Overseas, Marine gets picture taken with Pats players

BOSTON -- During the Patriots regular season, Captain Dan Murphy was fighting the war in Afghanistan. A huge Pats fan, he was captured tossing a football near his Marine Corps helicopter. But back home, he was also taking pictures with Tom Brady.

"I said, ‘He’s a huge Patriots fan he'd be here if he could," Dan’s sister Kacey said.

Kacey found a way to have Dan in two places at once.

"We tried to get it life size of [Dan]. He’s about 5’, 9”; the banner is 7 feet tall. So it’s a lot bigger than he is,” said Kacey.

And what's been coined "Dan the Banner" has had some big moments. “Dan the Banner” snapped shots with Wes Welker, Vince Wilfork, Robert Kraft, Julian Edelman, even Pat the Patriot.

"Kind of just started bringing it around everywhere," Kacey said.

Kacey then sent all of the pictures to her brother via Facebook. Kacey has brought the banner to the Pats’ training camp, football watch parties, even Dan’s best friend's wedding.

7News’ Anne Allred skyped with the pilot who is now back at Camp Pendleton in California.

“I wish I could have met half the people that he met,” Dan said about “Dan the Banner.”

Dan had a prediction for the Super Bowl bound Pats:

"The patriots are going to kill them it’s not even going to be close," Dan said. “I had a ‘stache too in Afghanistan so I hope Wes Welker’s is better than mine.”

But best of all: a sister who makes sure this huge Pats fan never misses out.

"It’s pretty neat thing and I’m pretty humbled that she does all that stuff. It’s nice to be on the other side of the world and see everything is going on as normal back home. That’s what you fight for and that's what it’s all about,” Dan said.

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