But when his son's outfit, the Army's 101st Airborne, shipped out recently in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Franklin decided it was time.

Had his 18-year-old son not died in 1988 when helicopters collided during a training exercise in Fort Campbell, Ky., Franklin said Andy probably would have been with the Army unit when it deployed.

Wanting to support that effort and to show his love of country, the elder Franklin, a captain during his seven years in the Marine Corps, draped the flag on the front of his house last week in the Chancellor Park subdivision.

Thursday night, he and his wife were at the hospital into the wee hours, worried about a sick grandchild. So on Friday evening, when noise from a football game at nearby Chancellor High School might have kept them awake, they turned in early and slept soundly.

Soundly enough to miss any telltale noise of someone coming onto their front porch to steal the flag right off the house.

"We were devastated," said Franklin. "That flag means so much to us because it's all we have left of Andy. And we couldn't believe someone would steal a flag now with all that's going on."

Though angry and hurt, Franklin got busy, circulating news of the theft in his neighborhood and asking for help from anyone who might have seen or heard anything.

Word also was spread by a young woman who heard Franklin's story while walking her dog and was moved enough to go door to door looking for clues.

Within hours on Saturday, word began to trickle in, including details from one young neighbor who may have seen the theft and was able to provide some names of youths involved.

Franklin passed that information to the Spotsylvania Sheriff's Office. An investigation resulted in a charge of receiving stolen property against 18-year-old Jason Baith of Spotsylvania, and a felony theft charge against a 17-year-old Spotsylvania boy.