U.S. Navy veteran waves the flag for several hours each day at passers-by
A World War II veteran dying of cancer is showing his community what true patriotism is really about.
Ninety-five-year-old John Mastrocola from Torrington, Connecticut, sits on his lawn with his American flag every single morning at 8 a.m to greet people.
“I am one of the very few World War II veterans left, so before I leave I want them to remember John ‘never surrender’ Mastrocola,’” he told Fox 61.
The U.S. Navy veteran waves the flag for several hours each day at passers-by.
His reason?
Not enough people respect the flag or the country, he said.
“This is what I fought for,” Mastrocola said.
“Once you disrespect the flag, the country goes down the tubes,” he explained.
Mastrocola was awarded the SAR Flag Certificate by the Connecticut Society of the Sons of the American Revolution on July 2.
The society’s Facebook page wrote:
“Weather permitting, John can be found sitting alongside the busy street outside his home waving the American Flag.”
“Most motorists passing by wave and toot their horns to show their patriotic appreciation.”
The certificate was awarded “in recognition of exemplary patriotism in the display of the Flag of the United States of America,” it continued.
The veteran said the longest he sat outside waving his American flag was when he was “really t’d off.”
“Other than that I try to average about two and a half hours,” he noted.
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Mastrocola, who is dying of cancer and weighed less than 100 pounds, said he would continue sitting outside in his lawn chair with the flag to show pride he had in America and for his fellow service members.
“When you don’t see me out here, then you’ll know,” he explained, and began humming the familiar military bugle call, “Taps.”