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Soldiers Fly Flag Over Iraq In Honor of UST
7/21/2009
 Staff Sgt. DeRonnious Heidelberg hand-delivered a unique thank you note to University of St. Thomas President Dr. Robert Ivany on Friday, July 17. The thank you note – in the form of an American flag – carried with it the gratitude of the men and women serving in the United States Army 4th Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, who received care packages prepared by UST students, faculty and staff.
In appreciation for the University’s support and patriotism during a time of war, the squadron dedicated a day of combat and flew an American flag in honor of the University of St. Thomas over the squadron headquarters in Kirkuk, Iraq on May 27, 2009.
The care packages were assembled during the Fifth Annual UST President’s Day of Service on Feb. 28, 2009. Students, faculty and staff joined Mrs. Marianne Ivany and Dr. Robert Ivany to assemble about 30 care packages individually addressed to Heidelberg’s unit.
 Heidelberg, who is married to UST staff member Jesselyn Heidelberg, assistant director of health promotion and wellness, expressed his gratitude on behalf of the Squadron Commander Lt. Col. Thomas A. Shoffner, Squadron CSM Kenneth Agueda, and Company Commander CPT Fernando Del Rio. Heidelberg reiterated that the little things like snacks and personal care items can make a difference to soldiers in combat.
“There were a lot of soldiers who were on their first deployment,” Heidelberg said. “We had been in combat for 65 days, and many of the men and women had not received even one piece of mail. The fact that UST addressed the packages to those individual soldiers really showed the soldiers that somebody really cares. A couple soldiers came to me and said, ‘thank you for asking your wife’s University to send care packages, because nobody was going to send me anything.’ It meant so much to those soldiers.”
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