Inspiring patriotism: Winlock resident leads effort to line roads with U.S. flags on holidays

With his father having served in the U.S. military during the Korean War and his uncle a World War II Pacific Theater veteran, Winlock resident Tommy Thompson has always had a strong sense of patriotism.

Now 62, he’s hoping to inspire younger generations to proudly display their patriotism in his small South Lewis County community by leading efforts to line Winlock’s roads with U.S. flags every holiday.

He and a small group of volunteers put up 75 flags for Labor Day on state Route 505 and state Route 603 earlier this week.

The Chronicle spoke with Thompson over the phone on Wednesday, Sept. 3, to find out more about why he’s leading this effort.

“Going back in time, the local Jaycees chapter used to do this in downtown Winlock. I guess they would sell a subscription to business owners, and they would put the flag up in front of the business on the appropriate holidays,” Thompson said. “But I think they kind of fizzled out in the mid 80s.”

While the Jaycees’ tradition faded into history, Thompson continued living there and had a son, who is 19 now. Earlier this year, while helping out with Winlock Egg Day preparations, Thompson was digging a hole to mount an Egg Day sign when one of his son’s friends asked him what he was doing.

“I told him what I was doing and he asked, ‘Do you want help?’ And I thought, ‘My God, he wants to help.’ And here I had been going forth with the notion kids don’t volunteer for everything,” Thompson said.

He decided the problem might be young kids aren’t offered enough opportunities to volunteer.

So prior to this past Independence Day holiday in July, he was able to obtain the first 21 flags from a local volunteer group called Small Acts of Kindness.

“It was kind of crude, but it still looked great. But we were doing it with no real permission,” Thompson added. “... It had the effect I was hoping for, people took notice and went, ‘Hey, who did this? I really like this.’”

With some interest created, another local, Kathy Chastain, not only joined the efforts but created a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for more flags.

It wasn’t long before their group, the newly christened Winlock Patriotic Citizens, had raised $1,800 to purchase more flags and the equipment and material to put them up. Prior to this Labor Day, they also got help to ensure the flags were properly displayed on the roads, not blocking any signs or too close to the shoulder.

“I couldn’t have accomplished this without the help of Winlock Mayor Brandon Svenson. He and I took an engineer’s wheel and walked off the spacing of the flags,” Thompson said. “He put a lot of time into this too.”

While Thompson was hoping to inspire more of his son’s generation to volunteer and become part of the Winlock Patriot Citizens, unfortunately his son and his friend were the only teenagers to help this past weekend still.

But only one of the other volunteers, a U.S. Navy veteran, was older than Thompson — with the rest mostly being in their 30s and 40s.

“It was patriots of all ages,” he added.

Still, he hopes to get more of Generation Z involved volunteering to put up and take down the flags for future holidays.

“I’m getting old. Hopefully, in a couple years, we can just hand off the torch and let them take care of it,” Thompson said.

Additionally, Thompson has heard of others in the nearby communities of Toledo and Onalaska who are considering organizing efforts like his to put up U.S. flags on holidays.

Those interested in joining the Winlock Patriotic Citizens can call Thompson at 360-880-8668 to learn how to get involved, or message him on his personal Facebook account at https://tinyurl.com/3nvtm9kz. 

For those who can’t volunteer but would still like to donate to his efforts, another GoFundMe has been set up at https://gofund.me/80281cd3.