The number of veterans of World War II is dwindling quickly as many enter their 90s. But there are still many left, and they are among the veterans that a unique company is honoring with a unique American flag.
Flags of Valor is a Virginia company that makes flags from wood, and they employ a workforce of injured veterans.
The company was founded by Brian Steorts, a veteran himself. Steorts served in the US Army as a paratrooper before he took time to attend college in Alabama.
However after the 9/11 attacks, he returned to active duty and became an Air Force special operations pilot after graduation. After eight consecutive combat deployments, Steorts says he found himself rehabbing from a service related injury and felt disconnected from his service, and more importantly, the emblems that are associated with it.
Steorts was looking online for an American flag art piece, but did not find anything that was made in the United States. "I found a beautiful piece, but...it was made in China, and it upset me as an American so I just started woodworking," he explains. "It started out for therapeutic reasons and then I started donating some pieces to some fallen soldiers in my local community...and there became a demand for it."
What started as a side project in a garage became a business founded on three basic principles: made in America, hire veterans and have veterans make the products.
"I wanted to hire combat veterans specifically to create our art because it is therapeutic," he says. "And whether they know it or not, they come to work and it's a way for them to thrive in an environment where they feel comfortable."
Being self-taught himself, Steorts teaches each of his employees how to paint, assemble and distress the different flags.
Hand-made as a team, each flag takes about seven days from start to finish, according to Steorts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONe_YTwEq18
With all of the flags made to scale, each design ranges from the colonial 13 star flag to black and white active duty to the largest model for first responders. "They're all named after specific groups of people or events in military history because we want to commemorate those people and events and we also want to teach a little bit about history," he says.
For Steorts, making this art while helping fellow veterans and giving back to the community embodies what the American flag stands for.
"We have a story," he says. "Everything that goes into our art has a story. Our guys are our story, our company."
