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A 79-year-old vet lost a memorial flag. Thanks to a stranger and Prince George’s police, he got it back.

July 30, 2019 at 7:28 p.m. EDT
William Holley, left, a 20-year Army veteran, receives the flag of his wife’s uncle, Marcellus Herod, from Prince George’s County Police Chief Hank Stawinski. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post)

William Holley, 79, was driving down Central Avenue, in the process of moving to a new apartment, when someone at a red light leaned over.

“Hey, something fell out of the back of your truck!”

Holley drove his pickup, stacked with boxes and household items, back to the spot the driver indicated on the busy Prince George’s County highway.

He pulled over, scanned his belongings and realized what was missing: a folded American flag, given to Holley’s wife after the death of her uncle Marcellus Herod, a World War I Army veteran, in the 1980s.

Holley scoured the road, but when he couldn’t find the heirloom, he drove off, assuming someone had taken it.

A few days after the July 17 mishap, Holley said, he came to accept that he might never see the flag again.

He couldn’t have predicted that Tom Jarrett — a Navy veteran — would be on the same avenue that morning.

Around 11 a.m., Jarrett said, he spotted a folded flag — the type usually handed to families at burial services — in the center of the road and realized how much that flag must mean to someone. He crossed through light traffic and picked it up, still in its wooden case with shattered glass, and took it to the Prince George’s police.

The department then put out a video appeal for help locating the owner, featuring officers who are veterans and one whose brother had died in the line of duty.

At a small ceremony Tuesday, Holley, leaning against his cane, straightened up and stood taller as a member of the police honor guard strode toward him and Chief Hank Stawinski to deliver the freshly folded flag.

Jarrett sat in the audience and watched Holley receive it.

“Someone who earned that flag needed to get that flag back,” Jarrett had told police when he brought the red-white-and-blue triangle in.

Holley’s daughter had seen the public notice about the flag and called her father, who then called detectives.

After some questions — where would it have been lost? what did it look like? what kind of case was it in? — the detective determined Holley was the owner, and the Tuesday presentation was set.

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Holley stood next to a picture of his wife’s uncle and received the flag in front of about 40 members of the police department, including 12 veterans and one officer who is still active military.

A resident of the county since 1978, Holley is an Army veteran who served 20 years during the Vietnam War era and departed as a first sergeant.

“It is my privilege on behalf of this institution and on behalf of Mr. Jarrett to return Marcellus Herod’s flag to you,” Stawinksi said.

Holley took the flag, which normally had been kept atop a bookcase at his home, and thanked Jarrett.

“When we go overseas, one of the first things we look for is the colors,” Holley said. “We know we have friends amongst others. Thank you very much for bringing this back.”

Herod was one of 380,000 African Americans who fought in World War I in France. At that time, Holley said, black soldiers could not serve with white soldiers, so all black American soldiers fought under French command.

The chief said it’s important to remember the past when thinking about the future, stressing the need to also remember those lost in the line of duty.

“Mr. Herod is part of why we have the privilege of serving in America now,” Stawinski said.

Returning the flag was a way to extend the police department’s gratitude to members of the armed services in a more personal way, Stawinski said.

He thanked Jarrett for having the thoughtfulness to understand the importance of returning it to its rightful owner.

And as for where Holley will be keeping the flag from now on:

“Where I can best watch it.”

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