The United States Postal Service replaced the bedraggled American flag drooping outside its retail station in Sheepshead Bay — and will be reviewing all its flags across the borough, following inquiries by this newspaper.
Early Monday morning, a worker raised a crisp new flag outside the facility, located on East 19th Street and Avenue X.
It was local resident Bobby Colon who first alerted this paper about the unpatriotic condition outside the building, which is a branch of the Homecrest post office, located on Avenue U.
He said he could barely contain himself when he saw the new flag being unfurled.
“I was so happy — I woke my wife up to tell her,” he said. “We did a good thing.”
For months, Colon complained to postal officials about the flag — but little came of it.
Robert Trombley, a United States Post Office spokesperson, said last week that workers will inspect flags outside of post offices across Brooklyn.
“As a result of the complaint, the postmaster will check all the offices to make sure the flags we fly proudly are intact and in good condition,” Trombley said.
Back in February, Colon’s nephew, Army Cpl. Miguel Baez, was killed in an explosion in Baghdad. He said Miguel’s memory fueled his indignation with the state of the flag.
His hope is that the borough-wide flag inspection has a snowball effect, and that flags across the country are replaced, when needed.
“The flag is a symbol of our nation,” Colon said.
