YARMOUTH PORT --
Vincent and Elizabeth Abbott have in their 30 some years on Lookout Road grown accustomed to drivers getting disoriented at the cul-de-sac, even to the point of driving into the nearby marsh.
But the couple were not prepared a year ago when someone drove into their yard, snapped their flagpole, drove over their plants and then drove off. When they looked out the next morning, they didn't know what to think, said Elizabeth Abbott, 88.
"I said What the heck happened?" Vincent Abbott, 92, said. "That thing has been there for years."
Photo gallery from the flagpole replacement event in Yarmouth Port
On Saturday, the couple got a 33-foot replacement for their flagpole, along with an American Legion honor guard salute, a plaque, new landscaping around the pole and a yard full of hugs, good wishes and tears. The replacement flagpole was given to the Abbott family through a program called "Second Tour of Duty," which donates used flagpoles to veterans.
Vincent Abbott is a World War II Army veteran of the Battle of the Bulge, and he said he may possibly be the last man in his unit still living.
In late 1944, in the wake of the Allied forces’ successful D-Day invasion of Normandy, France, it seemed as if the Second World War was all but over. But on Dec. 16, 1944, with the onset of winter, the German army launched a counteroffensive that was intended to cut through the Allied strongholds. The battle that ensued is known historically as the Battle of the Bulge.
"This is overwhelming for me right now," Vincent Abbott said as he sat in a chair next to the new flagpole. The honor guard, from Sandwich, had helped raise a flag to the top, and after a while the winds began to blow and ripple the red and white stripes. "Personally, my unit was 164 men and I was one of the youngest of the group," Vincent Abbott said. "I am 92 years old, last week. I said to myself, 'I am probably the last man standing.' We lost contact with each other but we used to get together. Most of us were from New Jersey."
Before living in Yarmouth Port, the couple lived in New York. In September, Jim Abbott, their son, wrote to a Sunday Cape Cod Times newspaper column called "Write To Know," asking about flagpole repairs or replacement, after attempting to make the repairs himself.
"My dad is a World War II Battle of the Bulge veteran," read Jim Abbott’s letter, which appeared Sept. 20. "Some coward hit his fiberglass flagpole with a car and took off. I have been unable to repair this humble man’s flagpole, which has been his pride and joy. Is there someone out there with the skills to repair it or who knows of an inexpensive replacement?"
The response to that letter from Cape Cod Fence Co., Adirondack Flagpoles and others is what led to Vincent Abbott getting a new flagpole in his yard Saturday. Adirondack Flagpoles representative Danny Kaifetz co-founded the "Second Tour of Duty" flagpole program for veterans, and the one placed on the Abbott property on Saturday came from an executive on Cape Cod who made the donation, Kaifetz said. His parents have never found out who ran over the original flagpole, Jim Abbott said.
His memories of the war are still very vivid, Elizabeth Abbott said, in a kind way, about her husband.
"I know every story," she said.
-- Follow Mary Ann Bragg on Twitter: @maryannbraggCCT.