A Dayton man is hoping to return a U.S. flag that appears to belong to the family of a U.S. military service person. The flag was found on Sunday morning on SH 321 near the TDCJ prison units in Dayton.
Doug Allen said he came across the flag, still in a wooden case, lying in the roadway and immediately knew what it was by the shape of the box. He stopped to pick it up and now is hoping to return it to its rightful owner.
“I want to personally thank this soldier for his or her duty and sacrifice to our great country,” Allen wrote on Facebook.
Inside the box are three spent shell casings that may have been gathered at the service person’s funeral. Allen believes the flag case may have dropped out of someone’s vehicle by accident.
“Maybe they were moving or something, and didn’t notice it had fallen out,” Allen told Bluebonnet News on Tuesday.
The case holding the flag is a little worse for wear. It now has scuff marks that were likely caused as it skid along the highway. However, the flag and its contents are still intact.
If anyone has information on the identity of the owners of the flag and case, please call Doug Allen at 713-444-1444.
Thank you for helping hopefully we can get it to the rightful owners
The casings are from the guns fired at his military funeral. My father, grandfather and my father-in-law’s funeral flags were folded with the casings when they were presented to my mother, grandmother, and mother-in-law.