HAMILTON, Ohio — He has had one son in Afghanistan with the 101st Airborne Division since January and he has another headed there any day now with the Marines.

But that’s not why Tom Mitchell is on a mission to have Ohio adopt a special flag to honor troops who died in service to their country.

When Marine Lance Cpl. Michael Cifuentes, the nephew of a friend, was killed in Iraq by a roadside bomb Aug. 3, 2005, Mitchell began looking for a way to honor the Oxford, Ohio, man.

Cifuentes, 25, who was pursuing a master’s degree at Miami University before he was killed, was known as a leader and musical type who was heavily involved in band at St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati when he was younger.

“Not really knowing Michael, but hearing about him and what a great guy he was and how outgoing he was, I wanted to do something in his name,” said Mitchell, who works in computers.

“If I were a millionaire, I probably would have contacted his high school and given them a $100,000 donation to rename the music room after him and it would have been done. But I’m just a poor working schlep.”

Last year, Mitchell came across a fledgling organization called Honor and Remember, a nonprofit group started in Chesapeake, Va., by George Lutz, a father whose son, Tony, was killed by a sniper in Iraq about four months after Cifuentes died.

At that time, Virginia — where Lutz lived — and North Carolina had joined in an effort to establish an officially recognized national symbol of gratitude for the sacrifice of troops who lost their lives to protect freedom.

Mitchell prayed about it, got his answer and then took steps to form an Ohio chapter. Alaska has joined in, too.

The goal is to get states to adopt the Honor and Remember flag in a push to have the federal government adopt it as a national symbol.

A second objective is to provide personalized flags to families whose loved ones died serving their country, no matter the war or conflict.

For now, though, Mitchell is focusing his efforts on more recent history.

With help from three friends from Hamilton, Mitchell is pitching his cause at local church festivals this summer in an effort to bolster support and raise money to buy flags for the 13 local families who have lost loved ones in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. Statewide, 230 troops have died since that time, Mitchell said.

He’s gotten some support from local governments, especially in his hometown. Hamilton was the first community in Ohio to adopt the flag.

The Hamilton Community Foundation also supplied a grant through the Michael J. Colligan Fund to help pay for two flags for Hamilton — one for an undecided city site and another for Veterans Park — and to start buying others for Butler County military families who lost a loved one.

Personalized flags for Gold Star families cost $325 apiece, but other types are available for less.

Supporting Mitchell’s cause was a no-brainer for the Hamilton City Council, Mayor Pat Moeller said. The council unanimously passed a resolution recognizing the flag as an official symbol for the city and also urging Congress to adopt it as a national symbol.

“Here’s a guy making a difference, and what benefits him is he knows he’s doing a good thing. All he was asking for was for our council to adopt and recognize what he’s doing,” Moeller said of Mitchell and his cause.

“And being a father of two young guys who are in the military, it’s sad to say one of these days somebody he knows and loves could be getting a flag that he helped support, create and recognize.”

Efforts to get backing at the county and state levels haven’t paid off yet, though Mitchell is networking for attention from local legislators as Lutz makes appearances in Columbus, Cincinnati and Cleveland over the July 4th weekend.

Mitchell said he has secured a partnership of sorts with the Cleveland Indians for recognition of the Honor and Remember flag during today’s home game against Oakland; the team also promised $10,000 from their charitable foundation. That money will be used to buy 29 flags for families in Cuyahoga County who lost family members in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But Mitchell said his priority lies in Columbus.

Oklahoma and Virginia have adopted the Honor and Remember flag as their official emblem of service and sacrifice of those in the Armed Forces.

Proposed legislation, House Bill 1034, is pending at the federal level and a petition-signing campaign is under way on the national Honor and Remember organization’s website.

“My No. 1 goal is to get the governor to sign the resolution to support the effort,” Mitchell said.

“No matter where you came from or what you believe in, you should be able to support the guys, the families of the guys that died to allow you to be able to think that way.”

smclaughlin@enquirer.com