Wilson and Darlene Flagg, on Flight 77

Former Ridgefielders Wilson “Bud” Flagg and Darlene “Dee” Flagg were among those who died on American Airlines Flight 77 that crashed into the Pentagon in the terrorist hijacking attack on Sept. 11.
Rear Admiral Flagg was a U.S. Navy flier who once had an office in the Pentagon. Mrs. Flagg was a teacher, artist and volunteer. The Flaggs lived on Scott Ridge Road for more than 25 years and raised their two sons here.
They had attended the 40th reunion of Rear Admiral Flagg’s U.S. Naval Academy class in Annapolis before getting on Flight 77.
The Flaggs moved to Ridgefield from California in 1968.
After his retirement from the military in 1995, the Flaggs established and operated Daybreak Farm in Millwood, Va., in the Shenandoah Valley, where they had horses and were raising Black Angus cattle. They were also members of the Blue Ridge Hunt Club.
The Flaggs, who were sweethearts at Corona (Calif.) High School, were married one day after he had graduated from the Naval Academy. They decided to move to Ridgefield after “hunting all through New Jersey and Connecticut” because Ridgefield was “so pretty and clean and convenient,” Mrs. Flagg told The Press upon their arrival in the fall of 1968. For the next 25-plus years, the Flaggs — with sons Marc and Michael — called Ridgefield home, establishing lifetime friendships and becoming involved in the community.
The Flaggs were remembered by family members as “friends to all, eager to give support to anyone in need, always look[ing] at new things in their lives as challenges while others thought they were ‘problems.’ ”
“They made friends and spread joy wherever they went. With their generous spirit, they never missed a chance to do something kind for others.”
Barbara Edwards, one of those former Ridgefielders with whom the Flaggs had established a lifetime friendship, was traveling with them on Flight 77. Her obituary appears elsewhere.

Wilson Flagg

Mr. Flagg graduated from the Naval Academy in 1961 and in 1962 became a Navy pilot and started flying the F-8 Crusader jet. He had three tours of duty in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam conflict. He left active duty in 1967 after having logged more than 3,200 flight hours on the F-8, more than any other pilot.
He joined American Airlines and the Naval Reserves F-8 Squadron VF-201. He was commanding officer of Naval Reserve F-8 squadrons VFP 206 and VFP 6366, commander of the Naval Reserve Readiness Command Region II, and assistant chief of naval operations-air warfare.
He was special assistant to the Honorable Fred Davidson, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy. He was tapped for flag rank in 1986 and received his first admiral’s star. In 1987 he was designated a rear admiral, and posted at the Pentagon as one of the top officers for the Naval Reserve. In 1990, Rear Admiral Flagg was awarded his second star.
“I was a farm boy in Norco, Calif., and my dad was chief carpenter in the Navy,” he told Press reporter Linette Burton in 1990.
“The Naval Academy was a means of accomplishing my goal. It amazes me that I’ve been able to do a job that I love and get paid for it.”
Of his tours in Vietnam, he said: “It was a deadly game. They were trying to kill me. You’d bomb a bridge and you never saw anybody, and I never knew if I killed anybody. It was a game until they shot holes in my plane and my whole life suddenly went before me.”
Mr. Flagg built their home on Scott Ridge Road, consulting frequently with the town’s building inspector, Jim McManus and builder Bill Saunders during the project. “The best way to learn is to do,” he told The Press.

Darlene Flagg

Mrs. Flagg was vice-president of the Newcomers Club and president of the Ridgefield Woman’s Club, where she was involved in the design, fund-raising and construction of the bandstand in Ballard Park. She was also involved in establishing the brick walkway around the bandstand.
She was also active in Keeler Tavern, where she worked in the gift shop and helped expand the selling of crafts.
“She did an awful lot for the town that people didn’t know about,” said Shirley Hodgdon, a friend. “Dee was a person that was very generous and would do anything to help anybody. She was very dedicated to the town of Ridgefield.”
Mrs. Flagg was a 1960 graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara. In 1961, she was a school teacher in Annapolis, Md. She was an artist and was involved in fostering children’s artistic talent.
In Virginia, she was active in Grace Lutheran Church and the Greenway Garden Club of Clarke County.
Survivors include their sons, Marc and his wife, Michelle, and their children, Elizabeth and Mitchell of Boca Raton, Fla.; Michael and his wife, Mary, and their children, Michael and Natalie, of Millwood; Mr. Flagg’s sister, Patricia of Nevada, and Mrs. Flagg’s sister, Doris of California.
A memorial service will take place Saturday, Sept. 29, at 1 p.m. at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church, Ivy Hill Road, off Route 102, in Ridgefield..
There was a service in Virginia on Thursday, Sept. 20, at Grace Lutheran Church and on Friday at 11 there will be a service at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., followed by burial with full military honors.