Norton to Meet with Navy Seaman whose Experience Brought Respect to D.C. Service Members, Veterans and Flag

WASHINGTON, DC – The Office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said today that U.S. Navy Seaman Jonathon Rucker, a D.C. native and graduate of the District's Roosevelt High School, who experienced the failure to raise his city's flag at a military ceremony, will meet with Norton tomorrow, Wednesday, April 3, 2013, at noon in 2136 Rayburn House Office Building, during his leave in D.C. after serving in Japan. Norton will have press availability for interviews with Rucker following their meeting. The Congresswoman got a provision into the fiscal year 2013 National Defense Authorization Act, which was signed into law, that requires the armed services to display the District of Columbia flag whenever the flags of the 50 states are displayed.

"It will be a special pleasure and honor to meet Jonathan Rucker," said Norton. "Seaman Rucker's experience was central to my bill that now ensures that no member of the military or veteran from the District will ever again have to suffer the indignity of not being properly honored by the military."

Norton's fight for respect for the D.C. flag began last year when Jonathan Rucker's mother, Tomi Rucker, a fire investigator with the District's Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department, wrote to Norton expressing her disappointment that the D.C. flag was not raised to honor her son at his graduation ceremony from boot camp at Naval Station Great Lakes, even though state flags were raised to honor the other graduates. Norton immediately investigated the issue, and spoke with officials at the highest levels of the White House, as well as with Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI). The Congresswoman kept the D.C. flag, epitomized by Seaman Rucker's experience, in the spotlight with House floor speeches and press conferences until the bill was passed and signed into law.

Published: April 2, 2013