Turley Publications photo by Ruth M. Lyon

Boy Scout Troop # 142 member Max Pereira hands a folded flag to WWII veteran Rodney Perkins of Warren. Troop members, under the direction of Scoutmaster Mike Fountain, had just replaced Perkins’ ruined flagpole with a new one, using a tree from Perkins’ Reed Street farm.

A new flagpole for a young–at-heart hero

By Ruth M. Lyon

Turley Publications Reporter

WARREN – Rodney Perkins has proudly flown the Unites States flag from a pole in front of his Reed Street farm since he purchased the farm shortly after World War II. He’d joined the U. S. Army immediately after high school, and served his country bravely in Germany and France. He’d met and married his wife, Vicki, in their hometown, Leominster, but determined to find a home with room to farm and raise a family.

They discovered that farm in Warren, and there they settled and joined in the small town life of the community. That life has always had time and space for local youth, and, throughout the years, especially for scouting. He has opened his land, even a cabin in Maine, to local boy scouts, for camping and additional scouting activities. The boys, as he calls them, are free to use the woods and pastures at will. “They know they’re welcome here,” Perkins remarked.

Recently, in a conversation with some of the scouts, he mentioned that the metal flagpole on his front lawn had deteriorated. “I need to find a good replacement for that old pole,” he said then. That remark served as the impetus for a project involving all of Boy Scout Troop #142, of which Perkins’ son-in-law, Mike Fountain, is leader.

Fountain, who said “I joined Boy Scouts as soon as I could and never left,” was pleased to assist troop members who decided to cut a tree from Perkins’ woodland and from it, create a flagpole.

In a brief ceremony held just before Memorial Day, the tall white-painted pole was erected in place of the rusty metal one. Perkins, all unaware, was asked to join the scouts on his front lawn. There, as the scouts went to work with a post hole digger, Rodney Perkins shed a brief tear and smiled as he watched the gesture of love and appreciation take shape.

The pole was placed in the hole and raised to the sky, then scouts assisted their friend, mentor and host as he raised his flag, then led the troop in a meaningful salute.