From Pittsburgh, An American Tale For The Nation’s 250th Anniversary

PHOTO BY LAURA PETRILLA

At a solemn early morning ceremony this Fourth of July in Downtown Pittsburgh, a single U.S. flag that has flown over every state and territory and every overseas cemetery of American soldiers will begin the last leg of its incredible journey.

There, the county sheriff will deliver the 5-by-8-foot Stars and Stripes to representatives of the National Flag Foundation at its headquarters, the Koppers Building on Seventh Avenue.
The organization will then turn it over to the American Legion Riders, a convoy of 250 veterans and military family members on motorcycles who will escort it to Washington, D.C., to be flown over the U.S. Capitol later that day.

Mike Strang is eager to get on the road for the final leg of Sojourn 250, a ceremonial procession that began more than a year ago.

“It was always my goal to try to give back to the people who gave us this country, basically,” says Strang, an Army veteran and retired cabinetmaker from Munhall who has mounted his Harley-Davidson for numerous rides and parades honoring his fellow veterans. “It wouldn’t be the same country if it wasn’t for their sacrifices. This is my way of saying thank you.”

Vicki Collier will also be part of the patriotic escort, which is likely to stretch over a mile as it roars down the Pennsylvania Turnpike before dipping southward toward Washington. Not a veteran herself, the sales account coordinator from Lower Burrell joined the American Legion in honor of her grandfathers, both World War II combat veterans.

Now, she is the official historian of the legion’s Pennsylvania division.  Collier says she and her fellow sojourners aim to inspire onlookers of their two-wheeler promenade to appreciate American freedom.

“Maybe I have rose-colored glasses, but I would like to think regardless of what our politics are, that we can just bring ourselves together to honor this country and those who continue to defend it,” Collier says. “It’s meaningful. That’s my heart. That’s how I feel.”

PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

Part of America 250, the nation’s semiquincentennial celebration, the Sojourn 250 observance has been underway for more than a year. It began when Romel Nicholas, chairman of the National Flag Foundation, presented a simple U.S. standard to the American Battle Monuments Commission at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Flag Day last June.

From there, the flag was taken to 26 U.S. military burial grounds, mainly in France but also in destinations as far-flung as Tunisia and Guam. It has subsequently traveled to each state — via UPS, which has donated all shipping costs — for flag-raising ceremonies everywhere from Anchorage, Alaska, to Walla Walla, Washington. It was even in the lead plane for the Air Force flyover at the 2026 Super Bowl.

“There’s no gold fringe, nobody autographed it, this didn’t come from the president,” Nicholas says of the cloth rectangle at the heart of all these efforts. “Nope, it’s a simple 5-by-8 flag, and it’s the humble nature of this that makes it so valuable. And when that flag touches the states and when it touches these cemeteries, it’s the Flag Foundation’s way of sending a message that we remember. And we’re all in this together.”

That a ceremonial U.S. flag should begin the last leg of its cross-country journey here in the state of Pennsylvania may seem natural, given the long-cherished — though historically debatable — origin story featuring needlework by Philadelphia seamstress Betsy Ross. But why on this side of the commonwealth, rather than the city where the Declaration of Independence was signed?

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Pittsburgh, it turns out, has a longstanding connection with the American colors. A Collier Township native, William Kerr, founded an association in 1888 calling for a holiday to recognize June 14, the date in 1777 when the Second Continental Congress officially adopted the American flag design. Kerr was fantastically persistent, meeting personally with presidents from William McKinley to Harry Truman, and was at Truman’s side in 1949 when the commander-in-chief signed an Act of Congress designating the holiday.

Another Pittsburgher, Vivian Lehman, established a fund in the name of her late husband, Chester Lehman, to create Flag Plaza in the Lower Hill in 1968 and fund what would soon become the National Flag Foundation. The nonprofit organization raises awareness of flag history and promotes the protocols of care, handling, and etiquette for the national symbol.

Since 2018 it has been based in the Koppers Building, where it has an interactive exhibit and resource center in the lobby. Nicholas, a Pittsburgh attorney who heads the foundation as a volunteer, has been awaiting the flag’s return to the city ever since he handed it over last June. But his planning goes back much further than that. His first involvement with the foundation was almost two decades ago, during the 250th anniversary of Pittsburgh in 2008.

Nicholas was then overseeing a ceremony to rededicate the Boulevard of the Allies. With two sons in the Boy Scouts, he wanted to make sure that the flags were displayed properly on the reviewing stand, so he consulted the National Flag Foundation. Impressed by Nicholas’s work on the boulevard ceremony, the organization’s board recruited him to take a leadership role in their efforts.

Since then, Nicholas has been focused on raising the visibility of the foundation. That includes the move from Flag Plaza to the Koppers Building, and working with the owners of the iconic Art Deco skyscraper, Rugby Realty, to have its roof lit up with a patriotic display of stars and stripes 50 nights out of the year and for patriotic observances from D-Day and Veterans Day to Election Day.

Accordingly, the Koppers Building will be the centerpiece of Light To Unite, another Fourth of July celebration planned by the National Flag Foundation.  Just before the night’s fireworks, WPXI-TV journalist and Allegheny Conference on Community Development spokesman Bill Flanagan will flip a switch from a viewing stand near Flag Plaza in the Lower Hill, lighting the Koppers roof with its red, white and blue custom display.

A collection of other buildings and bridges in the Golden Triangle will join in with their own patriotic illumination, as will hundreds of skyscrapers, state capitols and other buildings from coast to coast that have signed up to be part of Light to Unite, Nicholas says. Working with Flanagan and a wide array of community partners, Nicholas and the National Flag Foundation have put together four days of commemorative events in Pittsburgh and the surrounding area for Sojourn 250.

“What we didn’t want to do was just the standard, raise it up a flagpole, recite the Pledge of Allegiance, and then it goes to the next stop,” says Flanagan. “We’re bringing this particular flag to salute the people and the places that made America.”

PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

After a formal reception at the 911th Airlift Wing at Pittsburgh International Airport on July 1, the well-traveled banner will be flown Downtown first at the United Steelworkers Building in recognition of the workers who built America. Ceremonies are also planned for Fort Ligonier, Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall, the North Shore, Point State Park, Mount Washington, the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies in Washington County, Carrie Blast Furnaces and Bakery Square, in recognition of the region’s contributions to technology and innovation.

“Some are going to be very solemn, some are going to be celebratory and fun, and they’re also designed to be grassroots community events, so we’re leaving it up to the hosts at each stop how they want to welcome the flag,” Flanagan says.

For Eric Howze, an Army veteran who served in Iraq and founded the homeless veterans charity No Hero Left Behind, the flag’s stop at Freedom Corner in the Hill District will be especially significant.

“It means that we’re not left behind,” says Howze. “It means that we are included in the narrative of military history that Black veterans have served. We’ve been a part of every war era.”

While the single flag at the center of Sojourn 250 will eventually head with its American Legion motorcycle escort to Washington, D.C., on the morning of July 4, three more flags will depart from the same spot with a much smaller escort. Thirteen American Legion motorcyclists — representing the original colonies — will bring their flags across Pennsylvania on the Fourth to be flown at the State Capitol, the Governor’s Mansion and Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

Among the riders in that honor guard will be Dorey Stabile, district commander for the American Legion in Pennsylvania and a veteran who followed her father and grandfather into the military. Stabile was a diesel mechanic in the Army specializing in heavy vehicles, and credits her passion for motorcycle riding to both parents — her dad gave her a Harley-Davidson bandanna when she was a kid, and her mom shared fond tales of her own set of wheels she once rode before settling down to raise her children.

“Being on a motorcycle, when veterans say, ‘I’ve got your six, I’ve got your back,’ it’s like that riding, since you’re not seatbelted in and you could fall off,” Stabile says. “You have people looking out for your safety and caring for you, and it truly is family.

“Just to be able to carry this flag, it’s the ultimate sign of freedom,” she continues. “And riding is freedom. For vets … to have that freedom and be part of something bigger than ourselves — when we served, and to be part of an organization like the American Legion where we are still serving and still doing good and have camaraderie — we veterans really need this when we get out.”

PHOTO BY LAURA PETRILLA

Dave Younkins Sr., president of Munhall’s borough council and a rider with the main contingent, is looking forward to the ride. “It’s amazing when people are standing by the side of the road waving flags and telling you you’re doing a good job,” he says. “It’s nice to see this, and I think we need more of that in this country.”

Younkins, an Army veteran, is also a veteran of roadway sojourns that could make his July trek to the nation’s capital pale in comparison, at least in terms of distance traveled. He once rode from Pittsburgh to Seattle, then took a left and motored down to San Francisco before the long return journey.

“On a good Saturday when it’s beautiful out, I’ve put 250 miles on my bike and not even thought about it,” Younkins says.

A retired professional wrestler who fought under the name “T. Rantula,” Younkins is a Democrat on borough council, though he has also flown a Donald Trump flag at his house. In any case, the mission of Sojourn 250 transcends political parties, he contends.

“At the end of the day, we’re not Democrats, we’re not Republicans, we’re Americans,” says Younkins.

Nicholas could not agree more.

“It’s the country’s semiquincentennial, and my position is for one day and one night, let’s realize we’re all Americans,” he says. “We’re happy to be in this country, it’s common ground. And maybe it gives everybody a reboot.”