McHenry Co. correctional officer brings home flag from Afghanistan

When one of his employees heads overseas to serve a military commitment, as more than a dozen have since 2001, McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren just hopes that person returns home safely.

Corrections Sgt. David Wienke did that earlier this month, returning to his wife and three children after a nearly yearlong deployment to Afghanistan with an Illinois National Guard infantry unit.

He also brought back something else: an American flag that flew over the Army's Camp Phoenix near Kabul on the Fourth of July.

Wienke this week presented the flag to Nygren and the sheriff's department, calling it a token of his gratitude for their support while he was serving his country overseas.

"It's definitely a source of pride for me to be able to do something for the sheriff's department which had done so much for me and my family while I was gone," said Wienke, a Woodstock resident who joined the sheriff's department Sept. 11, 2001. "It made it easier for me to focus on my mission knowing things were being taken care of back here."

That support, he said, included everything from co-workers making phone calls to check in on his family to the department's policy of filling the gap between a deployed employees' military pay and the usually larger amount he or she would be earning if back home on the job.

Nygren said the flag would soon go on display in the sheriff's department lobby at the McHenry County Government Center in Woodstock.

"We've very proud to have this," he added. "It doesn't get any better than this."