By By LYDIA GRIMES – Features writer
W.S. Neal Middle School has a new American flag, which will be displayed within the school building after it is raised over the school. However, this is no ordinary flag.
Gary Robinson, representing Woodmen of the World fraternal organization, gave it to the school. The flag was then mailed to Col. Charles Jackson, a local member of the United States Marine Corps, who was stationed in Afghanistan, by his wife, Cindy Jackson, who works at the school.
The flag was flown 24 hours a day in honor of those killed Sept. 11, 2001, in the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, including Tamara Thurmon, a former student at W.S. Neal High School.
The flagpole on which the flag was flown stands at Bagram Air Base, above the Defense Intelligence Agency compound, which was dedicated on the fourth anniversary of the 911 attacks. The WSN flag is the first American flag to be flown after the dedication services and still bears the dust particles of the Afghan desert.
Col. Jackson returned from Afghan with the flag and it will now be given a permanent home at the school where it will be on display.