WESTMINSTER : Flag Unites the Many Nationalities

Lovely Moua wears a Hmong costume whenever something special comes up: A wedding. A birthday party. A festival.

Looking lovely in the tribal dress of her people--the Hmongs are native to Laos--Moua appeared at the Civic Center Sunken Gardens on Tuesday to salute something she’s equally proud of--the American flag.

“It’s wonderful,” said the 14-year-old, an eighth-grader at Willis Warner Middle School. “I’m happy that I can dress up and participate in something like this.”

The event was Flag Day, and Moua was among several Warner students who attended the ceremony in their native costumes. The theme: “Many Nations--One Flag.”

Huong Trinh dressed as a Mandarin and Mary Ossamang wore the garb of a Malaysian maiden--a green scarf and ankle-length silk dress with blue, yellow, gold and green print. Both 14-year-old girls are classmates of Moua’s at Warner.

About 200 people participated in the hourlong festivities, which began at noon and were marked by the raising of a giant American flag, reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance and singing of “The National Anthem.”

“It’s important to keep this tradition alive for our young people,” Mayor Charles V. Smith said. “This is something that brings the community together.”

The Warner school band played a medley of marching music. A senior citizens group, “Musical Variations,” sang patriotic songs and an honor guard of police officers and veterans presented the flags.

After the ceremony, several veterans said that Flag Day still evokes memories of their wartime service and reawakens their patriotic fervor.

“It still sends chills up my spine,” said Charles Altomere, 79, a 30-year Marine veteran who had fought in World War II and Korea. “I was a career soldier. I feel like I’m back in the service.”

Two Pearl Harbor survivors--Miles Leach, 81, and Oswald Tanczos, 77--said that they would still fight for the flag.

“I’m still willing to stand for my country,” said Tanczos, who fought in the Pacific. “I fought for it during the war, and I will again.”

Vietnamese immigrants Vinh Le and his wife, Su Le, said they were happy just to be part of the celebration, and were content to listen to the music and watch the festivities from the sidelines.

But Moua, whose family came to the United States before she was a year old, said that it was great to be in the midst of the celebration.

She said that she is proud of her Hmong heritage, but as an American teen-ager has “learned to be independent and take care of myself.”