By JOSEPH FITZGERALD

WOONSOCKET — A rumpled, yellowing Rhode Island state flag, flown in southeast asia back in 1968 and then 40 years later in the arid desert city of Baghdad, has helped forge a friendship between a couple of soldiers who served their country in conflicts four decades apart.

Rhode Island Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Wilson Soto, back home in Woonsocket after a tour of duty in Iraq, and veteran Rhode Island National Guardsman Donald L. Gagnon, who served a tour in Vietnam in 1968, came to know each other back in July of 2006 when Gagnon, Woonsocket's building official and chief of building inspection, went to Soto's home on Cottage Street to inspect a walk-in recreation room Soto was building.
The two men bonded right off the bat because of what they had in common: Gagnon was an E-6 National Guard staff sergeant who served a tour of duty during the 1968 Tet offensive, and Soto, also an E-6 staff sergeant, was waiting for his deployment to the Iraqi capital.
Halfway through the construction and permitting process, Soto left for deployment in September of 2007, which meant Gagnon had to work with Soto's father to make sure the project at home was in compliance and the necessary permits were issued.
Over the course of the next 12 months, Gagnon and Soto, who was serving in Iraq with the 186-member Charlie Battery, 1-103rd Field Artillery, communicated with one another via email. “Wilson sent me a couple of emails to see how the project was going and to make sure everything was going smoothly,” Gagnon says.
At one point in their email exchange, around June of this year, Gagnon asked Soto to do something for him. "I offered to send him a Rhode Island state flag that I had flown 40 years ago in Quang Tri during my tour in Vietnam," he says.
Gagnon figured the flag representing their home state would inspire Soto in the same way it inspired him when he flew it in Vietnam 40 years ago. Soto didn't hesitate to accept the offer.
"He emailed back and said, 'cool, ship it out," Gagnon says.
The state flag has a circle of thirteen gold stars representing the first thirteen states. The stars surround a gold ship's anchor. The state's motto " Hope" is emblazoned on a blue ribbon below the anchor.
For the past 40 years, Gagnon's flag lay folded in the bottom of a dresser drawer. It hadn't seen the light of day since he returned home from Vietnam in 1969.
He packaged the flag and shipped it out to Soto certified mail. A week or so later, Gagnon opened an email from Soto that contained photos of Soto and his comrades flying the flag from a rooftop in Baghdad on Aug. 13.
Gagnon struggles to find the words to describe how he felt seeing the photos. The image of a 28-year-old Soto holding the flag elicited an emotional and powerful flashback for Gagnon, who remembered vividly that moment in 1968 when as a young soldier he flew the flag in Quang Tri, a city in central Vietnam near the Demilitarized Zone that separated North and South Vietnam. Quang Tri Province was the scene of some of the fiercest ground fighting of the American war.
"Vietnam was my conflict and this (Iraq) was his and here is this flag flapping in the breeze all these years later. It was very emotional to see it," he says.
That flag is now back home "safe and sound" and hanging in Gagnon's office at City Hall. Soto returned home on Sept. 20 and one of the first things he did upon arriving back to Woonsocket was to visit Gagnon's City Hall office to return his beloved flag.
"I was flabbergasted," Gagnon says. "It was a total surprise. I had no idea he was back home."
Soto not only returned the state flag, but he presented Gagnon with an Iraqi flag and a certificate, all of which are displayed in Gagnon's office. "I was more happy to see him than the flag," he says.
"Sgt. Soto is a kind and thoughtful man. He is the type of person this country is about - a person willing to serve his country," Gagnon said. "He's a person that cares about what he does and for the people around him. He is a man of character and a man I have had the honor and privilege of meeting and getting to know. I am very proud of him."
Soto says he was honored to fly the flag in Baghdad. Shortly after arriving in Iraq in December of 2007, Soto and his company were initially assigned to serve as base defense for Camp Cropper in Baghdad. In February of 2008, his unit was re-assigned to the Dar Al Hikmah Juvenile Detention Educational Facility also known as Forward Operating Base Future, also located in Baghdad. It was from the rooftop of that building that Gagnon's flag was flown.
"I was honored to do this because I know how special this flag is to him and how much it meant to him to fly it in another conflict," Soto says. "He served his country 40 years ago and I'm doing the same now. Even though they are different conflicts, we're both soldiers and we have that bond."
As for the state flag, which has now flown in two wars, Gagnon is hoping to give it back to Soto in a formal ceremony with Mayor Susan Menard in recognition of the young man's service to his city and country.
"The flag says 'Hope," Gagnon says. "There was hope back in 1968, and I'm sure Wilson will agree there is hope in 2008."