(Mission Times Courier, San Diego, Ca) -  The Allied Gardens Community flagpole is flying a newly hoisted American flag that is dedicated to the memory of Kenneth Wood Jr.  Kenneth was born in 1914 to a country doctor in the small town of Leslie, Georgia.  In 1932, at the age of 18, Kenneth joined the US Navy and served in WWII as an Electricians Mate on Seaplane Tenders in the North Atlantic and in the South Pacific.  Before the war ended he had risen from the ranks to become a Chief Petty Officer. 

Kenneth made the US Navy his career and served during the Korean War on an Amphibious Command ship. He participated in the battle of Pusan and in the Inchon Landing.  After the Korean War Kenneth served the next six years in the Fleet Training Group at Pearl Harbor and in San Diego training ships crews for battle conditions. He served his last two years as an assistant to the OD at NAS Miramar and retired from the Navy in 1960.

Kenneth was not one to sit around in his retirement and started a second career as a Pinsetter Mechanic at Aztec Bowl.  In 1979 he retired again and this time it lasted!  He enjoyed his retirement years with his family in the Allied Gardens home that he and his wife Irma moved into in 1960.  Kenneth passed away in 1979.  His family donated his military burial flag to the Grantville-Allied Gardens Kiwanis club to be shared with our community and the community flagpole at the triangle at Waring Road and Zion Avenue

If you would like to donate a flag to be flown on our community flagpole in honor and memory of a loved one, please contact John Peterson, who is a member of the Grantville-Allied Gardens Kiwanis Club.  The telephone number is (619) 582-2920.  Please provide any information about the person you would like to honor when you when you donate the flag. 

The donated flags are not always used right away when they are donated because we sometimes have a couple of donated flags ahead of them.  Flags are usually flown for about 3 months and then replaced.  The old flags are then taken to the VFW Hall on Twain Avenue where they are burned in a respectful ceremony.