Posted on 11/29/2001 1:03:22 AM PST by kattracks
Mom sends Old Glory
to Marine son at front
The e-mails kept coming, over the last six weeks, to Elaine Brower in Staten Island from her son and his fellow Marines on the assault ship Peleliu in the Arabian Sea:
"Where's the flag? Who's signing it? When are you sending it?"
Lance Cpl. James Thurman Brower and the troops wanted something tangible, a symbol of what they're fighting for. And the American flag — signed by cops and firefighters directly affected by the World Trade Center attack — would serve that purpose well.
On Thanksgiving Day, Brower called his mother, not to ask about the flag, but to say goodbye for a while. His 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit was among the Marines deployed over the weekend in Afghanistan who seized a crucial airstrip near Kandahar.
So today, the giant flag — which originally was to be flown off the side of the ship — will be headed for Afghanistan.
"Now they say they want to fly it over [Osama] Bin Laden's coffin," Brower said.
The banner is covered on both sides with nearly a thousand signatures and messages, all in bold black ink, everything from "Get Bin Laden" to a firefighter's widow's "Rest in peace my loving husband. Love, Janet."
There are patches from various police and fire units stapled to it. "There are so many names, all the names of the dead firemen and police officers are written on it," Brower said.
Elaine Brower has not seen her 20-year-old son since last summer, when he embarked on the Peleliu for a "float," a series of visits to ports around the world. On Sept. 11, the amphibious assault ship was sent to the Arabian Sea.
James has been a Marine for two years, joining despite his mother's protests, and partly because of his late grandfather's heroics as a leatherneck on Okinawa during World War II.
"He was in the Navy ROTC and went into the Marines right out of Curtis High School," Brower said. "He wanted to be a Marine all his life."
She got an e-mail six weeks ago from her son, who is trained in demolitions and special weapons, asking for the flag.
Love, Encouragement, Boldness
Her husband, John, a retired police lieutenant, bought a flag big enough to cover their living room floor. He and his son, also named John, a police officer in Queens, took the flag around, and the words of love, encouragement and boldness began.
"My son is the only New Yorker in his group, and so all the Marines were e-mailing me asking for the flag, asking me what Ground Zero looked like," said Brower, a technical and administrative services manager for the city controller's office.
"I sent them pictures that John took; He was assigned to Ground Zero for a month. The Marines knew the Trade Center was [attacked], but they didn't have an idea of what they were fighting for, they wanted to see it."
She was comforted by frequent e-mails from James. Then came the Thanksgiving call. "He told me, 'I won't be able to call you anymore ... we're leaving.' I knew where he was going, to Afghanistan."
She said knowing her son is helping to hunt down Bin Laden frightens her.
"The nights are scary, but I have to trust that he's trained well ... we knew this was coming. Now they're hunting [Bin Laden] down cave by cave, and that's what scares me; I can see them in these caves."
After hearing that the Marines took the air base without a shot over the weekend, Brower took the flag to the Marines to ask them to get it to her son.
"They said they would directly deliver it to the Marines in Kandahar to fly over the airbase," Brower said. "I thought that was really cool."
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