2LT Reuter ’26 Gifts Handcrafted American Flag to WPAOG 

By Erika Norton, WPAOG Senior Multimedia Journalist 

The West Point Association of Graduates received a handcrafted wooden American flag from recent Class of 2026 graduate 2LT Bobby Reuter as a special gift in honor of America’s 250th Birthday this year. 

Reuter, who graduated with an economics and American Foundations degree, started constructing wooden American flags when he was a 17-year-old living in Long Island during the pandemic as a hobby. He later decided to send a flag to every member of Congress, hoping to spread a message of unity during a time of deep divisions. The gesture garnered online attention and customers. In 2021, Fox Nation chose Reuter’s flags to use as their Patriot Awards that year.

Reuter presented his handcrafted wooden flag to WPAOG’s Director of Data & Decision Science, Chuck Sulewski ’96 and Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations, Laurie Rumpf in a small ceremony in the Great Hall on August 6, who graciously accepted the special flag on behalf of the Association. The flag will permanently live on post in Herbert Hall Alumni Center’s Mullane Conference Room. 

“This is a symbol of unity,” Reuter said, “of what we can hopefully all agree on, no matter what you believe politically or whatever it may be. At the end of the day, we’re all Americans. That’s our most common base of unity. I started the business with that message.”

This particular wooden American flag features the famous 13 stripes, as well as 13 stars to represent the original Thirteen Colonies, and “We The People” from the Preamble to the United States Constitution. The flag also features the year “1776,” the year Continental Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, liberating the thirteen American colonies from Great Britain.

His gift is especially meaningful as our nation continues to commemorate the 250th anniversary of that historic day, serving as a reminder of the principles that unite generations of the Long Gray Line. 

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