Old Glory Waved — And Got Very Dirty — At Slain Officer’s Funeral

After the funeral procession for slain Dallas police officer Michael Krol in July, a massive American flag that had been draped over Inkster Road by the Livonia and Inkster fire departments looked a little like a mechanic’s uniform after tearing apart an engine. But Old Glory is a gleaming red, white and blue again, thanks to a Metro Detroit dry cleaning service.

The hearse carrying Krol’s body passed under the flag as it traveled from St. Robert Bellarmine's Catholic Church in Redford to Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Southfield. It collected grease from the poles used to suspend it. When he saw the mess, Livonia Fire Chief Shadd Whitehead figured the flag could be easily cleaned before he returned it to BASF in Wyandotte, which had loaned it for the funeral of the Redford Township native who was killed in the July 7 sniper attack in Dallas.

But he was wrong.

As the 80-pound, 60 feet by 30 feet flag was lowered, Whitehead said he broke into a cold sweat. It wasn't just a little dirty; grease was embedded in the stars and bars. Whitehead nervously approached Todd Watkins, of Northville, who owns Martinizing Dry Cleaning franchises in Birmingham, Royal Oak, Ann Arbor and Roseville.

“We have little signs outside our windows that say, ‘We clean American flags free,’ ” Watkins told Hometownlife.com. "And I was brave enough to admit that to Shadd."

Watkins told the newspaper he didn’t have a fully formulated plan when his crew tackled the job. It took about 100 hours to clean it, and the consideration and rejection of several approaches, but Old Glory is in full splendor again.

“For us, what it became was this huge team-building event,” Watkins said. “I was shocked and amazed that, for as big a project it was, we never got a complaint. People really enjoyed doing it.”

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Photo: An American flag by Ethan Rogati via Flickr Commons