MOM TO CARRY FLAG WHILE SHE THINKS OF SON ONLY CHILD SERVES IN IRAQ.

Byline: ALEX DOBUZINSKIS

Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA -- Her only child is serving in Iraq, and single mom Debi Duke will bear him in mind later this month when she carries a flag in Washington, D.C., for the Blue Star Mothers of America.

Duke, who works as a special-education teacher, will be going to the nation's capital on Memorial Day weekend to walk in a parade and see the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

With her son in Iraq, visiting Washington is important to Duke, a Newhall resident.

"It couldn't come at a better time in my life," she said.

Duke's son, Spc. Alexander Mann, 21, is a medic with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division. Mann, a history buff who grew up participating in Civil War re-enactments, comes from a military family, with grandfathers and uncles who are veterans.

He celebrated his 21st birthday in Iraq, and he expects to celebrate his 22nd birthday there since his deployment was extended at least to November as part of the troop surge.

Duke e-mails her son, whom she calls by his nickname "Xander," when she gets up in the morning, and she e-mails him again as soon as she gets home. She has learned not to expect a quick reply. Nine weeks have passed since the two have talked.

Mann is at a satellite base in Iraq, and he has to wait in line for hours to use the phone, Duke said. Communication is blacked out at his aid station when there are injuries or deaths, she said.

Still, Duke sends him a stream of e-mails, telling him about the household dogs and relaying the latest family news.

"I do it because I would never want him to go into his e-mail and not have a note from his mom," she said.

In Washington, Duke will carry the Blue Star Mothers of America flag in the Parade of Colors at Arlington National Cemetery.

She also will ride on a motorcycle to the Vietnam Memorial with Rolling Thunder, a group formed to bring attention to the plight of American military people who are prisoners of war or missing in action.

Duke will visit with military veterans who have been injured. The trip is important, she said.

"It would just be awe-inspiring to me no matter what, under any circumstances, but my son happens to be in Iraq right now, and so (it's) even more compelling," she said.

In Santa Clarita, the local chapter of the Blue Star Mothers plans a ceremony on Memorial Day weekend at City Hall. Organizers of the May 27 ceremony plan to honor a British soldier killed in Iraq. The soldier's mother lives in the Santa Clarita Valley.

The Memorial Day ceremony will be "just to remind people that it's not all about vacations and picnics, but to remember our troops and our veterans," said Tina Perez, founder and vice president of the Blue Star Mothers of Santa Clarita, whose own son, Jason, is about to be deployed to Iraq with his Marine unit.

Duke's son was just entering eighth grade when a teacher got the future Army medic interesting in Civil War re-enactments. As a teen, Mann learned to make hardtack, the rocklike biscuits that were a staple for Civil War soldiers, and he had a rifle-musket.

Now, Mann talks about one day becoming a physician's assistant or a smoke jumper, parachuted into strategic spots to fight forest fires.

"He has his whole life ahead of him, and I'll be proud of him no matter what he does," Duke said.

She is the president of Blue Star Mothers of Canyon Country. She plans to give talks about her Blue Star Mothers experience, and she can be reached by e-mail at bluestarcanyons(at)yahoo.com.

alex.dobuzinskis(at)dailynews.com

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Local teacher Debi Duke will carry a flag in a parade and participate in other events in Washington, D.C., on Memorial Day weekend. Her son, Spc. Alexander Mann, 21, is a U.S. Army medic serving in Iraq.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer