Battlefield Thank You Makes Store Owner Emotional

SEBRING - A woman came to Fred Blake's shop three months ago, looking for a humidor for her son, who is deployed in Iraq.

"I donated a humidor and some cigars because they can't get them over there," Blake recalled.
He was not expecting anything in return, so when the mother of Lance Cpl. Lester Cook did give the sentimental owner of the Tobacco Pouch a thank-you gift, he didn't know how to react.

Blake said he teared up when she handed him an American flag that was flown over the 10th Marines Radar Tower in Iraq's Al Anbar Province, where Cook was stationed. He kept sniffling and his voice cracked Thursday as he described the flag and the photos they sent him an hour later.

"I'm getting choked up over it," he said. "I never expected anything like this at all."

Blake did not remember the first name of Cook's mother and attempts to locate his family were unsuccessful. He described that moment Thursday when she came into the store asking for him.
After she found Blake, she said, "'you're the fellow I'm looking for' and I say, 'what did I do,'" Blake remembered.

She then gave him the photos and the flag Cook sent to her. The photos, dated Dec. 7, show Cook and four other Marines with his cigars and the humidor.

The folded flag was slightly faded and dusty. The condition of the flag reminded Blake of where Cook and the others were, and his emotions started to conflict over it.

"It's so sad that these men can't be at home with their families, in a war we shouldn't even be in," Blake said.