Don’t tread on any flag—but especially not this one.
Trine University freshman Devin Flory spent weeks making an American flag out of firehose, reports wane.com. And its meaning runs much deeper than a standard Old Glory.
The volunteer firefighter practically grew up in the Jewell (OH) Fire Department, as his great grandfather, Robert Flory Sr., was the department’s first fire chief upon its founding in 1953, the report says.
His great uncles, father, and uncles all have followed in Robert Sr.’s footsteps, and, when the young Flory is home from school he builds on the family’s legacy with his old man at the station.
Part of that legacy now hangs outside the station—a six-foot-by-nine-foot American flag made entirely out of retired department hose. According to the report, the hose recently failed testing, Flory got permission, cut it up, painted it, and put it all together. It’s official, too: 13 stripes and 50 stars.
The project took more than two weeks to finish. A smaller version was created for a department apparatus, and the report notes that Flory currently has no plans to create a third.