‘The flag is our banner’
Stars and Stripes presented by National Guard officer to fly high in Greenwich
GREENWICH — When Sean O’Donnell returned from a nearly yearlong military deployment overseas, he surprised his two children just before Christmas as a holiday gift to his family.
O’Donnell has now delivered a present to the people of the town of Greenwich. A Greenwich police sergeant and a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard, O’Donnell on Tuesday presented First Selectman Fred Camillo with a U.S. flag that was flown where he was stationed in the Middle East.
The flag flew over Camp Arifjan Army Base in Arifjan, Kuwait and it will now fly at Town Hall.
“It’s acknowledging the people of Greenwich; they have been very supportive of me, and this is a way of giving back,” said O’Donnell, who has been in the National Guard for 31 years.
“The flag is our banner, one we can all get behind,” he said at Tuesday’s meeting with Camillo at Town Hall.
The first selectman called it a wonderful present for the community. “He’s serving our country, and he’s serving our community, so it’s a
great honor to take the flag from one of our great patriots, and who is beloved in town,” Camillo said.
Camillo joked that he has seen so many signs in the Greenwich neighborhood where O’Donnell lives, welcoming him back from his deployment, that he thought he might be running for political office.
“We’re happy he’s home,” said Camillo.
“They’re the reason why I serve,” said O’Donnell, speaking of his neighbors.
The National Guard officer said he is happy to be back, but “getting used to winter” had been a challenge after months of warm weather in Kuwait. Since he returned just before Christmas, O’Donnell said he has been reconnecting with family and friends. Of his own wife and two kids, he said, “They’re the ones who sacrifice.”
The police sergeant has also been taking long walks at Greenwich Point, something he was looking forward to while he was deployed overseas. “Getting down to Tod’s, it’s the diamond in our Greenwich crown,” he said.
O’Donnell enjoyed a bagel for breakfast on Christmas Eve morning and he’s also been satisfying a craving for pizza since his return. He will put on his blue police uniform next month.
While in Kuwait, O’Donnell served as the provost marshal for the 42nd Division, its top law enforcement officer. The U.S. military is deployed for security operations in the Middle East and Central Asia. He wore his military uniform on his visit to Town Hall on Tuesday after taking care of some National Guard business earlier in the day at Camp Smith, outside Peekskill, N.Y.
Just before Christmas, O’Donnell flew in from Fort Hood, Texas, to surprise his children.
In 2008, O’Donnell presented another flag to then-First Selectman Peter Tesei from his service overseas. The longtime military policeman had been stationed then at Camp Bucca in southern Iraq. The camp was named after a New York City marshal and soldier who died while trying to rescue people from the World Trade Center during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
O’Donnell had previously served two tours in Iraq with the U.S. Army 104th Battalion’s 442nd Military Police Company. The Greenwich Police Department organized an effort to send school supplies for Iraqi children at his request. He also spent a year in Bosnia.
In 2003, O’Donnell was awarded a Bronze Star for his service in the military.