'Forever' May Flag Stamps Wave at West Palm Beach VA Medical Center

Participants salute the flag as VFW # 10132 Present the Colors.

(L to R) Recognizing Flag Day and dedicated block of four stamps are Andrew Moir, Customer Service Manager, Palms West Station; Melissa Durity representing Lois J. Frankel, US House of Representatives; Charleen Szabo, VA Medical Center Director; and Rich Fermo, Postmaster, West Palm Beach. 

VFW Post #10132 poses with VA Medical Center Director Charleen Szabo and West Palm Beach Postmaster Rich Fermo (center) after the Presentation of Colors.  VA Chaplain Anthony Beazley is in back.  

Story & Photos by LuAnn Warner, Customer Relations Coordinator, West Palm Beach

From the heights of sunny summer to the snowy depths of winter, The American Flag never looked more beautiful than on the US Postal Service’s A Flag for All Seasons Forever Stamps. The set of four stamps were celebrated on Flag Day in a dedication ceremony held at the VA Medical Center in West Palm Beach. 

Devotion to the American Flag was evident as one traveled the driveway that led to the Medical Center’s chapel. Flags waved freely as they adorned each side of the driveway. Inside the chapel, veterans, public officials, and staff members gathered to participate in the ceremony.

After the Presentation of Colors by VFW Post # 10132, Kyle Croce, VA Staff, opened the ceremony with a Pledge of Allegiance. Croce had just returned from his tour of duty 3 days prior. George Hunter, VA Staff, then led the audience in song with “God Bless America.”

 “The American Flag is the fabric of our nation,”said Andrew Moir, Manager, Customer Service, Palms West Station.  “How similar the seasons of the stamp are to the seasons of the very people in this room today – whose struggles are also testament to their longevity and their histories of how many seasons they have passed through to acquire with pride the knowledge of what the American flag symbolizes to our nation.”

West Palm Beach Postmaster Rich Fermo then presented the set of four stamps to VA Medical Center Director Charleen R. Szabo.  She accepted the stamp presentation and proudly spoke of her father’s appointment by Harry S Truman, to a Postmaster position in New York.  Szabo presented the Postmaster in return with a Medical Center coin. Representatives from Congressional offices in attendance were: Melissa Durity, US House of Representatives Lois J. Frankel; Dan Liftman,  Congressman Alcee L. Hastings;  and Team Murphy from US Congressman Patrick E. Murphy’s office.

Each of the four A Flag for All Seasons Forever stamps shows an American flag, viewed from below, flying from a pole against a background of trees that evoke one of the four seasons of the year. The stamps were originally issued on May 3, 2013.