Airfield manager flies U.S. flag for Afghan children’s aid

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jennifer Lindsey
  • 455th Expeditionary Operations Group Public Affairs
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan (AFPN) --  Each time Barry McKelvy sees the U.S. Flag waving from the air control tower here, he knows his nation’s symbol is providing comfort for Afghan children.

Mr. McKelvy, the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing’s flag-flying program coordinator, flies flags in honor of family and friends for donations. The donations are used to provide children of nearby orphanages shoes, clothes, school supplies, radios, toys and basic toiletries.

Originally Mr. McKelvy, the airfield manager, flew the flags as a “good gesture.”

“But then Lt. Col. [James] Kott suggested that I start collecting donations that could be used to help the children here,” Mr. McKelvy said.

Some people fly the flags as souvenirs of their tour here, but most people fly them for a $5 to $10 donation in honor of their loved ones -- some living and others who have passed on. Mr. McKelvy flew about 50 flags from the tower Sept. 11.

People requesting to participate in the program also provide the flags.

“We originally thought if we would raise a couple of hundred dollars that would be good,” said Mr. McKelvy, a retired Air Force technical sergeant from Bracketville, Texas.

However, within two months of operation, the program raised more than $600.

A program volunteer, who serves on base as an interpreter, purchases the goods for giveaway locally and ensures 100 percent of the proceeds are spent on the children. Colonel Kott, 455th Expeditionary Operations Group deputy commander, ventured into the local village recently with members of the U.S. Army Provincial Reconstruction Team to make the program’s first delivery.

The children were a little shy at first, but Colonel Kott said after he shook hands with one little boy, about 10 to 20 children came up to meet him.

“It was an amazing experience,” said the Air National Guardsman deployed from Beaver Crystal, Va. “I handed a simple little stuffed toy to this 5-year-old girl, and she just beamed at me. Poverty is everywhere here, but you wouldn’t know it by the smiles on the children’s faces. As we drove by, the children would wave and give us the thumbs-up.”

The flag-flying program supplements other base humanitarian-relief programs here, including the wing’s adopt-a-village program.

Mr. McKelvy has a son and two grandchildren. He has worked here supporting Air Force operations for more than a year.

“I love kids,” he said. “I feel for children who don’t have anything, and Afghanistan has plenty of underprivileged kids.

“I don’t remember seeing a lot of outreach programs back when I was in [the Air Force],” he said. “Today, you see the military doing a lot of reconstruction and efforts to build up the local communities.”