SAN ANTONIO — In every neighborhood, you're bound to see at least one or two flags up for Veterans Day. But inside the Roseheart community on the north side, there are more than 1,000 flags waving in the wind.
"Veterans Day makes me think of when I was a young soldier," said Army veteran Richard Gilliam.
Over the last year, Gilliam has put a few flags at the entrance of his community for patriotic holidays.
"Some of the neighbors said, 'Wow, great idea! They look nice. We should do the whole neighborhood,'" he said.
For this Veterans Day, they did.
On Saturday, about 20 volunteers set out to color every street in the community red, white and blue.
"I think we had more fun than we anticipated," Gilliam said.
Lines of flags lead neighbors straight to their front door. It took just two hours to cover the whole community.
"They had a very organized group; remember, they were military," joked HOA President and Air Force veteran Bennie Newman. "They had wagons and went out in teams!"
Newman said a lot of people who live in their neighborhood are veterans and they appreciate the gesture. "There's a lot of pride in this," he said. "We need to honor all those people who served in the military."
While Gilliam, Newman and the other volunteers were sitting down to admire their work, a neighbor came out to donate more flags to the cause. The rest of the flags were purchased with donations from the community.
"To look at that flag and know what it represents, I'm proud of it," Newman said.
Gilliam said Veterans Day is special and deserves to be recognized. He hopes these flags remind people that tomorrow is no ordinary day.
"You get busy, you get caught up in the business of life," Gilliam said."And if you don't stop and make yourself think about it, it could easily be looked over and forgotten about."
Gilliam said they plan to put the flags out for Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, 9/11 and Veterans Day for years to come.