The Seahawks honored veterans with an annual Salute to Service during Thursday's game at CenturyLink Field.
More than 150 service members unfurled the flag on the field before the win over the Packers. The Air Force Wings of Blue parachute team also jumped in to deliver the challenge coin used for the toss.
Dozens more veterans were in the stands, including 96-year-old Staff Sgt. Art Unruh, who raised the 12 Flag Thursday. Unruh flew 243 combat hours as a B-17 waist gunner in World War II.
Unruh said raising the flag was: “Quite an honor.”
At halftime, the team honored Filipino WWII Congressional Medal recipients and Gold Star families, which had free seats to the game.
Army Staff Sgt. Tim Patane was seated behind the Seahawks’ end zone. He served five tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“This is a great country and I’m proud to be part of it and serve it,” he said. “I see a lot of patriots in our country, and I like that.”
But watching the game – he also found himself thinking about the people he served with that didn’t make it back.
“I want to also thank some of my friends, and people that sacrificed their lives for what we have here,” he said.
The Seahawks organization said through the month of November, it will donate 12 percent of Salute to Service merchandise sales from Seattle-area pro shops to The Mission Continues, a non-profit that “empowers veterans to build strong communities through service.”
