Bay Ridge man gets new flag to honor army veteran dad

April 5, 2016 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle

“You father earned this flag,” U.S. Rep. Dan Donovan (right) told Tom Joyce at the presentation. Eagle photo by Paula Katinas

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Tom Joyce was beside himself when the American flag that had draped his father Patrick’s casket was destroyed in a car fire. Patrick C. Joyce had served in the U.S. Army and the flag was presented to his family by a military honor guard at his funeral at Mount Saint Mary’s Cemetery in Queens two years ago.

“I kept the flag in the car and when the fire happened I thought, that’s it, I’ll never be able to replace that flag,” Joyce, a Bay Ridge resident, told the Brooklyn Eagle.

Patrick C. Joyce, who died two years ago at the age of 83, had been in the Army when he was a young man, serving mostly in France, according to his son.

“He just missed having to go to Vietnam. They started sending troops over there, but he didn’t get sent,” Joyce said. Patrick returned to his home in Flushing, Queens, married and raised a family. “He worked for many years in retail,” his son said.

Near the end of his life, Patrick lived with relatives in Pearl River, N.J.

After the car fire, Joyce tried to get a new flag from the U.S. government, but his efforts were unsuccessful. The military presents one flag to the family at a veteran’s burial and is reluctant to replace the flag if it winds up lost or destroyed.

Not that Joyce didn’t try. “I reached out to veterans’ groups and some of the politicians. Everyone was trying to help me,” he said.

Joyce was eager to replace the flag because he wanted to give it to his nephew, who had lived with Patrick and had expressed an interest in Joyce’s military service.

Joyce kept hitting roadblocks. When things looked desperate for him, U.S. Rep. Dan Donovan (R-C-Southwest Brooklyn-Staten Island) stepped in and somehow convinced the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to send a replacement flag; something the agency rarely, if ever, does.

Donovan presented the flag to Joyce in his Brooklyn district office on April 1.

Donovan’s staff had gotten in touch with the U.S. Deptartment of Veterans Affairs and they agreed to replace the lost flag.

“It’s not a tradition to replace a flag, but when I learned of the situation, I wanted to help,” he told the Eagle.

Joyce thanked Donovan as the lawmaker handed him the flag.

“Don’t thank me, Tom. Your dad earned this flag,” Donovan told him.

“My dad was a World War II guy and he used to tell me, ‘If you like your freedom, thank a veteran,’” Donovan said.