Flag with photo of Sgt. Maravillosa (Photo courtesy of Tim Swartz)
By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
How an American flag with a photo and dog tag of the late Hawaii Army reservist Sgt. Myla Maravillosa turned up in the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2591 in Sedalia, Missouri, a rural city of 22,000, 90 miles east of Kansas City, is a mystery, but those who found it would like to return it to her family.
Sgt. Maravillosa, 24, of Wahiawa, assigned to the 203rd Military Intelligence Battalion, Army Reserve, died Dec. 24, 2005, in Kirkuk, Iraq, of injuries sustained when her Humvee was attacked by enemy forces in Hawija, Iraq.
A memorial service was held in the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu.
Maravillosa joined the reserves in 1999 after graduating from Leilehua High School.
The flag is “smaller than the one that would have been presented to the mom at the memorial service,” said retired sergeant first class Tim Swartz of Cole Camp, Missouri, who contacted the Hawaii Catholic Herald. “This flag was probably part of a memorial display in her honor, when and where I have no idea.”
Swartz said the “flag was in a bag of flags that were collected to be disposed of in a flag ceremony soon.”
When the commander of the post saw this flag, he thought an attempt should be made to reunite it with Maravillosa’s family.
An internet search connected the VFW with the Daughters of St. Paul with whom Maravillosa was close, and who maintain a memorial for her at their motherhouse in Massachusetts. They will keep the flag until family is located, Swartz said.
Any member of Myla Maravillosa’s family who wishes to claim the flag should contact Sister Susan John Krauss at the Daughters of St. Paul, 617-276-2668, 50 Saint Paul’s Ave., Jamaica Plain MA 02130-3433, or Tim Swartz at swartzeagles@yahoo.com or 719-285-5892.