An area teen is being recognized by officials in his county on Thursday. Cole Dotson has received national attention over a patriotic act.
18-year-old Cole Dotson was was driving in font of his high school on May 22 when he noticed something wrong. The school's American flag was lying on the ground.
"It just kind of happened for me, it didn't take any thought," Dotson said.
He jumped out of his car and stood there, holding the flag. Values he says he learned as a Boy Scout.
"It's common sense. Quick decision," he said. "Decided to jump our and grab it, and then I started to think about what I should do. Act first, think second is kind of what happened."
He called his grandmother, who works at the elementary school, for help.
"I didn't want anyone to think he was doing something that he shouldn't be doing," said Diane Ordway.
But this was no senior prank. She called a janitor, who came to help them bring the flag up again. She also took a picture that Cole's mom posted on Facebook. It has since gone viral. Cole has even interviewed with FOX News and CNN.
"We laughed and said he was famous, and he'd be on The Ellen Show and GMA," Ordway said. It was all a big joke for us, we never thought that'd it go as far as it did."
On Thursday, Cole was recognized by the Putnam county commissioners office for his patriotic actions.
"It seems like all we heard about is burning the flag, and here we have a Putnam County resident who has a lot of respect for our flag, and we'd like to make this something that people know about," said Putnam County commissioner Vince Schroeder.
Cole's mom wasn't surprised by his actions.
"He's always been very patriotic since very little. He talked about a military career since really the first grade," said mom Rhonda Pester.
And he did enlist in the Marine Corps. Now, with all this happening around Memorial Day and just a few days before Cole leaves for boot camp, it's hard to believe it was all just a coincidence.
"He was supposed to be there, right place, right time," Pester said.
The flag that Cole held for more than 20 minutes, was given to him at his graduation. He said he will be giving it to his Boy Scout troop.
