Photo of Idaho boys folding American flag goes viral

A photo of three young boys folding an American flag in Hayden, Idaho, has gone viral, with many praising the boys for their efforts to protect the flag.

Amanda Reallan spotted the boys outside of Hayden Meadows Elementary school on Wednesday. What she saw compelled her to take a photo. Two boys were holding the ends of an American flag together to fold it in half. The third boy laid underneath the flag, so if it slipped from his friends' hands, it wouldn't hit the ground.

Reallan shared the heartwarming picture on Facebook. "Wow! I just watched the most amazing act of Patriotism!" the mom wrote. "Was waiting to pick up my children from school when three boys took down the flag. They were having a hard time making sure it didn't touch the ground when the third boy laid under it to honor not letting it touch the ground!"

The photo of the patriotic young men protecting the sacred flag soon went viral. 

The boys are fifth graders Naylan Tuttle, Jack LeBreck, and Casey Dolan, KHQ reports. The three friends explained why the took so much care in folding the flag.

"This is our nation's flag, this is our school's flag, it's how we represent our country," LeBreck said. "If you let it touch the ground then you disrespect our country is what I heard."

The boys had a mentor who taught them about the flag. Mac McCarty, the school's custodian, showed the 5th graders how to properly fold and store it. "Mr. Mac" as the kids call him, told KHQ he is an Air Force veteran and that his father and grandfather were both in the military. He was happy the boys took his lesson to heart.

"They did themselves proud, they did their families proud, they did our school proud and our community and I'm very proud of them and I'm sure their families are very proud of them as well," McCarty said.

"I think it would be very honorable for me, my dad and my grandfather, they've been in the service, in the military, so I probably think I would make them proud," Naylan Tuttle said.