Vietnam veteran James Huff said he got angry every time he saw the tattered American flag flying over the Bloomingdale post office.
He complained to a congressman and postal officials before deciding on a more immediate course of action.
He raised a new banner himself.
Huff, who served in the Marines and is a former manager of the Bloomingdale post office, said the old flag was in such bad shape it was disrespectful to America.
A new flag was on hand at the post office to replace the torn, sun-bleached banner. But a missing key and a jammed cable on the flagpole prevented postal employees from taking the old flag down at the building, 867 W. Bloomingdale Ave.
Postal employees had filed a maintenance request, but the repair had not yet been done.
"Everybody wants a good flag up there," postal spokesman Gary Sawtelle said. "Maintenance went out there and said they needed a bucket truck to fix it, so another work order had been submitted."
Huff offered to fix it on the spot and got to work.
The flagpole's cable spool access-door key had been missing for years, Huff said, so he broke the lock with a hammer and screwdriver.
It took 45 minutes to disentangle the cable and lower the flag.
"He found a way to get it done and put it back up," Sawtelle said. "That's great."
Huff was pleased to see the new Old Glory fluttering in the breeze.
"Raising the new flag was one more example of United States Marine Corps 'can do' attitude.
"People today are so quick to say, 'I am only one person, what can I do?'" Huff said. "Each of us alone can do some; together we can change the world we live in."
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