Volunteers sought to help take ‘The Major’ down after flag sustains major damage
Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner File
"The Major," a giant U.S. flag, flies in the breeze on a line across Coldwater Canyon east of North Ogden on Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022. The flag has been placed in the canyon each year to honor Brent Taylor, the late North Ogden mayor, and other military service members. The flag was badly damaged during a winter storm on Nov. 12, 2024.NORTH OGDEN — “The Major” has taken its final Veterans Week flight.
According to Aubree Bosen, media specialist for the Honor the Hero Foundation, the 78′ by 150′ American flag which has been hung over Coldwater Canyon near North Ogden each Veterans Day since 2019, sustained severe weather damage during a storm Tuesday morning.
“Every year has been amazing to have it up, and we were hoping to get one more year out of it, but the weather just was not on our side this year,” she said. “(Tuesday) around 10 a.m., the flag wrapped around the rope which caused a tear. The tear has slowly been getting bigger. We’ve been keeping an eye on it — we have a drone team that observes it daily — and the tear is at the point now that we need to honor flag etiquette, which dictates we remove a damaged flag from public view.”
“The Major” is a tribute to late Ogden Mayor Maj. Brent Taylor who was killed in Afghanistan in November 2018. Hanging “The Major” has been a joint effort of the Honor the Hero Foundation and the Major Brent Taylor Foundation.
The flag was retrieved from the lines that held it up over Coldwater Canyon on Wednesday afternoon. Now, volunteers are being sought to carry it down the mountain.
Bosen said volunteers are to meet at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at the trailhead for Coldwater Canyon, located at 2750 N Mountain Road, North Ogden (84414). Several volunteers are being sought as the flag itself weighs around 400 pounds.
This will not mean the end for “The Major,” though. Bosen said plans are to repair it and use it in static displays such as at rodeos and in parades while a new flag will be sought to hang above Coldwater Canyon in 2025.
