They Pinpoint a Way to Salute Troops in Mideast : Patriotism: A family has made and is distributing hundreds of red, white and blue ribbons of support.

Halfway around the world, 80,000 American troops stand poised to fight Iraqi President Saddam Hussein with an array of modern weaponry. In Agoura Hills, Nancy Zigabarra and her twin daughters are supporting the effort with needle and thread.

For the past two weeks, as the buildup of U.S. soldiers and arms in Saudi Arabia has intensified, the Zigabarras have spent several hours a day sewing lapel pins of red, white and blue ribbon and distributing them throughout local neighborhoods and shopping malls. Their fingers are sore, they say, but their hearts are full.

“When the Vietnam War came, no one did anything,” said Diane Zigabarra, 23, who with her sister, Debra, has helped make and distribute the pins. “We want the troops to know we care.”

Evidence of that is on their dining room table, which is often covered with hundreds of the decorations, each made of three thin strips of ribbon sewed around a gold safety pin.

Nancy Zigabarra estimates she and her daughters have used hundreds of yards of ribbon and spent $50 in making roughly 800 pins. She says her house will remain a patriotic factory and that her family will continue to pass out the ribbons until the Persian Gulf crisis is over.

“Red, white, and blue shows total patriotism for our country,” Nancy Zigabarra said. She said she wants to do something for U.S. troops rather than for the American hostages held by Iraq, who are being honored in the Los Angeles area and elsewhere with yellow ribbons. “Too many people are burning our flag.”

Zigabarra said her unwavering patriotism was instilled by her mother, the daughter of Lithuanian immigrants and a woman who showed her devotion to American democracy by allowing her Tucson, Ariz., house to be used as a polling place during elections.

The Zigabarras stress that their support for American troops does not imply endorsement of a war in the Middle East. “I’m scared stiff,” Zigabarra said of Hussein. “I hope he backs down.”

In fact, Zigabarra suggested that her pins may help prevent an outbreak of fighting in the gulf. “If everyone would wear red, white and blue,” she said, “and if Saddam Hussein has any spies in this country, this will show unity.” Zigabarra’s 26-year-old son is a Navy sergeant training in Okinawa, Japan, to become a recruiter, she said. Her 53-year-old brother, a Vietnam veteran who retired from a Navy career five years ago but remained in the reserves, on Thursday was placed on 24-hour standby in response to the Middle East conflict.

Her brother’s lingering resentment of the scorn he and other soldiers felt upon returning from Vietnam had much to do with her decision to launch the ribbon campaign, Zigabarra said. “They’re embittered,” she said of Vietnam veterans. “There was no support. It was sinful. We have to make up for that. It’s our civic responsibility.”

Diane Zigabarra said about three-quarters of those she has approached with the ribbons have accepted them enthusiastically. She recalled offering a pin to a man walking out of a barbershop in the Thousand Oaks Mall.

The man, it turned out, had received orders the previous day to report for duty in Saudi Arabia. “I gave him a handful” of pins, Diane Zigabarra said. “That felt good. At least he knows someone cares.”

Many more people will know the home front cares if the Zigabarras have their way. Nancy Zigabarra has notified politicians, who have congratulated her, and local social clubs, which have pledged to begin making and distributing similar pins, she said.

“For the sake of our fingers,” Diane Zigabarra said with a chuckle, “we need people to help us.”