By Josh Egbert, American Red Cross of Colorado and Wyoming, Public Affairs
Colleen Hylson Smith never imagined her first deployment with the American Red Cross would turn out to be so lifechanging. For two weeks, she met families seeking safety from Hurricane Ian, helped bring comfort to those who were scared and a ray of hope to those who felt overwhelmed. But it was one woman who would change it all.
“This woman came to the shelter I was managing carrying this flag. She was heartbroken. It had mold all over it,” said Colleen.
That flag belonged to Isabel Guzman, who had lost her brother, Peter, months before the hurricane destroyed her home. It was the flag that draped Peter’s coffin and it meant everything to her.
“He passed away, the storm him and then her flag got destroyed and all these things were happening to her and she was an emotional wreck.”
Colleen knew what Isabel was going through. Colleen herself was a member of the Air Force. She was discharged just before Desert Storm to raise her daughter. She had friends fight overseas. Peter also was a military man who fought in Desert Storm and was declared a war hero.
“I understood exactly what it was that he went through, even though I didn’t go through anything like that, but I understood the impact of going to war has on your life,” said Colleen.
Colleen didn’t hesitate. She knew what she had to do. She told Isabel it would be an honor to clean the flag. She took it into one of the shelter showers and scrubbed the mold off, letting it dry in the warm Florida sun until the mold was gone. “This flag that had green and orange and all this mold all over it, just totally disappeared.”
Once it was dry, it needed to be folded. Colleen had forgotten how to properly fold the flag, but it just so happened her deployment partner from the shelter she was working in, a man named Bert, who had served in the Navy knew exactly what to do. And so did another evacuee at the shelter, who stepped in to help.
“Bert began to fold the flag and this man, another evacuee, came over and lifted the middle of the flag so it could be folded properly,” said Colleen. “Once he and Bert got the flag folded, they both saluted it. It was so touching, the whole thing.”
Colleen never expected such a lifechanging experience. She had spent the previous ten days setting up shelters, moving shelters and making sure everyone was taken care of. She was excited about helping others and getting to drive a forklift, but says it was fate that she happened to be at the right place and the right time.
“It was almost as if I was meant to be there, I don’t know if someone who hadn’t had that military experience, if they would have reacted that same way, I don’t know if they would have fully understood the whole process and what she was really going through.”
As disasters roil communities across the country, veterans are donning the Red Cross vest and lending a hand to those in need in their local communities. Over 20,000 Red Cross volunteers are veterans. And the American flag means so much to them – a symbol of freedom and strength in America.
Colleen volunteered to go to Florida to help those in need, to challenge herself physically, never imagining the bond she would form all thanks to the red, white and blue.