The Rockingham flag does not wave over the land of the free and the home of the brave, at least for now. It’s being flown overseas where our soldiers are still engaged in conflict.

Nearly eight years ago, Ricky Hamilton of Rockingham made a Rockingham flag using the city logo.

“I got a cloth cut to size, hemmed the edges, put fabric paint in my airbrush, and taped it off, painting in layers,” said Hamilton. The flag was first made for the National Guard Unit to take on deployment to Iraq, and later came home to serve as the banner for Relay for Life teams.

“It’s got some miles on it,” said Hamilton. He recalled spending about 12 years painting backdrop banners for bands, where he got in plenty of practice. He made unit flags between 1992 and 1996 when he was in the Marine Corps.

When the Rockingham flag came home from its stay with the National Guard Unit in Iraq in 2003, it was invited back overseas in April by 1st Sgt. Eddie Dean.

“Would you like for me to fly our city flag here in Afghanistan like we did in Iraq and return it to you when I return?” Dean wrote in a letter to Mayor Gene McLaurin.

Dean had been pulled from the Rockingham unit he was with and relocated to Raeford as battalion first sergeant. His battalion is the biggest bomb unit in Afghanistan; the first of its kind to be made up of soldiers from different states including Oregon, Washington, Arkansas, North Carolina and South Carolina. The battalion is also the first to have 100 IED finds. IEDs are road-side bombs. A few soldiers have been injured, but no lives have been lost.

McLaurin wrote back, “I am sending you the same handmade flag carried to Iraq during the 2003 mobilization and brought back when your battalion returned. Eddie, you have always been very community-oriented and I hope you will be able to display your “hometown” flag at some point. I pray things will continue to go well for your battalion and we look forward to your safe return later in the year.”

Maj. James Martin Sessoms of Rockingham also took part in the flag exchange tradition by sending the mayor and Bennett Deane an American flag in July.

In a letter to Deane, Sessoms wrote, “As a resident of Rockingham and a native North Carolinian, I wanted to send this US flag to my friends and my hometown back in Rockingham.”

Sessoms is in the Army, and is deployed in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. This is his third tour of duty in Iraq since 2006. The U.S. flag he sent was flown at the Forward Operating Base Taji where Sessoms is assigned with the Army Sustainment Command. He is scheduled to return home the second week in September.

Another American flag was presented to McLaurin. This flag was flown over Baghdad in February, 2004, and was given to the mayor by Army Aviator/Battalion Safety Officer Daniel “Chris” Bryant.

Hamlet Seniors

An American flag and a commemorative plaque that bears a picture of a helicopter with the flag visible from the door was presented to the Hamlet Senior Center this week by Sgt. 1st Class Jason Dickerson, who is now home from Afghanistan.

The flag, as the plaque explains, was flown for the Hamlet Senior Center in the depicted UH-60L Blackhawk helicopter during capture, detention and interrogation of terrorist forces. It was also flown on a C2 aircraft on Feb. 13 during the largest air assault over Afghanistan. The C2 aircraft provided watch and communication over the assault called “Operation MOSTARAK” during which 250 Marines and multiple NATO forces were inserted into the Marjeh and Nad’ali districts to secure and protect the major population of Central Helmand, Afghanistan.

What began as Operation Sweet Tooth became more than just sending boxes of candy to troops from the Armory stationed overseas.

After the Hamlet Senior Center began the donation effort in April 2009, requests soon poured in for more functional and much needed items. The wife of Sgt. 1st Class Jason Jones brought a list to the seniors of approved and recommended items - things the soldiers really needed. Jones was stationed overseas in Iraq at the time, but was the project coordinator for the seniors through the Armory’s 30th Special Troops Battalion.

The seniors began to collect and fill boxes of items such as homemade candies, cookies and cakes, baby wipes, toothbrushes, mouthwash, body wash, Febreeze, sunblock, clothing such as T-shirts purchased through AAFES, eye drops, stationary, pens to write letters with and thumbtacks to post pictures and notes on their walls.

The soldiers asked for phone cards, magazines, local newspapers, movies, hand and foot warmers, comic books, crackers, Pringles chips, coffee and creamer, beef jerky, memory cards and sticks, travel-size games and cards and non-carbonated drinks.

The seniors sent 16 packages total, weighing about 10 pounds each, and costing $10 each to send. When the senior center ran out of money for shipping, Calvary Baptist Church stepped in and paid for the remaining shipping costs of the $1,600 project.

Upon Jones’ return home, he personally extended an invitation to the senior center, inviting seniors to attend the Freedom Salute Celebration in September.

The Hamlet Senior Center is starting a Veteran’s Club to promote unique camaraderie from all branches of military service.

The Veteran’s Club will meet on Sept. 8 at 11 a.m. at the Hamlet Senior Center, facilitated by Micha Howell, veteran of the U.S. Navy. People interested should call or visit the senior center’s front desk.

Staff Writer Dawn Kurry can be reached at dkurry@yourdailyjournal.com or by calling 997-3111 ext. 15.