On Wednesday, a mother picking up her kids from Hayden Meadows Elementary School in Hayden, Idahosaw a remarkable sight: three boys were folding the school's American flag. One boy crawled on the ground and underneath the flag to make sure it kept from touching the ground.
"They were having a hard time making sure it didn't touch the ground when the third boy laid under it to honor not letting it touch the ground!" Amanda Reallan, the parent who posted the photo on Facebook, said in her post.
The three fifth graders wanted to make sure they respected the flag and kept it from touching the ground.
“We’ve had a bunch of close calls,” said Jack LeBreck, the boy who took to the pavement, told KSDK-TV. “But I thought it would happen because it was kind of a windy day. So I just thought of laying down… and seeing what would happen.”
The boys, all of whom are Boy Scouts, were inspired by their school's custodian, Mac McCarty, a veteran with 20 years of service. McCarty was responsible for selecting the students who put up and take down the flag, something the kids take very seriously.
“What they did yesterday was obviously all them… laying on the ground and all that. And I’m very proud," McCarty said. “They did themselves proud, they did their families proud, they did their school proud, and I am very proud of them."
According to Casey Dolan, one of the boys in the photo, having the responsibility of putting up and taking down the flag is a real honor.
“It’s really a great privilege,” Dolan said. “I feel really lucky I was chosen for it.”
The United States' flag code says "the flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor, water, or merchandise."