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WIDEFIELD, COLO. -- An American flag has been stolen from a Widefield home, and now the flag's owner is asking the community for help finding it.

The flag was taken sometime Sunday from outside a home on Metropolitan Street.

"When I left Sunday morning it was there, and when I returned the flag was gone," Margaret Darnell, the flag's owner, said.

Darnell said the thief, or thieves, took both the flag and the pole.

"I was highly upset, I would not dare say what I said," she said.

But Darnell's anger quickly turned to sadness.

She has been flying an American flag outside her home, non-stop, for more than 20 years.

It's a tradition started by her husband, a Korean War Veteran, during Desert Storm.

"He said even when I am gone, I want it flown 24/7," Darnell said. "There has always been a light on it."

Darnell's husband passed away in 2005, and since then she has continued to keep her promise, flying Old Glory day and night.

"I just kind of feel like I let my husband down," she said.

As far as Darnell knows, nothing else was taken from her home, or her neighbors.

"I thought it was pretty brazen to come up to the house and remove the flag," Darnell said.

If the flag is not returned, she said she will buy another, but added it is not about the money.

"It is the principal of the whole thing, they were sneaky," Darnell said. "Just please return the flag."

Darnell called the El Paso County Sheriff's Office about the crime and filled out a report, but she said she is hoping whoever took the flag will return it on their own.