MOSES LAKE - The crowd gave three cheers and sang the national anthem as a new American flag went up at Columbia Crest extended care facility.

"We bought the flag because ours is kind of tattered," Roni Smith, who works in the facility's admission office, said. "So we're going to retire the old one."

Volunteers from American Legion Post No. 209, Moses Lake, lowered the old flag, unfolded the new flag and raised it as a resident led the crowd in three cheers. Then some of the residents sang an a cappella version of the "Star-Spangled Banner."

The facility's veterans got the front-row seat for the flag-raising. When it was done the Legion members shook every veteran's hand and saluted them. "We're all veterans together," Richard Rudder, the current Post No. 209 commander, said.

The veterans had served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam, and in peacetime in the late 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Eight veterans and facility commander Karl Hernandez gathered together for a picture with the new flag.

The Legion volunteers were Rudder, adjutant Grant Oberg and first vice-commander Rex Rogers.