Representatives from the Wisconsin Army National Guard recently presented two American flags at Saint Joseph’s Hospital.
Brian Kief, Saint Joseph’s Hospital president, accepted an American flag from Nathan Bennington, commander of the Wisconsin Army National Guard Alpha Battery 1-120th Field Artillery. An additional flag was presented to the hospital’s Patient Financial Services Department by SSG James Klement, of the Guard’s Company A 32nd BSTB.
Both flags were flown over the soldiers respective bases in Iraq. Bennington, who lives in Marshfield, presented the flag in appreciation for the hospital being among the organizations who donated to the unit’s Soldier Fund. The fund provided more than 1,400 minutes of phone time to each of the 125 soldiers. When the unit received the phone cards, there was a listing of the organizations that contributed to them. The soldiers appreciated the support, so came up with the idea of flying and donating a flag for each organization on the list. The unit was deployed more than nine months ago, and returned home in late January. Coincidentally, Nathan’s wife, Raquel, is a staff member on the hospital’s Pediatric Unit.
Klement is the son of Annette Klement, who works in the Patient Financial Services Department. It was given in appreciation for the many care packages the department sent to his unit during his deployment. He returned home in mid-January. Other unit employees with sons in Iraq who also received care packages are Cindy Stroik and Shelly Lechner.