Among local celebrations of Flag Day/Flag Week was a classic car show.

By Mary O’KEEFE

Flag Day was celebrated in Crescenta Valley with a car show at Albertsons in Tujunga on Saturday that was sponsored by the Crescenta Valley Chamber of Commerce. It was organized by the Early Rodders car group. 

Flag Day has a special place in the heart of the Crescenta Valley due to the actions of an immigrant from Italy who loved his adopted country with a patriotic passion that was all consuming. 

Vito Cannella passed away in 2017; however, his legacy continues with each raising of the U.S. flag. 

Cannella was born in 1928 and immigrated to the United States in 1953. He opened Vito’s Barber Shop in Montrose in 1958. He also served as the postmaster of Montrose in the 1960s. 

For decades Cannella could be seen handing out flags throughout Montrose –not just on Flag Day but the entire week that June 14 fell in. He wanted a flag week and not just a celebration for one day. 

“My attachment to the flag is because this country helped me be what I am today,” he said in a CVW interview just months before his passing. 

To him the flag was more than just a symbol to be saluted before and after sporting events – the flag was a part of his life since he arrived in the U.S.  

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.  

Each year Cannella had sent letters to the President of the United States asking him to recognize, and publicize, 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 stated. Added Cannella, “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 51 years after the original proclamation, the majority of the people with whom I speak remain in ignorance of Flag Week.”

Cannella’s spirit continued with every Flag Week recognition. On Saturday, June 14, 62 classic vehicles filled the parking lot at Albertsons to honor the U.S flag. 

The tradition of honoring the flag is continued by another immigrant who adopted the United States as his country. Dwight Sityar from the Philippines was the organizer of the car show and is a member of The Early Rodders car group.