By Mary O’KEEFE

With all the talk about American patriotism and immigrants there is one man in La Crescenta who has never, ever taken his path to citizenship for granted – Vito Cannella.

Cannella immigrated from Italy in 1953 and in 1958 he opened Vito’s Barber Shop in Montrose. Cannella also served as the postmaster of Montrose in the 1960s.

The United States flag, to him, is more than just a symbol to be saluted before and after sporting events. The flag has been a part of his life since he arrived in America and to him is the connection to his adopted country.

 “My attachment to the flag is because this country helped me be what I am today,” said Cannella.

To honor the flag, Cannella has been a tireless voice for Flag Week, a time when all are asked to fly the flag and to remember the foundation of America as the land of opportunity.

The Flag Day Proclamation was originally established by President Woodrow Wilson on May 30, 1916 but in 1965 a group of Montrose men, including Cannella, businessman Bill Bailey, Ledger Newspaper Editor Don Carpenter, Congressman H. Allen Smith and Crescenta-Cañada Rotary Club members, gathered thousands of signatures to petition Congress to implement Flag Week.

In June 1966, President Lyndon Johnson signed the proclamation designating the week in which June 14 occurs as National Flag Week.  

After so many years, of those Montrose residents only Cannella has survived. Each year he sends a letter to the President of the United States asking him to publicize and recognize Flag Week.

“The Congress of the United States, by Joint Resolution on June 9, 1966, approved H.J. Resolution 763 proclaiming the week in which the 14th occurs as National Flag Week, and the same Resolution requested that the President is to issue every year a proclamation and also to call upon citizens of the United States to display the flag during that week,” the letter states. “Every year since 1967 I have sent a letter to each of the Presidents, and sometimes the White House sent a copy of the Proclamation me. But no publicity is given. This causes me anger and shame, because fifty-one years after the original proclamation, the majority of the people with whom I speak remain in ignorance of Flag Week.”

He was born in 1928 and although he is moving a little slower these days the fight for Flag Week is still in his heart and he, once again, has sent the letter off to the President asking him to proclaim, celebrate and encourage the flying of Old Glory during this year’s Flag Week.

  Mary Okeefe