Army Flag Exchanged for Army Specialist Austin Sypek of Northampton

On Wednesday evening August 23, 7:30PM the Northampton Township Board of Supervisors exchanged an Army flag for a US flag honoring resident soldier Army Specialist Austin Sypek of Richboro. Austin had deployed to Afghanistan back on August 28, 2016 and returned stateside back in February of this year. His mom and dad, Molly and Mike was escorted to the display to replace Austin’s personalized Army flag and replacing it with a US flag. Sypek is among the 83 known Northampton Township residents to deploy to hostile areas since the Flag Program was established in 2003.

The ceremony took place with many members of the Marine Corps League’s Patriot Detachment and members of the Northampton Township Veterans Advisory Commission who assisted coordinator Pete Palestina. A Citation of Commendation was presented by Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick to Austin’s mom Molly Sypek along with a flag flown over the Capital in his honor. Citations were also prepared by PA State Senator Tommy Tomlinson and State Representative Scott Petri.

Sypek is the 83rd Northampton resident honored under this program since its inception in 2003.

When a resident deploys to a combat area a military flag is placed in the display and when the resident returns from his or her deployment the military flag is exchanged with a US flag. Each flag is affixed with a streamer containing his or her name. A video of this ceremony can be found at the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=kYOArhx9PLg