CUMBERLAND, R.I. (AP) – Police are offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of an oversized American flag stolen from the front yard of a soldier who recently returned from Iraq.

Maj. Christian Neary, of the Rhode Island Army National Guard, said when he awoke early Easter Sunday, he found that his flag was gone. It had been hanging from an oak tree in his yard.

“It just broke my heart,” said Amy Neary, Christian’s wife. “He put his life on the line for that flag.”

Maj. Neary said he doesn’t suspect the flag was taken as any kind of anti-war protest. “It was probably just some knucklehead kids.”

Lt. Stephen Duda said the Cumberland Crime Stoppers are offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the flag’s recovery.

The 12-by-17 flag accompanied Neary on part of his tour in Iraq. He said it was given to him years ago by a friend, and every Fourth of July he raises it on an oak tree in his front yard. It’s so big that people on their way to Cumberland’s Fourth of July parade would stop their cars and take a picture in front of it, he said.

“It is the kind of flag you hang in the civic center,” Neary said.