By Hub City Times

MARSHFIELD – Dan Gibson is giving back to local veterans in a special way. Gibson, the owner of G-Force Electric, is donating his service to help area veterans continue to honor the country, and the American flag, when they are no longer able to follow proper etiquette.

“(I) light or re-light a flagpole for a veteran,” Gibson said. “Basically, we would get a light and donate the labor and whatever it takes to get it lit.

“I think it means more to the veterans, seeing it being lit instead of taking it down, or obviously taking it down when they are supposed to be. Most people that are going to get nominated are older that either aren’t able to take it down or they just can’t afford to get it a new light put on.”

Gibson is a service member himself, having served in the National Guard since 2004. He is currently ranked as a sergeant in the United States Army.

The donated service was posted on Facebook, on the Marshfield Clinic Health System intranet, and in a local newspaper, asking for nominations for local veterans who need their flag lit in order to continue displaying it.

Selected from the entries was William “Bill” Hammond, 77, of Loyal, who joined the military in 1964 and served for 23 years. Hammond had a stroke and could no longer put his American flag up and take it down each day.

Gibson said that was difficult to see so many deserving entries and being only able to select one.

“It makes it that much harder when you have to pick one, because you’ve read through these, and you just draw one. It feels like you kind of know who they are when you do that,” he explained.

Gibson said that he will continue to select a veteran each year to perform the same service, honoring a veteran during the summer months.

“Because Veterans Day is in November, it is going to be too cold to do it, so we are going to draw around Memorial Day and try to do the work around the Fourth of July,” Gibson said, in order to help veterans display their American flag in the proper manner.

“(The flag) is supposed to be put up and taken down every day, at dawn or dusk, or the end of the business day, depending where it is. If there is not a light, which is specifically for lighting the flag, it is to be taken down.

“It is getting a lot better, because now they have solar lights and they don’t have to worry about getting power to it, so there are getting to be more and more lights. But, the problem is, a solar light can’t keep enough power for it to run all night, so it runs until they go to bed or to midnight and then it shuts off. It’s not about people being able to see it; it is about it being lit.”