East Bay Patriots Fly Flag in Honor of 9/11 and Fallen Soldiers

By the time Tom Ballard and his crew of patriotic East Bay residents began climbing the Hayward hills at 7 a.m. Saturday morning, they’d already put in several hundreds of hours constructing the giant American flag that, for this weekend only, adorns the hillside.

The 62-foot by 117-foot vinyl flag is located on Garin Regional Park near Fairway Park and is visible from Mission Boulevard. The materials alone cost Ballard an estimated $4,000. Only granted 48 hours to display the flag, it must be dissembled and removed Monday morning.

But if you ask Ballard, the 57-year-old military veteran responsible for the massive stars and stripes, the time, money and sacrifice are all worth it.

“We’re just some old veterans that are proud of what our country stands for,” Ballard said. “Out of respect for Old Glory and the people we’ve lost, we’re returning the flag to the hills.”

The flag commemorates the 10-year anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. It also pays tribute to those who’ve fallen in combat, like Ballard’s son, Lt. Kenneth Michael Ballard, who died in combat in Iraq in 2004. He was 26.

“One of the ripple effects that have spawned off 9/11 is that many of our young soldiers have been lost trying to defend the freedoms of the world and our citizens here at home,” Ballard said.

Ken Ballard had enlisted in the military in 1995 and would go on to attend Middle Tennessee State University before re-enlisting. During that time, new neighbors moved in next door with a young son, Matt Medlock, who would later join the army.

Ballard carved their names in a piece of cement that adjoined the properties of the two homes, hoping Ken and Medlock would both come back and meet each other.

The two did meet, but not at home, and not under the circumstances Ballard had hoped.

According to Ballard, Medlock’s unit was called into Sadr City, a suburb of Baghdad, on Memorial Day in 2004. They were ambushed and pinned in an alley. Medlock’s unit called for assistance from Ken’s unit. They came to the rescue. Though Ken saved Medlock, he couldn’t save himself.

Ballard was determined to fly the flag in his son’s honor as well, selling off rare coins from his collection that was meant to be passed on to Ken in order to fund the project.

The giant flag consists of long strips of vinyl overlapped on one another. On Friday, Ballard, his fiancé Faye and his friend Bill Roller were up passed midnight installing grommets to each of the streets. His family and friends had already constructed the 50-star union portion — with four-foot wide stars — at Dreamcourts in Hayward on a basketball court.

But Ballard wants to be clear — the project isn’t about him, or his family.

“Everything we do isn’t about us,” Ballard said. “It’s about us as a nation.”

Ballard oozes patriotism. He flies a flag in front of his home, with stickers adorning his pick-up truck. The day before he hits the hills to erect the flag, he sported a T-shirt with the words “Honor the Fallen.”

“If we were cut, we’d bleed red, white and blue,” Ballard said of himself and his cohorts, unofficially dubbed the East Bay Patriots.

Ballad works with a number of veterans and military aide groups. He himself is a “gold star dad,” a father whose lost a son in combat. Most of the members of the group are also veterans, such as Bill Roller, a 52-year-old retired Navy veteran, member of the American Legion and road captain for the Patriot Guard Riders, a motorcycle club that attends military services.

“So many of us are still shocked by the impact of 9/11,” Ballard said.

The flag on the hillside is Ballard’s second. In 2001, he used non-toxic paint to create a flag on the hillside in the same location.

Like many, Ballard was in disbelief when he saw the terrorist attacks on television ten years ago.

“This is something out of Hollywood. This didn’t just happen,” he recalled. “I felt like I had to do something.”

A few days later, he was walking around his neighborhood and noticed a portion of the hillside was illuminated by the city lights.

“I said, that’s the perfect place for the American flag,” Ballard said.

On Sept. 15, 2001, he was on the hill with paint filled in a four-gallon pesticide sprayer. The only problem was he didn’t have the consent of the East Bay Regional Park District, the agency that maintains the hills.

“We started this with our hearts and not our minds,” Ballard said.

Ballard took the proper route this time around, receiving permission from the park district before getting to work on the flag.

Though it has to come down Monday, he hopes the new flag can be used for future memorial and patriotic services in the future.

Why is the American flag so important?

“We can’t be united if there’s nothing to unite us,” Ballard said. “Be strong and salute the flag when you see it.”