When Betty Schroeder crocheted an afghan in the shape of a U.S. flag as a gift for her grandson, Owen Seeger, on his seventh birthday, she had no way of knowing he would grow up to be a soldier.
But the 2003 graduate of Moorhead High School is now in Iraq, guarding with gun and grit the symbol that covered his bed for most of his growing-up years.
Owen Seeger's family keeps the flag in his bedroom, holding it for what they pray will be his safe return, his mother, Donna Seeger, said.
Her son, who went to Iraq earlier this year, visited home in Moorhead in June to surprise his sister, Alicia, on her high school graduation.
Donna Seeger said she suggested to her mother that she crochet a flag for Owen because the red, white and blue would go nicely with the bold primary colors they painted the boy's bedroom in.
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Seeger said it's possible having the flag for a bedcover influenced her son's decision to serve his country.
"I'd like to say it did, but I don't know for sure," she said.
Seeger said her mother, who lives in Culbertson, Mont., crocheted each of the stars on the flag separately.
"She sewed them on. But now some of them are falling off," Donna Seeger said.
