41 years later, ISU still using American flag donated by World War II veteran - East Idaho News
Pocatello

41 years later, ISU still using American flag donated by World War II veteran

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POCATELLO — Though lacking any historical evidence, legend has it that a woman named Betsy Ross created the first American flag 241 years ago after a visit from a small committee, which included the likes of George Washington.

What’s not fabled, however, is the story of the considerably large American flag of Idaho State University’s Holt Arena, created 41 years ago by a group of women after a request for Independence Day.

“The LDS church had a dance festival and they featured Independence Day,” said Arthur Nielson, the 91-year-old electrical engineer and World War II veteran who, after the dance, curated the flag and donated it to ISU. “So they built this flag, and they had some kids up on the cat-walk and had it tied off in a canvas support, and they had bow-ties on this thing every 10 feet. They had the kids up there, and when they wanted to drop it, they just pulled the ties and the flag dropped.”

And for 41 years, the same flag has withstood rodeos, athletic events, rock concerts and countless other organized activities.

In 1976, using a handful of people untying bows to release a 3,800-square-foot flag — one which according to Nielson was the largest in the nation at one time — worked for an initial debut, but it wasn’t a practical solution for every event.

When the next dance festival rolled around in 1979, Nielson said he was unsurprised to learn physical facilities director at the time, Robby Robinson, hadn’t kept the flag fastened to the rafters.

“When we did the one in ’79, I came in and said to Robby, ‘Where’s the flag?’ And he said, ‘It’s right here in the closet,’” Nielson said.

When Nielson asked Robinson if he would display the flag, Robinson told him they had no way to lower it.

“So we told them that we would build an apparatus to drop this thing and we would give it to the dome with the ‘79 dance festival,” Nielson said.

“It cost $2,700 to build the apparatus and $2,900 to raise it up there. It cost more to raise it up than it did to build it.”

For three nights in a row, the ’79 LDS dance festival was plum full.

“There were 29 stakes out of Wyoming, Northern Utah and Idaho,” Nielson said. “We had 10,000 kids on the floor, dancers. So we charged a dollar a head and we raised something like $30,000. We paid for everything, and we gave the money to the LDS church missionary fund to balance to budget.”

Throughout the years, facilities managers installed four floors in the Holt Arena, formerly known as the ASISU Minidome, all the while the first and only American flag has remained.

Unlike many newer mechanisms that raise and lower flags in a straight, vertical line, the apparatus designed and build by Nielson releases the flag all at once so it majestically waves into position.

“I wanted a free-falling flag and I don’t know how I got the idea but I took a handkerchief, folded it up and then dropped it,” Nielson said. “I thought well I ought to duplicate that. I just figured out a way to hold it and drop it.

Nielson fastened the flag to a 12-inch diameter pipe that runs the full 46 feet length of the flag. A motor with a reduced-gear drive winds the flag up. Once the flag is rolled up, it reverses direction and unrolls the flag into a basket.

At first Nielson used chicken wire but the flag didn’t quite fall out of the basket as gracefully as he liked.

“So we took the chicken wire off and put Masonite on instead so it would slide out,” Nielson said. “I couldn’t figure out how to trip it and open the basket. One day, I was driving into my garage and I pushed the button to open the door, and I thought, ‘That’s what I need is a door opener.’”

After installing a garage door opener to the basket, now Holt Arena staff can raise and lower the flag with the push of a button from anywhere in the dome.

The flag itself is made of materials that are conducive to a free-falling look.

“This flag is made out of rayon,” Nielson said. “The ladies that built it in Idaho Falls tested these different materials for freefalling so that it would not drop but float. It probably ought to be taken down and cleaned, but I don’t know how you clean anything that big.”

This is one of the greatest things to have ever happened to Idaho, according to Nielson.

And while the American flag continues to symbolize freedom and the beginning of a new nation, the flag inside the Holt Arena continues to grace visitors and local residents alike, something Nielson believes will happen for quite a long while after he’s gone.

“I’m amazed that its lasted so long. At this rate, it’ll last longer than me,” Nielson said. “I was sitting on the top when it dropped once and I couldn’t keep from crying. I’ll tell you, that American flag, I love it.”

This story originally appeared in the Idaho State Journal. It is posted here with permission.

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