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- The Major, the giant U.S. flag hanging near North Ogden, sustained severe wind damage and will be retired from flight.
- It's installed each year around Veterans Day, but given the damage will now be used just at parades, football games and in other "static" displays.
- A new flag is to be installed above Coldwater Canyon for 2025 Veterans Week activities.
NORTH OGDEN — The Major, the huge flag made in honor of Maj. Brent Taylor after he was killed during a 2018 deployment to Afghanistan, has sustained heavy damage due to windy weather and will be retired from flight.
"There's a lot of emotion, a lot of gratitude, sad that an end is coming," said Aubree Bosen of Honor the Hero Foundation, which installs the flag each year around Veterans Day above Coldwater Canyon near North Ogden.
The flag has been installed in the canyon each year since 2019 as part of Veterans Week activities, organized by Taylor's widow, Jennie Taylor, and meant as a means of paying tribute to U.S. military veterans. Brent Taylor, who had also served as North Ogden mayor, was serving in the Utah Army National Guard in Afghanistan when he was shot and killed on Nov. 3, 2018, by a rogue member of the Afghan military.
Bosen said the giant flag, measuring 78 feet by 150 feet and weighing 400 pounds, typically sustains damage each year it's installed, hung via a system of cables that cross the canyon. But the damage sustained on Tuesday was severe enough that it will be retired from flight "to maintain proper flag etiquette," reads an Honor the Hero Foundation press release.
A new flag will be installed next year as part of 2025 Veterans Week activities, but that doesn't mean an end for The Major. The damaged banner — the largest free-flying flag in the world, Bosen said — will be repaired and "used in parades, at rodeos and football games and in other static displays," reads the press release.
The Major was installed on Nov. 2 for this year's Veterans Week activities and was to come down on Nov. 17. Given the damage, though, it will be removed on Wednesday and hauled off the mountain on Thursday. Those interested in taking part in the procession to haul the flag down will meet at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday at the Coldwater Canyon trailhead, 2750 N. Mountain Road in North Ogden.
