Saint Mary’s College High School in Berkeley, CA marked Veterans Day with a ceremony Wednesday, November 10 dedicating a new campus flagpole and bronze memorial plaque honoring alumni who have served.
The family of decorated Korean War veteran Jack Macy ’48 donated the monument and flagpole. Macy died in 2009 and his family attended the ceremony, including a grandson who is a current student and another who is a 2010 graduate.
A Marine Corps Color Guard presented the flag which Tom Paich ’49 and his family received in February 1945 after his older brother, Frank, died in the battle of Iwo Jima. The flag had never been unfolded. Tom Paich, who is a Korean War vet, raised that flag with alumna and Iraq War veteran Chief Warrant Officer Mary Rone ’00, a Blackhawk Medivac helicopter pilot.
The bronze memorial plaque below the flagpole reads, “Thank you Saint Mary’s alumni who have honorably served our country to make the world a better place. Dedicated Veterans Day 2010.”
Paich (left) and Rone prepare to raise the 1945 Paich flag. At left are members of the U.S. Marine Corps 4th Reconnaissance Company, Alameda, CA, who served as color guard. Above right are members of the Jack Macy ’48 family.