Hannah and Abby Middleton work on folding small flags that will be sent to U.S. soldiers serving abroad. The sisters got together at the American Legion on Oct. 29, 2007 to assemble some of the 150 flags with their aunt, Marianne Middleton.

Marianne Middleton stands over her three nieces folding American flags. Every crease has a meaning – the flag as it looks on a fallen soldier’s casket, the blue background with white stars on the outside as a symbol of the Union and finally the triangle that represents the tricorner hats of the Revolutionary Army.

Once the 13 folds are made, these flags will go to soldiers, small enough to be tucked into pockets and carried wherever they go.

“It’s a way of saying ‘thank you’ to them and to let them have something of the United States,” Middleton said.

Middleton and her nieces, Beth, Abby and Hannah Middleton, sit in the meeting room of the Dorsey-Liberty 14 American Legion post. Almost a century’s worth of commanders stare down at them as hands press down edges and turn up corners.

They have a stack of 150 flags to fold. It’s one of the many activities the American Legion Auxiliary has put together to support troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

At a table near the front entrance sits two boxes with overseas goodies: hand wipes, lotion, disposable cameras and phone cards. Supplies are gathered until there are enough to cover an entire platoon.

They’ve also set up tables with cookies and punch at ceremonies for soldiers coming and going to Iraq.

And the Legion hands out banners with gold trim, white backgrounds and a blue star in the middle. They are something the families can hang as they wait for the soldiers to come home.