As flags wave, families show support for troops

Thursday marked the secondSupport Our Troops Dayat the center.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Four-year-old Unyque Thornton sat atop her mother's shoulders, hugging a framed photograph of her father, who is in California awaiting Aug. 1 deployment to Iraq.
Lance Cpl. Norman Thornton works on helicopters in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Unyque, one of several children participating in Trumbull County Community Action Program's Support Our Troops Day on Thursday at Warren West Community Center, says she misses her daddy but she's proud of him. TCAP oversees all of Trumbull County's Head Start programs, which involves about 1,000 children.
Unyque's mother, Kela Madison of Warren, said Thornton has been in California since March, and before that, was in Japan.
"One good thing is that he was home last weekend," Madison said.
He's been in the military since September 2000.
Madison said Thornton is disappointed that he'll miss his daughter's 5th birthday Aug. 14 and her first day of school.
Thursday's festivities marked the second Support Our Troops Day at the center and included representatives of veterans organizations and branches of the military.
Hundreds of participants
Valerie Wilkins, chairwoman of the event, said more than 500 children and their families created flags out of construction paper that will be sent to service members stationed overseas.
"Our primary target is Iraq, but I know some of the flags made it to Germany last year," Wilkins said.
Some of the recipients last year sent messages back to the families who designed the flags.
Flags lined the front of the center's building and the hallways inside.
Allen Goncz, 5, of Warren, admits that his Uncle Danny did most of the work to create his flag.
"It has a picture of me and red lines," Allen said of the masterpiece. "It looks like I'm fishing but I'm not."
Adrienne Isner of Kinsman brought two of her five children, Natalie, 4, and Jacob, 3, who attend the Head Start program in their township. Her husband, Edwin, serves as a medic in the U.S. Army National Guard.
Isner said he has some school to finish before he goes to Iraq where his unit, the Ohio 216 Engineering Unit, is already stationed. She and her two little ones wore T-shirts displaying their support for her husband and the military.
"I'm proud of my daddy," read Jacob's red shirt, emblazoned with an American flag.
"I'm the proud daughter of a U.S. Army National Guardsman," said Natalie's shirt.
Children filled the steps of the center's front to sing "God Bless America" and "When the Flags Go Marching In," prepared specially for the event.
denise_dick@vindy.com