NAVA Members "Invade" Fort McHenry

April 2, 2001

At noon on Monday, April 2, Ranger Vincent Vaise of the US National Park Service allowed NAVA members Harry Oswald and Peter Orenski the unique honor of raising a 9x12.6' Star-Spangled Banner over Fort McHenry in Baltimore. Harry and Peter were visiting the famous Fort after attending a symposium on "Flag Making in the Early Republic" sponsored by the Star-Spangled Banner House in Baltimore on March 31.

Ranger Vaise is responsible for leading historic tours throughout the Baltimore and Washington areas and showed great interest in NAVA's activities. He vowed to submit a couple of challenging flag questions to NAVA's website. This was his second encounter in as many days with NAVA members, having played host the day before to Raven Editor Ted Kaye, who was vacationing in the area with his wife Debbie and their two sons, Mason (a NAVA member) and Rob. That's FOUR NAVA members in just two days! Think of it: the Fort proudly withstood the 1500 shell-and-rocket bombardment by the British on September 13-14, 1814, only to be invaded quite effortlessly by a band of NAVAniks some 187 years later!