COVID hit our country in the Spring of 2020. Into various levels of quarantine and hibernation we went. To remain positive and productive, local Troop 478 Boy Scouts Archer and Webb Murphey used this time to complete their Eagle Scout projects at The Cross. 

One of  the Eagle projects included the construction and installation of a flag pole to fly the American flag 24/7. After properly positioning the flag pole so it was always lit by the uplighting at night,  the Boy Scouts concluded the flag project. However, their obligation to the flag was to  continue indefinitely.  

The Scouts gave their word of honor that a new American flag would always be at the  foot of The Cross. So over the past almost five years, The Murphey’s have replaced the  American flag approximately eight times as needed when the current flag became torn and  tattered. So after the Spring of 2024 hail and wind storms crushed through Panola county, the flag was again in need of replacement.  

The Murpheys set out to find a better built and longer life flag and hopefully in America.  

Unfortunately, they discovered most American flags were made in another country, not  America. Until their research found Allegiance Flag Supply in South Carolina. Further  investigation revealed an exceptional quality American flag built in America by American  seamstresses using 100% American source materials. 

With triple stitching at stress points,  individually embroidered stars, and many more details, the quality appeared far superior to  other flags used (would presumably last longer) but the price reflected its quality.  

The non-profit 501(c)(3) Panola Eagle Club was recently established here in January  2024. Contact was made by them to Allegiance Flag Supply, www.showallegiance.com in South Carolina about obtaining their flags. Allegiance Flag Supply was very helpful and receptive and insisted on donating the current flag confident it would outlast all previous flags.  

However, it was not just their conviction in the quality of their product which motivated the  decision. Panola Eagle Club learned that decades ago Wes Lyon, one the owners of Allegiance Flag Supply, also became an Eagle Scout and embraced the  present idea of his all American flag literally flying high above multiple Eagle Scout projects.  

Troop 478 emphasizes to their young men that “once an Eagle always an Eagle.” And  this act of kindness by Allegiance illustrates the saying albeit from a stranger a thousand miles  and decades apart from Batesville. 

So when you pass by and see this American flag as you go  about your business in Batesville, know it’s truly American and too, an “Eagles’” flag. And as  Paul Harvey would say, “And now you know, the rest of the story.”  

To donate or for more information about the new non-profit Panola Eagle Club, contact  local CPA Steve Calvert, Scoutmaster Jim Whitten and or any members of local Boy Scout  Troop 478.