Civitan Club president Dr. Tom Houseal, left, Blanche Millsaps and Alberta Eargle stand with a donated flag for the U.S. 80 bridge Wednesday at Piccadilly. (The Vicksburg Post/MELANIE DUNCAN)

[12/20/2001] Staff Sgt. Peter Eargle won’t be home for Christmas.

But his mother is counting on a 20-by-30-foot American flag to cheer up his holidays in Bosnia.

Alberta Eargle and other members of the Vicksburg Civitan Club on Wednesday presented a huge version of Old Glory to Blanche Millsaps, who will raise it over the U.S. 80 Mississippi River Bridge in honor of Peter Eargle in the next month.

Eargle, 26, has been in Bosnia since August. The Mississippi National Guardsman is a member of the American peacekeeping force that moved into the Balkans in 1995.

“He volunteered to go,” Alberta Eargle said. “He just loves doing things like that.”

But Eargle’s mother doesn’t like her son being away from home for Christmas. He gets to call her only once a week, and keeping up with him by e-mail isn’t the same, she said.

That’s why she’s excited about the new flag, which Civitans bought for $550.

“It lets him know we’re thinking about him,” she said. “He’s probably going to have a coronary when he finds out! He’ll be so excited.”

Eargle said she would notify her son of the flag by mail after it’s raised.

Civitan President Tom Houseal, a Vicksburg chiropractor, said the club decided to honor Eargle after hearing his story from his mother, a member since 1990 and the widow of William Eargle, who joined Civitan in Virginia in 1954.

Though not a Civitan member, Peter Eargle routinely helps out with club projects, club member Bill Ray said.

“They’ve been some of the best members we’ve had,” Ray said. “And Peter is one of the best non-members.”

Ray said the Civitans want to draw more attention to the troops in Bosnia, especially those from local National Guard units.

“After Sept. 11, it would be really easy to forget our servicemen in Bosnia,” Ray said. “But they are there because they have to be there. And we should not forget that.”

Millsaps, a retiree who years ago initiated efforts to keep a flag flying over the bridge, has received a series of donated flags.

“With people like you giving me flags, it’s going to make my dream come true,” Millsaps told the Civitans. “When the flag was first raised in 1994, we said it was dedicated to all servicemen present and absent. That makes this all that more special.”