“The Lieutenant” to be deployed at SSHS Homecoming game

In what is sure to be an amazing display for this year’s Homecoming Game in Soda Springs(against Malad), the field will be host to the deployment of an iconic flag from the Ogden area.  Thanks to the family connections of Caribou County resident Kate Lauck, the “Lieutenant” will visit Idaho for a “flag mission.”

Lauck explained that her brother-in-law Major Brent Taylor of Ogden was killed on November 3, 2018 while serving in Afghanistan.  “For Veterans Day on November 11, a group of men from North Ogden borrowed the massive flag from the group “Follow the Flag” and hung it in Coldwater Canyon in North Ogden,” Lauck explained.  “It hung in the canyon until after we buried Brent.  The community and Jennie were so moved by the flag, that she went about purchasing her own.”

“Brent would have turned 40 in July of 2019.  So we threw a 40th birthday party for him and raised almost $40,000 that day,” Lauck continued. “Then Jennie started the Major Brent Taylor Foundation (MBTF) with that money.  She bought her own giant flag, bought smaller but still very large flags, including 500 3’ x 5’ flags for military funerals.  And that’s become the biggest mission of the MBTF--these flag missions.”

“So this coming Veterans Day, we’re doing the 5th Annual MBTF Gala.  We’ll hang the flag in the North Ogden canyon, we’re doing a muck ruck, all the things.  But it’s fun for our family to take the flag to different high schools and universities and “deploy” it,” Lauck said.

The original flag was an iconic fixture of the Ogden area and beyond, where countless people had trekked to see it hanging in the canyon to honor fallen soldiers.  After it became heavily damaged by rain and wind last November, the family realized that it would not be possible to maintain the integrity and respect needed for the flag in that location.  

A new flag was constructed, measuring 78 by 150 feet, a truly massive symbol.  The flag weighs more than 400 pounds, and requires more than one hundred and fifty people to manage it.  The “Lieutenant” flag is a bit less than half the size of “the Major,” but perfect for transportation and deployment outside the Ogden area and in smaller locations.  Rather than a dedicated trailer, it can be hauled in a van, for instance.

The newly constructed “Major” flag will fly in Coldwater Canyon for two weeks in November to mark Veteran’s Day. The “Lieutenant” will be on the field Friday for Soda Springs’ Homecoming game.  Although not the titanic spectacle that the Major is, its close relative is still a massive 30 feet by 60 feet, plenty to get on your feet for!  

Those who have seen the flag in person report that it is an amazing sight, and cannot help but fill those who see it with patriotic awe.  With Veterans Day mere weeks away, the visit couldn’t be timed much better.

Everyone is invited to the game on Friday, and even those without an overriding interest in football will certainly have an experience like no other.  As to the game itself, with both teams coming off of wins against Firth during uneven seasons, this should be a true test of both squads.