A veteran, his family, friends, and neighbors are making an impassioned plea to whoever stole an American flag that holds much sentimental value to a man who served his country with distinction.
Neighbors even made a sign for their mission to recover the stolen flag in Tacoma, Washington that reads: “Please return my flag, sentimental to me. I brought it back from Iraq. The bottom four stripes have my buddy’s blood on them.”
Kim Phillips, who also resides in Tacoma, is helping out veteran Nolan Gomez recover the flag. She shared that Gomez was just doing some yard work when someone stole his flag.
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The flag usually has a special place on the back of Gomez’s truck, but at that time he took it down while he used his truck to do some work. He temporarily stood the flag up in a cone.
Phillips said the flag was very important to Gomez, and as someone who also comes from a family of military men, she feels strongly for Gomez. She helped make the sign hoping that whoever took the flag would take heart and return it. Her neighbor took a photo of the sign and posted it in a Pierce County community page. It has been shared hundreds of times.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Someone stole this <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tacoma?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Tacoma</a> veteran’s <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AmericanFlag?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AmericanFlag</a>. He used to keep it flying out of his truck. Now he says a piece of him is missing. 💔😢<br><br>Zoom in & you can see faded spots - blood stains from a friend he lost. The pole is made from a yellow broomstick.<br><br>Pls RT! <a href="https://twitter.com/KIRO7Seattle?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KIRO7Seattle</a> <a href="https://t.co/Ox7MHPPdtF">pic.twitter.com/Ox7MHPPdtF</a></p>— Deedee Sun (@DeedeeKIRO7) <a href="https://twitter.com/DeedeeKIRO7/status/1020860205314084864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 22, 2018</a></blockquote>
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The support of the community and other strangers has been overwhelming, with other families even offering their own American flags to Gomez.
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Phillips said that they are touched that something incredible can come out from something so heartbreaking. Still, they are hoping to recover the flag.
Some reacted on social media and blamed leftists for the missing flag.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Disgusting Leftists…</p>— Damien Purge 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇮🇹🇩🇪 (@d_purge78) <a href="https://twitter.com/d_purge78/status/1020862349962440704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 22, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Agreed. Bet it's Antifa.</p>— 🏯 Kyle A Nicholas 🚅 (@LongDistVger) <a href="https://twitter.com/LongDistVger/status/1020879769611558912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 22, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Yeah, lets support antifa and elect more socialists. This is who the left are.</p>— disinformationalizer (@bareknucklelove) <a href="https://twitter.com/bareknucklelove/status/1020865137475923969?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 22, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Phillips said: “That’s defending us, all of us, our freedom. And he was injured in the war. So it’s another reason to get it back to him. If anyone knows where to look.”
Source:
Twitter: #MAGA #KeepAmericaGreat! #AmericanFlag #Veteran #StolenFlag #HelpGetTheVetsFlagBack #Washington
He's lying. Nobody dies 'on the American flag's during combat. And desecrating the flag by bleeding on it is punishable by death, so his friend got what he deserved. The Iraq war was actually a violation of the Geneva Convention, meaning it was a WAR CRIME, so he doesn't deserve the flag. It's a symbol of his cowardice, going into an innocent nation and helping to murder hundreds of thousands of innocent people. Nobody actually'supports the troops', even though they say it to sound patriotic. In reality, the troops are all uneducated idiots who don't deserve any respect at all.