118th Field Artillery Gets City Flag
To Fly During Deployment

Lt. Col. Con Beard, commander of the 118th Field Artillery Battalion, accepts the city flag from Savannah mayor Otis Johnson. (Georgia National Guard photo by Sgt. Roy Henry)

When the Soldiers of Savannah’s 118th Field Artillery step off the plane and onto the hot, sand filled landscape that is Iraq, one of the banners they will unfurl in that war-torn country is that city’s official flag.

In a short ceremony before Savannah City Council, Thursday, March 3, the 118th’s commander, Lt. Col. Don Beard, accepted the flag on behalf of the unit from Mayor Otis Johnson.

Joining Beard were the 118th’s executive officer Maj. Randall Simmons; the unit’s chaplain Maj. David Anderson; Capt. Jimmy Boan, Headquarters Battery commander; 1st Sgt. Timothy Jones, the battery’s senior enlisted Soldier; and Spc. Alfred Baker, an artilleryman who is part of the 118th’s rear detachment.

“I know I speak for all the members of the 118th when I say, ‘we graciously accept this flag, and we pledge to honor this council’s request and return it to these chambers when we bring all our Soldiers safely home a year from now,” Beard said after stepping forward and taking the uncased red, black and white standard Johnson offered.

History buff and artilleryman Spc. Alfred Baker contacted Councilman Tony Thomas about the 118th carrying the Savannah City flag into the war zone. (Georgia National Guard photo by Sgt. Roy Henry)

Outside Council chambers, Beard handed the flag to Boan and Jones for safe keeping while the 118th is at Fort Stewart getting ready for Iraq with the rest of Georgia’s 48th Brigade Combat Team. After leaving Savannah City Hall the pair stopped a short distance away in front of the Washington’s Guns monument where two Revolutionary War cannon given to the Chatham Artillery, the 118th’s predecessor, in 1791 by President George Washington are displayed.

“It’s a great honor to have this in our hands,” Boan said as he Jones stood looking over the monument. “We’ll take great care of it while it’s with us.’

“It’ll always fly with pride,” Jones said. “There’ll never be a day that we won’t be reminded of the trust and honor the citizens of this city have placed upon us while we’re away.”

Savannah’s flag came the 118th through the efforts of Jones and City Councilman Tony Thomas. Thomas represents the city’s District 6, which includes the National Guard armory that houses the 118th’s headquarters and Hunter Army Airfield.

Jones, a history buff a fourth generation resident of Savannah, said pride in his unit, pride as a Soldier, was the guiding force behind his efforts to contact Thomas and request that the city present its flag to the 118th’s. Carrying Savannah’s colors to war has been a long-standing tradition with the unit, and what would be more appropriate than to keep that tradition alive by having those colors fill the skies above whatever forward observation base the 118th would call home during its time in the Middle East, he said.

Thomas said it only took a moment for him to consider and then set the wheels in motion to get the council and the 118th together for the presentation.

“From the American Revolution to World War II to this war on terrorism, this city has had a long-standing, positive relationship with the military,” Thomas said. “What better way to display our pride in what our men and women in uniform do for us and our country, than to have them carry our flag to the front lines.”

In approving the request, City Council and its mayor had only one stipulation, Thomas said. That its flag be returned to the council once the 118th and all its Soldiers returned safely home.

That, Beard said, would be no problem. It is a pledge, he added, that he is more than happy to fulfill.