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http://www.khou.com/news/local/Trib...be-returned-to-soldiers-mother-268552472.html
Tribute flag found at flea market will be returned to soldier’s mother
Patsy Maciel’s son will always be her hero, ”Fred told me he was born to be a Marine,” she said holding his picture close to her heart.
Right out of Spring High in 2003, he signed up and went straight to Iraq.
He served two tours, then tragedy, "January 26, 2005," she recalls.
It was a helicopter crash near Fallujah, Iraq, 31 Marines dead including Fred Maciel.
His mother Patsy received his effects, “His blue suits. Combat boots. He collected these little spoons,” she said.
For nine-and-a-half years she was left with just those things, some pictures, and her grief.
That changed a few weeks ago when she got a strange message from someone in Beaumont sent to her on Facebook.
It was followed up by a phone call, ”She said I have something of Fred’s I want to give you,” Patsy remembered.
Catie Shafer says her father Walter Brown, himself a former Marine, found the flag in a Beaumont Flea Market.
http://www.khou.com/news/local/Trib...r-after-being-lost-for-9-years-268793041.html
HOUSTON – When Lance Cpl. Fred Maciel died in 2005 in Iraq, his fellow Marines signed a flag that was supposed to be given to his family, but somehow it got lost.
However, thanks to a Beaumont couple – more than nine years later – the flag finally made it home.
Maciel’s mother, Patsy Maciel, wasn’t expecting a ceremony. She wasn’t expecting a salute from dozens of strangers.
“They’re here for my son. Look at them,” she said.
On the flag are heartfelt messages written by his fellow Marines – the tribute was meant to go to his family, but somehow it got lost until Walter Brown found it at flea market.
“The lady just said, ‘It’s $5.’ She said, ‘It has been written on you know that.’ I said, ‘That’s OK. I’ll go ahead and buy it,’” Brown said.
With his own son a Marine, Brown read the messages and knew he had to get it home.
“It’s a lot deeper than just putting it in the mailbox and shipping it over. It had to be hand delivered,” he said.
The Brown family tracked down Maciel’s mother, and on Saturday evening, his wife personally put the flag into her arms.
Tribute flag found at flea market will be returned to soldier’s mother
Patsy Maciel’s son will always be her hero, ”Fred told me he was born to be a Marine,” she said holding his picture close to her heart.
Right out of Spring High in 2003, he signed up and went straight to Iraq.
He served two tours, then tragedy, "January 26, 2005," she recalls.
It was a helicopter crash near Fallujah, Iraq, 31 Marines dead including Fred Maciel.
His mother Patsy received his effects, “His blue suits. Combat boots. He collected these little spoons,” she said.
For nine-and-a-half years she was left with just those things, some pictures, and her grief.
That changed a few weeks ago when she got a strange message from someone in Beaumont sent to her on Facebook.
It was followed up by a phone call, ”She said I have something of Fred’s I want to give you,” Patsy remembered.
Catie Shafer says her father Walter Brown, himself a former Marine, found the flag in a Beaumont Flea Market.
http://www.khou.com/news/local/Trib...r-after-being-lost-for-9-years-268793041.html
HOUSTON – When Lance Cpl. Fred Maciel died in 2005 in Iraq, his fellow Marines signed a flag that was supposed to be given to his family, but somehow it got lost.
However, thanks to a Beaumont couple – more than nine years later – the flag finally made it home.
Maciel’s mother, Patsy Maciel, wasn’t expecting a ceremony. She wasn’t expecting a salute from dozens of strangers.
“They’re here for my son. Look at them,” she said.
On the flag are heartfelt messages written by his fellow Marines – the tribute was meant to go to his family, but somehow it got lost until Walter Brown found it at flea market.
“The lady just said, ‘It’s $5.’ She said, ‘It has been written on you know that.’ I said, ‘That’s OK. I’ll go ahead and buy it,’” Brown said.
With his own son a Marine, Brown read the messages and knew he had to get it home.
“It’s a lot deeper than just putting it in the mailbox and shipping it over. It had to be hand delivered,” he said.
The Brown family tracked down Maciel’s mother, and on Saturday evening, his wife personally put the flag into her arms.
