The View from On High

On Monday, April 12th U.S. Marine Lance Corporal Tyler Griffin returned home to Voluntown, CT for the last time. Griffin was killed April 1st in combat operations in Helmand province Afghanistan. The Voluntown fire department, with help from ladder trucks from Jewett City and Taftville, draped a giant Stars and Stripes across the route of the procession that would bring him through town.

Since The Day would have two photographers covering the procession, I decided to seek-out an alternate point of view and asked the Voluntown fire chief if he would alright if I asked the Taftville officer in command for access to the bucket of Tower 25 for the duration.

The wind carried the flag out over the procession right up until the moment the hearse reached the edge of the frame and at that moment the flag whipped up out of my composition requiring I quickly re-compose and shoot straight down as the hearse passed the firefighter honor guards flanking the roadway.