A 6-year-old boy from Texas went viral after a picture of him saluting soldiers at the San Antonio International airport was seen by thousands of people online, according to multiple reports.
Jace Vega, the 6-year-old was at the airport with his mother, Priscilla Pinales-Vega to surprise his father, Joe Vega, who was returning from a trip to Colorado Springs, Fox San Antonio reported. While the young boy was waiting for his father, he saw some uniformed military sailors walking by, and much to the surprise of his mother, the 6-year-old stood at attention and saluted them.
The photo of the 6-year-old was sent to the news station by his parents, and the news station posted the picture on their Facebook page, where it had garnered over 2,800 reactions, over 1,900 shares, along with 194 comments.
During an interview on Skype with the 6-year-old and his father, Jace Vega was asked why he saluted the soldiers, and he answered with, “because they fight for our country.”
Joe Vega revealed during the Skype interview that his son wanted to become a soldier someday.
“Why don’t you tell [Fox San Antonio] what you told me, that maybe you want to be a soldier someday, right?” To which Jace Vega answered with a “yep.”
According to Fox San Antonio, the 6-year-old loves to play football and video games and wishes to become an army captain one day.
Joe Vega also told the news station that other companies had reached out to the family after the picture of his son went viral, asking whether they could use the photo for patriotic-related purposes.
“A couple of companies have reached out to us, and some other people just reached out to my wife,” Joe Vega said during the interview. “They want to use his picture in the airport somewhere in Florida. A couple of locally owned veteran companies who do shirts, that’s locally owned and operated, they’re going to a couple of shirts with him.”
Priscilla Pinales-Vega also expressed how proud she was of her son.
She told Fox 10 Phoenix that their family was patriotic, having taught Jace Vega about the importance of respecting the soldiers who served the country. However, she told Fox 10 that her son had saluted the soldiers all on his own.
“I was one proud momma when I heard those words come out of this mouth,” Priscilla Pinales-Vega told Fox 10Phoenix.
“It’s the simple things like this that make me very proud as a father,” Joe Vega wrote on Facebook, according to Fox 10Phoenix. “To know that WE are teaching our children that the least they can do is show respect to the brave young men and women that serve our great nation.”
Two Boy Recite Pledge of Allegiance
A photo of two young boys stopping in the middle of the road to recite the pledge of allegiance as a flag was being raised went viral.
Roseboro Fire Department Chief Kenneth Lee Coleman Jr. told Fox News that the department’s chaplain, Bobby Herring, was raising the American flag in front of the fire station in Roseboro, North Carolina. He looked over to the intersection and saw two boys standing there with their hands on their heart, saying the pledge of allegiance.
According to Coleman, the photo, which was posted on Feb. 8, received 100 likes within the first five minutes.
“I thought that’s pretty good for us because we don’t usually get that many likes,” Coleman told the news station.
Coleman said he didn’t expect the post to have gone so far. As of Feb. 12, the post received over 7,000 likes and more than 6,900 shares.
“God bless our community,” the post read.
The young boys were cousins and were riding their scooter and hoverboard around town when they stopped in front of the fire station, reported WRAL.
Many social media users praised the two boys showing respect for the nation’s flag, saying that their parents should be proud of them. The post has over 600 comments, at the time of writing.
