We often value the importance of honoring those who have sacrificed their lives to protect others or defend our country. But for the families of the military members and first responders who are lost, the memories of those individuals live on. For this reason, Flags of the Fallen serves as a nonprofit organization providing those families with handmade, wooden flags that honor and commemorate fallen loved ones.
“These people [U.S. Military] do everything for us… we have the freedoms that no other countries have and that is all given to us by the military,” said CEO and Founder, Mike Morgan. “We also do these [flags] for first responders and anyone that we’ve lost in the line of duty that has served this country…this [experience] has been something so special.”
With prior experience working with wood and making flags for friends as a hobby, Mike came up with the idea to do something more when 13 soldiers died in Afghanistan in August 2021. When noticing that the 13 lost coincided with the 13 stripes of the American flag, he decided to start creating flags in their honor for each family sending them as anonymous gifts. This inspired him to form Flags of the Fallen.
“It just didn’t sit well with me and the symmetry of 13 heroes lost that day defending our country and defending our flag with 13 stripes [on our flag] just kept gnawing at me and kept rattling around in my head,” Mike said. “So, I decided I was going to make 13 of these flags and send them to each family with the names of each hero, one per [stripe].”
While Mike does not have any experience in the military or as a first responder, he made it a point to ensure that his Board of Directors was comprised of current military members, veterans, and first responders. Being a nonprofit organization, all flags are provided to families free of cost with the business being sustained by generous donations. They serve with the mission of, “remembering those we lost by caring for those they left behind.”
The response from East Cobb residents has been overwhelmingly positive with many families who receive flags asking Mike to continue doing this for others. Flags of the Fallen has also created flags for the fallen Cobb County Sheriff’s deputies.
To learn more about the organization or make a donation, visit www.flagsofthefallen.org.
Written by By Adam Darby
