One Man’s Travels with Old Glory

Years ago, Bobby Henry from Muleshoe and Paul Burns from Michigan flew together in the U.S. Air Force. They were in the same squadron, and Paul flew with Bobby several times from 1982-85. They were friends, even shared dinner a few times with Bobby and wife Belinda, while he was stationed in the Philippines. Bobby, as old timers in Muleshoe are aware, died in a non-combat aircraft accident there in 1986.

After Paul retired in 2001 and moved to New Mexico, when he would come through Muleshoe, he would stop at Bobby’s grave to say hello, so Muleshoe has some sentimental value to him.

Which is why now, after thinking about it for a few years and really focusing on it for the last few months, Paul added a personal quest to his bucket list: traveling with Old Glory, the flag presented to him upon his retirement from the Air Force. The plan is to fly the flag in one small town in each of our contiguous forty-eight states. So, because of his ties to Muleshoe, this was his first stop on the journey to honor what that flag stands for.

I visited with him on his stop to salute the flag here and learned some of the history behind his service and his quest.

He did grow up in Michigan and lived in New Mexico for several years, and went into the service as an enlisted man in January of 1976. He did his basic training at Lackland AFB in San Antonio and later saw combat in Desert Storm.

He met Bobby when they were in the same fighter squadron. Bobby was the pilot, and Paul was the weapons systems officer, commonly called the wizzo. When Bobby was killed, they were not in the same squadron, nor stationed at the same base. Paul was in Korea. But he kept in contact with Belinda, who later married David Head.

When the time came and he was ready to make his journey a reality, Muleshoe seemed the right place to start. He said, “This has been an idea that has been brewing for a few years, and finally I am embarking on Day One of Phase One of my travels with Old Glory.”

He said he wants to keep it simple. After contacting the city hall of each small town he plans to visit, he just needs one flag pole, someone to help with the flag, a moment of reflection and a salute, and then will lower the flag.

In the case of stopping in Muleshoe, he wanted Belinda to be there, as well as Bobby’s brother Mike. Bobby’s uncle, Kenneth Henry, was also on hand for the flag raising. A small crowd who knew about the flag raising were also in attendance and watched quietly as the flag went up.

I asked him what would be next on the quest. After visiting friends in Dallas, he will be off to Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and then back home to New Mexico, outside of Albuquerque. States on the East Coast will come later depending on the weather. The midwest and western states will follow. When all the states have been visited, he hopes by the end of 2026, the flag will go back in its case at home. He said, “I suspect I will learn a lot of lessons as I do this!’

He said his wife Danita, at home now in New Mexico, will go with him on some of the upcoming trips. They have been married thirty years, and he chuckled as he said, “To borrow a movie phrase, I chose wisely the second time!” The rest of the family includes two children and five grandchildren.

He did indeed contact City Hall, and workers came to the Mule Memorial to tidy up and make sure the flagpole was ready for the flag. Juan Flores helped unfolding and raising the flag, and then refolding it after it flew in the cold wind to Paul’s reverent salute.