Dunmore police make veteran's morning with replacement of stolen flag

Walking to the front window he looks out every morning, Edward Mathewson wanted to see his flag.

The silk, hand-sewn stars and stripes had travelled a long way to reach the pole planted in the 80-year-old Navy veteran's front yard in Scranton.

From the arid skies over Camp Victory in Iraq and the military bases of Afghanistan, the flag found its way to Dunmore in the hands of Mathewson's son-in-law, Lt. Col. Patrick Cusick of the National Guard, who returned from his third tour of duty last year.

But there was no quiet rustling rising from his front yard on Memorial Day. His flag had disappeared.

"The first thought in my mind was 'Whoever took this flag out of my yard - I hope they rot in hell,' " Mathewson said Thursday.

Monday would have been trying enough without the loss of his home's proud adornment - this year's Memorial Day had fallen on the sixth anniversary of the death of his wife, Mary.

So, Mathewson celebrated the annual holiday as best he could and settled on a sad truth.

"I figured well, that's it. I'll probably never see it again," he said.

Mathewson soon learned that his story was not unique, and that the Dunmore Police Department may have found his flag - Officer Bob Ruddy had found a pile of about 30 flags stacked near Dunmore High School.

Mathewson headed over to the Dunmore Borough Building later that day with the hope of claiming his flag from the stack of stolen banners. He saw two attached to poles like his own.

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Dunmore police make veteran's morning with replacement of stolen flag