Photo By Scott Sturkol | The U.S. flag is shown on the Fort McCoy Garrison flag pole Jan. 27, 2022, at Fort...... read more read more
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On Jan. 24, Sgt. Kyle Escalona, a military policeman with the Army Reserve’s 79th Military Police Company supporting Operation Allies Welcome (OAW) at Fort McCoy, flew a special U.S. flag on the garrison flag pole at Fort McCoy in honor of the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation.
Escalona, who also serves with the 4th District tactical team of the Chicago Police Department, served with OAW for four months from October 2021 through January. He said the foundation is a special organization.
“I’ve been a Chicago police officer for about five years now,” Escalona said. “During Christmas-time, the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation does incredible work for the families of police officers killed in the line of duty. They are incredibly generous to families — especially if they have children. They reach out to them, and they take care of them. They never forget about them, and I want to emphasize never forgetting.”
Escalona said there are, at any given time, many Chicago police officers who are serving in the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard.
“When they deploy, that foundation reaches out to those officers and those families — especially if they have children,” Escalona said. “They reach out to them, they check in on them. That included officers here supporting Operation Allies Welcome.”
He said he and his family — which includes his wife and three children in Chicago — were among those who were affected by the foundation’s holiday generosity in December 2021.
“They also had reached out to me,” Escalona said. “One of the main representatives of the foundation, former Chicago Police First Deputy Supt. Anthony Riccio, reached out to me and asked me how I am doing and how my family is doing. He asked if there is anything they can do for us.”
Escalona said the holiday support is something the foundation doesn’t have to do, but they choose to do it because it’s important to those affected police officers.
“This aligns with their core values (as an organization),” he said. “And as such they presented Christmas presents to my children.”
Escalona said the foundation’s generosity helped him know his family was taken care of and helped him better focus on his tasks to support Operation Allies Welcome.
“So I wanted to fly a flag in their honor,” Escalona said. “I will present to them on my return. I want to let them know that even though we were away you took care of us and we appreciate that.”
Escalona received support to fly the flag from the Fort McCoy Directorate of Emergency Services Police Department as well as the Fort McCoy Garrison command team. Escalona received a specially signed certificate commemorating the effort from Fort McCoy Garrison Commander Col. Michael Poss.
According to their website, https://cpdmemorial.org, the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to honoring the lives of fallen heroes and assisting those heroes in need. “The foundation provides support and assistance to the families of Chicago police officers who are killed or catastrophically injured in the line of duty,” the website states.
In leading up to the flag flying, Escalona told Fort McCoy’s Deputy Police Chief that he wanted to do more to thank the foundation for remembering his family and many others during the holiday season.
“I just don't believe my email to them was worthy enough by itself to show my gratitude,” Escalona said.
Operation Allies Welcome and Task Force McCoy completed at Fort McCoy on Feb. 15.
Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.” Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.
The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on the Defense Visual Information Distribution System at https://www.dvidshub.net/fmpao, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.”
Also try downloading the Digital Garrison app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base.
| Date Taken: | 02.20.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 02.21.2022 00:03 |
| Story ID: | 414983 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 310 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, 79th MP Soldier supporting OAW flies special flag for Chicago Police Memorial Foundation, by Scott Sturkol, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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