Iraq veteran begs for flag to be returned

Tacoma veteran's American flag stolen; now a heartbreaking plea to get it back
KIRO 7 News
By: Deedee Sun
Updated: Jul 22, 2018

TACOMA, Wash. - The sign says, “Please return my flag, sentimental to me. I brought it back from Iraq. The bottom four stripes have my buddy’s blood on them.”

“This was very important to him,” said Kim Phillips, who lives in Tacoma. She said veteran Nolan Gomez was doing some yard work when someone stole his American flag.

I was actually shocked. It was his country we were in and he gave me an American flag,” Gomez said.

He’s kept it with him ever since.

And in Iraq, when a roadside bomb blew up, injuring him and his team, he reached for the flag. “I dropped to my knees and my friend is screaming,” Gomez said.

He tried to use the flag as a tourniquet. His friend – who is from Lakewood – lost his legs.

“He came back out here and committed suicide,” Gomez said. “Some horrific things that have happened, and that flag has always been there.”

Gomez also suffers from PTSD.
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