Baytown trucker's patriotic act goes viral

BAYTOWN, TX (KTRK) -- We're now hearing exclusively and directly from the Baytown truck driver whose actions sparked such Patriotic feelings in cyberspace earlier this month.

Jake Gridley was driving on I-80 outside Omaha, Nebraska, when he spotted an American flag abandoned along the highway. Gridley did what many had not up to that point. He turned his big rig around and went back for the red, white, and blue.

As Gridley puts it, the flag looked like a "man down."

"You could see it off in the grass. You've got the beautiful red, white, and blue. Then you've got grass and trash," said Gridley. "I zoomed past, turned this big ole' thing around, came back, put my flashers on, and almost ran back to that flag."

Gridley posted about the flag on his Facebook page. His post has since been shared more than 100,000 times.