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Service Flag Free

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Several local stores used the concept of a free give-away.  Merely stop by and give your soldiers name to The Metro, and you get yourself a free Service Flag.  Something to display for your home.  Surely, one need not purchase anything when doing so, but since you are here, why don't you look around?

Gold Star Mothers

World War I was the originator of many things:  trench warfare, tanks on the battlefield, airplane reconissance and bombardment, and service flags.  Being an American creation, the first service flag was created by Captain Robert L. Queisser of Ohio to commerate that he had two sons serving in the Great War.  Over the years, it has become a federally recognized symbol of service and sacrifice that the American family have born.  The idea is simple.  A red background surrounding a white field, with a blue star for every immediate family member serving.  If a son or husband was lost in the war, the blue star would be replaced by a gold embroidered one.  We still use these flags or banners today, and a Gold Star Family is held dearly in American culture, having paid the ultimate price for freedom.

One thing which held America together in this conflict was a sense of involvement.  Shared sacrifice.  People were not only asked to give up sugar and meat, to cut back on spending and to give their money to countless charity drives and any or all of the four Liberty Loans, but also to send their boys to another continent for fight the Hun.  Part of the sacrifice was a shared lot, as these flags were hung in front windows and on doors.  People one grew up with knew who the stars were, and many would go around from time to time to make sure no blue flags became gold, or if they did, to pay their respects to the mourning family.