St. Cloud Times article on Flag donation to the City of Sartell. SARTELL — An American flag that flew over the base where the Red Bulls served in Iraq’s Babil province will soon grace a wall at Sartell City Hall.

The flag is a gift to the community from Sartell American Legion Post 277. Legionnaires will present the framed flag and certificate to the Sartell City Council at a council meeting at 7 p.m. Monday. The flag was presented to the Legion in May by Minnesota National Guard Col. John Kolb of St. Cloud during a Memorial Day ceremony. It was one of four flags flown at the Babil base during Kolb’s deployment. Kolb donated the flag in memory of three servicemen who died while serving with the Red Bulls in Iraq: Robert Basham, David Barry and Kyle Miller.

Post 277 wanted to display the flag, but it had no place to put it. The Sartell Legion has operated without a clubhouse for more than 20 years. “I got to thinking City Hall would be the best place to display it,” Post 277 Commander Paul Schaefer said. The gift of the flag carries on a long tradition for Post 277. Every year it lines Sartell’s streets with patriotic colors, displaying more than 50 flags from Memorial Day to Pearl Harbor Day every year.

“I fought for that flag,” Schaefer said. “It has grown to mean a lot to me and it means a lot for our members.” Kolb was gratified to hear how the flag was being honored. “It’s such a fitting continuation of this gift to have it treated with honor and respect and to have it put in a place where people can view it and contemplate the sacrifice it represents,” Kolb said.