A man in New York inherited a “Yosegaki Hinomaru” banner, also known as the lucky flag, from his grandfather who served the United States in World War II.

Scott Stein told Fox News Digital in an email that he originally intended to have the souvenir flag restored, but after speaking with an expert, he decided to return the flag to its rightful owner.

His grandfather, Bernard Stein, served in World War II between 1942 and 1945 at the U.S. Army training camp at Camp Croft, South Carolina, and then in the Philippines with the U.S. Army’s 38th Infantry Division, known as the “Avengers of Bataan,” he said.

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“This flag hung proudly in my grandfather’s house for many years and I was always fascinated by it as a child,” Stein said.

Like most veterans, he said, his grandfather did not speak openly about the war or his war experiences.

Scott Stein of New York, pictured above with his son, wanted to return his grandfather’s World War II flag with the family of the original owner. (Scott Stone)

A lifelong collector with an appreciation for the past, Stein was in the process of having the flag restored when the expert recommended he return it in 2017 after hearing news of a similar flag returning to Japan.

Stein researched and found the Obon Society in Oregon.

It is a non-profit organization that promotes family reconciliation by returning “non-biological human remains,” such as a flag, stolen during wartime.

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As Stars and Stripes noted, many Japanese soldiers carried their country’s flag with names and messages from loved ones for good luck.

“After initially contacting and corresponding with the Obon Society and learning of their mission to find the relatives and family members of the original owners, I prepared the flag for shipment to them so that it could later return to Japan,” Stein said.

The family of a Japanese soldier brought the flag to the grave of the soldier’s mother. (The Obon Society)

After a seven-year search, the Obon Society linked the battle-borne flag to a soldier named Yukikazu Hiyama, who died in 1945.

The flag was then handed over to the son of the fallen soldier. He organized a return ceremony with the entire family.

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The man carried a portrait of his father and mother and explained that his mother had waited her whole life for her husband to return home.

She died without ever seeing him again, a representative of the Obon company told Fox News Digital by email.

Stein, the grandson of a World War II veteran, helped locate the family connected to a flag that had belonged to his grandfather. (Scott Stein; the Obon Society)

“After the son received the Yosegaki Hinomaru flag, he carried it to the cemetery to unfurl it in front of his mother’s grave – to ‘show’ her that her husband had finally returned home.”

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The representative noted, “These flags are considered ‘non-biological human remains’ … because they bring the same intensity and closure within the missing Japanese family as the return of bones and teeth brings to missing American families.”

According to Stars and Stripes, it is the only memento this son has of his father.