Community · Marquette
Tom Ranta, who puts flags over schools and on 1,400 veterans’ graves, is Marquette County’s 2026 Veteran of the Year
MARQUETTE, Mich. — Every Veterans Day for more than 15 years, new American flags have gone up over Marquette-area schools because Tom Ranta made sure they did.
The Marquette County Veterans Alliance named Ranta, an Army and National Guard veteran, the 2026 Marquette County Veteran of the Year at a ceremony Saturday night hosted by American Legion Post 44, TV6 reported. State representatives presented recognitions.
Ranta has led the Flags Over Schools program on Veterans Day since 2010. This year, nine schools and two nursing homes raised new flags. He also coordinates the placement of about 1,400 flags on veterans’ graves at Holy Cross Cemetery and Park Cemetery.
“It’s not something that we come and go out and get because we enjoy doing what we do,” Ranta said. He said his favorite work is “helping people, especially the veterans and especially the youth.”
His next goal, he said, is simple: more U.S. flags on porches in Marquette neighborhoods.
Veterans Day is Wednesday, Nov. 11. Watch for flag-raisings at local schools that week.
Sources:
TV6/WLUC, “Marquette American Legion celebrates 2026 Marquette County Veteran of the Year,” Oct. 17, 2026 (award, service, programs, flag counts, quotes), https://www.uppermichiganssource.com/2026/10/17/tom-ranta-named-marquette-county-veteran-year/
Photo: Ronald Bradshaw, U.S. Air Force, “Airmen place flags, honor Veterans Day 151110-F-OD616-031.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, public domain, cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Airmen_place_flags,_honor_Veterans_Day_151110-F-OD616-031.jpg
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