VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The Ocean Park Rescue Squad in Virginia Beach is recognizing a longtime member by dedicating a flag pole in his honor.
Lieutenant Don Anderson first joined the squad in 1982.
Over the last 40 years, he's logged tens of thousands of hours.
Dozens gathered Saturday to dedicate a flagpole at the Ocean Park Rescue Squad's facility in Anderson's honor.
"Today we're honoring Don and his 41 years of service," Don Anderson's brother Wayne told us. "It's, like, amazing that he's put so much time into the community, helping neighbors, helping his friends."
"He has served in just about every role with the Rescue Squad, from maintaining our vehicles to cutting people out of cars, teaching folks, doing just so many things to serve the community, but also to be a part of this historic organization," said Greg Postlewait, Treasurer of Ocean Park Rescue Squad.
"I asked our Patriot Guard guys if they would come stand a flag line for him. They said absolutely," Wayne Anderson told us.
"Ocean Park is going through a renovation process, and they had a old old flag pole out front, and several of the volunteers wanted to do something special, so they came up with the idea to erect a new flagpole in honor of Don," he said.
"So Don and I have been on many, many different types of calls from vehicle extrications to multi crashes to birthing babies," David Jarashow with Ocean Park Rescue Squad told us.
Another member - Alex White said: "Don's left an impression on everybody - the city, our community, here at Ocean Park and most importantly - our members. "
Then we talked to the honoree himself:
"When we started it, we only had about 6 active members," Don Anderson told us. "Now we got about 60? Yeah - about 60 active members."
'It's been fun and it's just been a lot of great times and I had a lot of fun doing this, enjoying it - helping other people," he said.
"What's going to be your plan?" we asked. "Are you just going to retire and stop or are you still going to continue working?"
"I'll stay here as long as I can until I end up going into a nursing home," Anderson said with a smile.
Besides his work with Ocean Park Rescue Squad, Don Anderson is also an Eagle Scout, volunteering countless hours with the Boy Scouts of America.