Louisiana chapter. Glen Moity said he found the flag at his mother's
flooded residence while trying to search for family mementos within the
damaged dwelling.

The flag survived the storm, although it was a little dirty, said Mike
Hunnicutt, head of community development for parish government, who was
present for the ceremony..

Hunnicutt said Capt. Edward Elovsson, of the Scotia Prince Cruise Ship
docked in the Mississippi River at Violet, had his crew clean the flag and
prepare it to be flown. 

St. Bernard Parish firefighters Capt. Ricky Alonzo and Capt. Eddie Estopinal
were hoisted up in a ladder truck to raise the flag.