When longtime diver Lew Bellows moved to Port Largo nine years ago, he began diving the Keys working for Ocean Divers (now Rainbow Reef Dive Center). It bothered him that the U.S. flags on the famous shipwrecks were tattered, and he decided to do something about it.
“Someone told me the guy who used to take care of it had moved away, so I took it upon myself to do it, and I enjoy doing it,” he said.
Bellows has changed the flags on Key Largo’s two most famous shipwrecks and dive sites, the USS Spiegel Grove and the USCGC Duane, ever since.
“I came out of the Vietnam era,” Bellows told Keys Weekly. “Didn’t volunteer, didn’t get drafted. Just wandered through. But I had friends of mine that went and never came back, and I had friends who went and didn’t completely come back.”
Those memories prompt Bellows to refresh the flags about four times a year to ensure there’s always a crisp, clean flag “flying” on both military wrecks.
“I like to get clean flags up for Veterans Day and Memorial Day, at least. That’s the reason I do it, really,” Bellows said. “The algae gets going really fast, and it doesn’t really matter if it’s polyester or nylon, the algae always gets it,” Bellows said.
The Duane sits in 100 to 130 feet of water and is Bellows’ favorite place to dive in the Keys. The second-longest serving military ship in history, it was also a U.S. Coast Guard ship during the Vietnam War. In the 33 years since its intentional sinking, it’s become an artificial reef, teeming with soft corals, bull sharks, goliath groupers and tons of fish, he said.
The Spiegel’s crane arms have some of the prettiest soft corals and sponges in all of the Caribbean, Bellows continued. The Navy ship was intentionally sunk into 60 to 135 feet of water in 2002.
Bellows loves seeing the flags on both. When the current catches them, they’re “as pretty as seeing a flag in the breeze” above the surface, he said.
He hopes the flags serve as unifying symbols especially in this time of “struggle.” He also emphasizes that he is proud to complete the changes for many reasons, none of which is political.
“I don’t think about pride for myself. I feel pride for the United States,” Bellows said. “I realize there’s a whole lot of neat people who gave their lives and served so that I can be a bitchy liberal. All my right-wing friends know exactly what I am; we still agree 100% on the flag.”
The actual changing of the flags is a one-man job, but Bellows takes coworkers from Rainbow Reef as dive buddies and “trainees” of sorts. He attaches the flags with plastic zip-ties and collects all the old ones to prevent plastic pollution. The currents on both ships are notorious, and the deep dives mean that he has to work efficiently.
“When I go down there, I say a prayer of some sort to those who gave their lives,” he said. “There’s nothing to interfere ‒ just me, the flag and the pole.”
Over nine years, he’s amassed fun stories like learning the hard way not to straddle the flagpole without a wetsuit (fire coral, ouch!) and befriending a curious golden grouper on the Duane.
“For years, he’d chase the other fish away and just watch me change the flag. It was the coolest thing. Then he disappeared. Probably onto someone’s dinner plate,” Bellows chuckled.
Bellows absorbs the cost of the flags himself and is honored to do so. The newest flags, which were changed within the past month, cost around $40 each.
The old flags are ceremoniously retired either at an American Legion or the Boy Scouts Base Camp and then usually incinerated.
After nine years, Bellows is ready to pass on the duty to Rainbow Reef, where he still works. He predicts Memorial Day 2021 will be the last flag change where he’s in charge.
“Thanks to Rainbow Reef for allowing me to have the honor of changing those flags,” he said. “I feel like I’ve done a pretty good job of it. And I’m sure someone will carry on well after me.”
Rainbow Reef always gives active military and veterans 10% off diving. On Veterans Day, both dive for free.
