Flag flies for fallen heroes

Danette Goulet

For nearly 70 years, the flagpole in front of Newport Harbor High School

has stood bare.

On Friday, a new American flag was raised there to honor men and women

who heroically fought and died for the country of which it represents.

“We must never forget our freedom is not free -- these men and women paid

for it with their lives,” said George Grupe, the Newport Beach resident

who organized Friday’s ceremony in honor of Memorial Day, which is

Monday.

More than 30 fallen soldiers from World War II and the Vietnam and Korean

wars were remembered by the school community they once called home.

A plaque bearing the names of past Newport Harbor students who died while

serving their country was created to hang at the school as a constant

reminder of their sacrifices.

American Legion Post 291 also donated a new American flag that will

henceforth grace the front of the school in their honor.

“That really opened my eyes,” said freshman Katie Robison. “So many

people died for us -- people we never met.”

But there were people at the ceremony that did know the fallen soldiers.

Daren McGavren graduated from Newport Harbor in 1941 along with his best

friend, Vernon Fitzpatrick.

“That name was revered around here because he was the star quarterback,”

McGavren said of Fitzpatrick. “He was my best friend. He was a

paratrooper at Fort Benning. I spent the last weekend with him before he

left for Leyte -- that’s where he was shot on a patrol.”

“The interesting thing is what he told me,” McGavren continued. “We had

just dated a couple of college girls from North Carolina. We had just

dropped them off at the dormitory. He told me that night that he didn’t

think he’d ever come back. He was right. Somehow, he knew -- a

premonition or something.”

It was for men like Vernon Fitzpatrick that the Costa Mesa Fire

Department Color Guard raised the new flag Friday, that the American

Legion Honor Guard fired shots in the air and that hundreds of students

and community members gathered to pay homage.

“Maybe freedom really isn’t free,” said freshman Kristina Briglio. “I

never realized people had to pay a price. People lost friends and

relatives.”