Elgin garbage truck driver saves American flags
Associated Press
5:11 PM CDT, June 14, 2009
ELGIN, Ill. – Suburban Chicago veterans have honored a garbage truck driver who’s credited with saving 250 American flags from being improperly thrown out within the last 18 months.
Elgin’s American Legion Post 57 and Elks Lodge 737 recognized Waste Management driver Jeff Olsen during a Flag Day ceremony Sunday.
Olsen is a 34-year-old native Canadian who says he plucks flags from the refuse in his truck whenever he sees them. Waste Management representatives say that has been a regular practice among their Elgin drivers for some time, but Olsen is the most successful.
Olsen is married to a former Army medic who did two tours of duty in Kuwait. He says that throwing flags away is like stomping on them.
Federal code says American flags should be discarded in a dignified way.
via Elgin garbage truck driver saves American flags — chicagotribune.com.
