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OGDEN — A Weber State University flag is now a well-traveled symbol of military support. The flag was sent to Iraq by student leadership at the school, but it made many more stops than they expected.
It started with the idea a soldier from Clearfield who has a daughter here at Weber State. Army First Class Sergeant Carl Hall said he saw that other schools had flags up in their mess hall in Iraq, like BYU and the U., so he thought ‘Why not Weber State?'
"I thought to myself, ‘What an honor it would be to have a Weber State flag flying right next to them," he said. "It's like bringing a little piece of home with you away from home."
Hall presented the flag back to the student Senate today after taking it across the Middle East Through Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq. He brought back pictures… showing the flag with several companies and getting each of them to sign it. The Weber Wildcat even met a couple of celebrities, like Aaron Tippin and the Minnesota Vikings Cheerleaders.
"The ironic thing of it was is they were dressed in their purple uniforms," Hall said.
But this was more than an overseas field trip. Hall's daughter, Cati is a sophomore at Weber State. She asked the student senate to help get the flag over there. A show of support not only for her father.
"They're also supporting every other military personnel who goes to the school or has family that comes to the school," Cati said.
For him, this big purple flag will always be a reminder.
"It just lets me know that my tour was over, but the fight and the reason we're all over there is not done yet," Hall said. Now that it's back home, the flag will be put on display at Weber State's Davis County campus.
