Our Stars and Stripes must be properly folded, stored, and
disposed of. Yet the Rhode Island Veterans cemetery where Stan Sniezyk’s father
and other heroes are buried disposed of piles of torn and dirty American flags into
the dumpster and kept them in storage shed. Photographs and even a video
outraged patriotic Americans around the country. Stan Sniezyk posted photos of mounds
of flags in “Call 12 for Action.” When interviewed, he told WPRI 12, “It just
broke my heart because everyone in this cemetery fought under that banner and
every fiber of that flag is their blood, sweat, and tears.”
U.S. flags must be stowed properly and prepared for proper
disposal by burning. Rhode Island director of Veteran Affairs, Kasim Yarn,
seemed shocked that procedures were not followed. http://americanmilitarynews.com/2016/06/video-piles-of-flags-dumped-at-veteran-cemetery-is-a-disgrace-is-causing-an-uproar/?utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=alt&utm_source=colddeadhands
Fortunately, grateful Europeans who were saved by American
soldiers fighting on their behalf against fascism, honor, respect, and
understand what the American flag means to them. As our country’s most powerful
symbols of freedom, the flag was revered by those suffering under the Nazi boot
and occupation during WWII. Just seeing the American flag flying proudly in the
wind, those in dire straits gave a sigh of relief – the Americans were coming, hope
and freedom were around the corner, and everything would be returned to God’s
grace and mercy.
Sergeant Donald Hall helped free the Langenstein-Zwieberge German
concentration camp in April 1945 as a member of the 83rd Infantry
Division, known as the Thunderbolt Division. The camp was a working camp with a
prisoner life-expectancy of six weeks. One of the prisoners he helped liberate
found enough materials to make an American flag which he then gave to his rescuers.
After the division left, Donald Hall kept the flag and brought it back with him
to the U.S. where it was moved several times and eventually stored in an attic.
Understanding the significance of the flag, his daughter,
Mary Kay Flege, contacted the U.S. Holocaust Museum. “We siblings – and there
are 10 of us – came to understand that the flag must have been a painful
reminder for dad of things he had seen at Langenstein and elsewhere in Europe –
things that must have been unbelievably tragic and cruel and heartbreaking,
certainly not the kind of thing that he could or ever share with his young
children, much less other adults in civilian life.” https://jewishlouisville.org/american-flag-made-by-camp-inmates-for-liberators-goes-to-ushmm/
Donald Hall’s extended family, their spouses, ten children
and grandchildren, gathered from around the country to participate in a moving
signing ceremony, following the donation of this aged-flag, a significant piece
of history, to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. https://engage.ushmm.org/2016-power-of-one-artifact.html?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWlRVM05XTXdOelZsWVdVMCIsInQiOiJjZytHdzJJWUZaWlBTelJHdlVUM0VWWnNlMnlXems0eUZcLzN5SEpSNCtLbzlZUzZZUHZ3bFBRZUN5RnJkZitJU3hKbnBVcTc1Z1U0dXBWSXpIOFlmaGx3WExWN2tEeXpxTmFFb0J6MTM4REE9In0%3D
July 4 is not about watching fireworks, eating hamburgers,
hot dogs, and enjoying off time with your family. It is our Independence Day. You
are where you are because courageous men before you made it possible, men that
have been long forgotten or you’ve never met, read, or learned about.
On our Independence Day, remember and pray for all American
patriots, American soldiers, and American heroes who sacrificed their freedoms and
gave their lives as an ultimate gift of altruism so that people they never knew
could live a better life, free from oppression, and could have the right to express
their divergent opinions and liberties every day, however offensive those may
be.
No comments:
Post a Comment