By Cathy Poston
Photojournalism Major
Did you ever wonder who put up the American Flag and the POW Flag in the courtyards between the Jefferson and Truman buildings? This morning I was a witness to exactly what took place and who performed the ceremony. Every morning no matter what the weather is like, the recruits at the police academy march from the criminal justice building into the courtyard and raise the flags. One of the recruits, sings the Star Spangled Banner and everyone else stops, and stands and either salutes the flag or puts their hand over their hearts. The recruits perform this ceremony with precision and are amazing to watch.
When the ceremony was over, I had the honor of briefly interviewing 2 of them. Recruit Swillo age 30 and Recruit Marconi age 25, both have been part of the police academy at CC since Jan. 2011. Recruit Swillo was sent to the academy from Ocean City police department after attending Penn State University-Abington Campus and Recruit Marconi is local and actually attended CCC before becoming a recruit from the Gloucester Township police department. Both recruits believe that it is an honor to raise and lower the flag everyday and look forward to going back to their respective departments and working with the children in their DARE programs and being part of the community relations.
It truly was an honor to be there watching this ceremony through the camera lens. The recruits perform it with such dignity and class.
Marching into the courtyard
Recruit singing The Star Spangled Banner
Performing the ceremony to raise the American and POW flags
Raising of the Flags