Friends, neighbors tackle project for soldiers

FLORENCE - Cora Howard is accustomed to getting requests for sewing projects from her nephew, Command Sgt. Maj. Samuel Murphy, but the latest was nothing like she expected.

"I had been sewing baby blankets that he would give to the families of his unit when they had a child born," Howard said. "Then he calls one day and says he wants me to stop making the baby blankets. He has another project for me."

The project was to make Blue Star Flags for the families of Murphy's battalion, 1st Battalion 38th Infantry, based in Fort Lewis, Washington. The battalion was scheduled to be deployed to Iraq for a year and he wanted to present the flags before they were deployed.

Blue Star Flags, which are often referred to as service flags, are displayed in windows at residences where a family member is on active duty. The number of blue stars on the flag represents the number of family members on active duty.

"He told me what he wanted and that he wanted to be able to distribute them in August. I didn't see that being a problem and I said sure," Howard said.

Then she realized she didn't ask how many flags she was to make.

"(Murphy) just said his for battalion, so I asked my husband, Milt, a Vietnam veteran, how big a battalion was," Howard said. "When (Milt) told me it could be 800 to 900, I almost hit the floor."

With such a task ahead, Howard started recruiting help from friends and neighbors.

She enlisted neighbor Carol Lee, a retired Army Nurse Corps veteran, for help on the design of the flag. After estimating the amount of fabric that would be needed for 900 flags, Howard started the recruitment process.

Ruth Hester was one of the first to offer.

"I told her about this and she wanted to help and we started coming to her house sewing," Howard said.

Hester said she knew what it was like to have someone gone off to war. Her first husband, Horace Cox, was a 23-year veteran of the Air Force.

"It was really a lot of fun," Hester said. "There was a lot of work, but it was fun."

The neighbors and friends met each Monday morning at Hester's house to cut and sew the flags that featured a blue star embedded on a white background, with a red border.

Howard saw that more help was going to be needed if the project would be completed on time.

She was able to get an invitation to a July meeting of the local Quilter's Guild, where she presented her project. As soon as Howard finished her presentation, Alice Crafton offered her help.

Crafton, whose husband, Thomas, retired after 23 years in the Army, and nine members from the guild began sewing on Wednesdays.

"We did a lot of sewing, gossiping and eating," Crafton laughed. "It was a joy to be involved in."

With a dedicated crew cutting, sewing and pressing, six weeks and 520 hours of labor later, the flags were completed.

"It was like an assembly line at times," Crafton said.

"We'd have people cutting, three sewing machines going and two people in the kitchen pressing (the flags)," Hester added. "There was a lot of work going on."

The ladies used 135 yards of fabric. Small wooden rods were inserted at the top of each flag and twine was attached for hangers.

Howard said about 30 people worked on the project.

"We were able to send them three large boxes of Blue Star Flags in time for their deployment ceremony," she said. "When we packed them in those boxes, they looked so beautiful; it gives me goose bumps thinking about how wonderful they were."

Howard said she has received cards of thanks from some of the families who received the flags.

"Honestly, I never dreamt it would be such an undertaking and just how big this job was," Howard said. "It wouldn't have been possible without the help of everyone involved."

Hester and Crafton said they would do it again.

"Everybody loves doing something for other people, that's what we were doing," Hester said. "It was truly a labor of love."

Tom Smith can be reached at 740-5757 or tom.smith@TimesDaily.com.