KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Wednesday was an exciting day at The K, but there were many heavy hearts as fans and staff remembered two fallen Kansas City Firefighters.
In honor of Larry J. Leggio and John V. Mesh the outfield flags at The K were raised to half-staff.
26-year U.S. Army veteran Rich Welsh, who now serves as the manager of 24-Hour Security for the Royals, says raising the flags at each game is his most prideful moment on the job, but he adds that Wednesday’s tradition was even more special to him as he remembered Leggio and Mesh.
Welsh says three brand new flags were purchased to fly in the outfield Wednesday to ensure they would be crisp for the more than 40,000 fans in attendance.
“We want to make sure they do that right, and we want to make sure that we honor the fallen firefighters correctly, and just make the display appropriate given the circumstances,” Welsh says.
But Welsh says it was with a heavy heart that he lowered them to half-staff – as a sign of mourning for the two veteran firefighters.
“It`s really a big thing when somebody like that falls in the line of duty, and I think everybody in Kansas City knows how it happened,” Welsh says. “But it`s a major show of respect that there are families that remain behind, and I know there are some children who are survivors, and it`s important that the public knows that there`s a lot of sorrow for what happened.”
