?Handmade? flag on its way to military man

The kindergarten class of Barb Ellenberger at Rogers City Elementary School wanted to do something special for their teacher’s son, Andrew, who is in the Navy. Ellenberger thought a flag made by the students would be a nice gesture to add to the “care” packages she sends to her son on a regular basis. She also includes beef jerky, batteries, cookies and other items hard to get overseas.

Her son is a Master at Arms and is part of the Joint Task Force serving in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Following the events of September 11, 2001 and the military operations in Afghanistan, a decision was made to transfer some of the more dangerous detainees to Guantanamo Bay. The base serves as an interrogation and holding facility for Al Qaeda, Taliban, and other terrorist suspects that come under U.S. control during the war on terrorism. All 15 of the students in Ellenberger’s class had a “hand” in making and decorating the unique flag. Each child signed his or her name on one of their palm prints in the star area of the flag. The teacher also signed “Mom” right in the middle.

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The children had loads of fun dipping their hands in red and white paint to create the flag pattern on a piece of white linen. Classroom aide Jennifer Kendziorski made sure the kids kept their hands away from everything except the flag. The class members pressed 170 handprints on the stripe parts of the flag and, naturally, 50 five-finger stars against the blue background at the top of the flag. Ellenberger mentioned that her son also receives the paper from home so he would be able to see the happy faces of the flag makers in the near future.

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