PHOTOS BY JEFF GRANIT staff Clockwise from top: Sean Schoonover, a fifth-grade student at John Adams Elementary School in North Brunswick, holds up the American flag his brother, Ken, sent home from Iraq a few weeks ago. Greg Smith, the head custodian of the school, raises the flag, which was flown at the school on Friday. Julie Schoonover, Ken’s mother, hugs the flag inside the school before the flag raising. NORTH BRUNSWICK – John Adams Elementary School held a ceremonial flag raising on Friday to honor Ken Schoonover, a former graduate of the school whose brother is currently a fifth-grade student.
Schoonover, 25, is a first lieutenant in the United States Army serving in Iraq. The American flag flew in combat with the Blackhawk pilot from Sept. 11 to Dec. 16 of last year. In an e-mail he sent to his mother, Julie, he said he kept it between his heart and his body armor, although she is unsure of how he received the flag in the first place. The letter said the flag flew from Camp Speicher in the north of the country to operating bases south of Baghdad and will now be flown at the school in support of privates and generals.
“For me, I’m proud of my son, and his little brother is very proud of him,” Julie said.
Julie said Ken had always been interested in the military, and joined the ROTC program while at Penn State University. He was deployed in August for his first tour, which is expected to last 15 months. He is stationed in Balad, Iraq, although he flies throughout the country.
The flag arrived at his home on Dec. 28 and will be flown for one day each at several locations in the area. Julie said she is a probation officer and hopes to see it flying above the Superior Courthouse in New Brunswick.
“This is where he went to grade school and where his little brother goes to school,” the emotional mother said of John Adams being the first locale to have the flag, which was hoisted by head custodian Greg Smith. Ken’s younger brother, Sean, then led his classmates in the Pledge of Allegiance after a moment of silence for all of the country’s military personnel.
“It’s hard to describe the bond he and I have, with something as simple as that,” said Ken’s best friend, Joseph Grasso, as he looked to the top of the flagpole. Grasso, a North Brunswick police officer and member of the National Guard, has known Ken since the fifth grade, fitting since the elementary school is where the flag was.
Ken’s family also includes his father Ken, his brother Jason, 24, and his sister Shannon, 18.