Flags are vested with entirely too much symbolic value. But here's the thing: soldiers are sons and daughters, and should be properly acknowledged as members of communities, not just as statistics.
WSJ.com - Tribute or Protest? ... In some 16 states, flags are routinely lowered for fallen home-state soldiers. But what some see as a gesture of tribute, others consider inappropriate, demoralizing and even devious. Half-staff efforts, which have spread to states Oregon, Minnesota, California, Illinois, Kentucky and Maine -- are generating controversy a mong politicians, veterans and citizens unsure about whether and when to lower the flag.The U.S. Flag Code, adopted in 1942, says governors may honor state “officials” after they die by lowering the flag. Critics say it is inappropriate for governors to label soldiers as officials. Some wonder whether the flag tributes are really an attempt to undermine support for the war by reminding Americans of the fatalities. And though many veterans welcome the lowered flags, others say the day for honoring war dead is Memorial Day.
During World War II, when Michigan soldiers were dying at the rate of 13 a day, there was no effort to lower flags for every one of them. “If there had been, the flag would never have been raised for the entire war,” says Bruce Butgereit, of Kentwood, Mich., who serves as national patriotic instructor of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.
Mr. Butgereit says he opposes the Michigan governor's call for flying flags at half-staff because it disregards the Flag Code. He believes Gov. Granholm, a Democrat, feels “some sense of loss” when a Michigan soldier dies, but that “her motivation to order the flag lowered was purely political.”
In an interview, Gov. Granholm denies this, saying she first thought to lower flags when a state employee lost his nephew in 2003, and asked for the tribute at his state work site. That led Gov. Granholm to decide to honor all soldiers from Michigan and to do it statewide. Since her proclamation in December 2003, Gov. Granholm has ordered the flag lowered for 72 soldiers who've died. She called all 72 families in advance to tell them about the flag tribute, she says.
Nobody would, after meeting me, ever mistake me for a military person, but my seven farthing opinion is that the nation's flags should be held at half mast every day a soldier dies.
The best way to avoid this controversy would be to bring home the soldiers altogether, and thus not have a need to lower the flag at half mast every fracking day. And also, seems as if the Rethuglicans again prove how much they actually despise the real flesh and blood soldiers fighting (as opposed to the symbolic soldiers fighting in symbolic, political terms, against symbolic enemies).
Gov. Granholm says she is aware that some people think she lowers the flag to remind citizens that the war isn't going well. She says this is not the case. She hopes the half-staff flags “remind people about the costs and sacrifices of having a free nation,” she says. She asks citizens who see a lowered flag to “say a prayer, because that soldier's family is here within our borders.”Last month, Gov. Granholm's opponent in the November election, Republican Dick DeVos, indicated through a spokesman that, if elected, he would lower the flag for “officials,” as designated by the Flag Code, but not for soldiers. A public outcry followed, with military families calling radio talk shows and writing letters to newspapers to vent their anger.
Within days, Mr. DeVos issued a statement saying he would continue the governor's flag policy -- and that his position had been misinterpreted. Mr. DeVos, son of Amway founder Richard DeVos Sr., declined to be interviewed for this article.
Some who have successfully lobbied for flag tributes have been open about their antiwar goals. Paul Vogel of Barrington, Ill., has a son who served in Iraq. Mr. Vogel is now a peace activist with Military Families Speak Out. In 2004, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat, said it was Mr. Vogel who helped persuade him to lower flags at state buildings for fallen Illinois National Guardsman. Mr. Vogel says he sees the half-staff tribute as both “anti-war” and “pro-soldier” -- and a reminder that “for a country at war, we seem benignly unaware of the cost.” He hopes the lowered flags convince Americans that “we've sacrificed enough of our 19- and 20-year-olds to this illegal war.”
Mr. Vogel's personal politics had nothing to do with the governor's decision to lower flags, says Gerardo Cardenas, a spokesman for Gov. Blagojevich. The governor was concerned about the need to honor soldiers' sacrifices “especially when the federal government is leaving millions of veterans behind,” says the spokesman.
Governors who've ordered flags lowered are evenly mixed between Democrats and Republicans. The extent of the flag lowering varies by state. For GOP governors who order flags to half-staff, the terrain is potentially tricky since a state filled with lowered flags could be seen as a slight to the president's policies. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's spokeswoman says, “The only thing that factors into his thinking is paying tribute to our military men and women. It's all about expressing gratitude. There's nothing political.”In South Dakota, a spokesman for Republican Gov. Mike Rounds said the governor doesn't believe lowering the flag offers fuel for the antiwar movement because people in South Dakota understand the risks of war and the reasons the fight in Iraq is necessary.
Republican Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt has refused to lower the flag for soldiers killed in Iraq because soldiers are in federal service, says a spokeswoman. Governors, therefore, don't have authority to lower flags in their honor. Other Republican governors cite the Flag Code and its definition of “officials,” which they say excludes soldiers.
Rick Johnson, a Democratic state representative in Missouri, unsuccessfully tried this year to pass a bill requiring flags to be lowered when soldiers from the state are killed.
Rep. Johnson, a veteran of the first Persian Gulf War, says that in the current conflict, “we went to war under false pretenses.” Unable to get his bill passed, Rep. Johnson has kept a flagpole in his backyard at half-staff for two years, as a tribute to all soldiers who've died.
In Michigan's wealthy Oakland County, in suburban Detroit, County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, a Republican, had at first refused to comply with Gov. Granholm's flag orders. He feared the lowered flags “would be a constant reminder of the high cost of war, and would undermine the war on terror,” says spokesman Robert Dustman. “He also felt that he didn't want the governor using this as a political thing, holding a tearjerker news conference every time a soldier was killed.”
Veterans who support the half-staff order visited with Mr. Patterson and asked him to reconsider his decision. Mr. Patterson retains all his initial feelings about the potentially troubling messages sent by the lowered flags, “but out of respect for the veterans' groups, he decided to comply with their wishes,” says Mr. Dustman.
Sue Nicholas, who owns an auto-glass company in Taylor, Mich., has a son who served in the Air Force in Iraq and is now stationed in Alaska. She has lowered the flag in front of her business dozens of times; she monitors announcements from Gov. Granholm online to know when soldiers have died.
She says customers almost never ask why the flag is at half-staff. “They're oblivious to it. Or they don't want to know because it's depressing,” she says. The only people who “live, eat and breathe the war” are those with loved ones who've served in Iraq, she says. For her birthday this spring, she received a flagpole for her front yard from her friends in the “Michigan Military Moms” support group. Now she lowers the flag at home, too.
Paula Zasadny says she was comforted when the state of Michigan lowered flags “to honor my brave little soldier.” Her 19-year-old daughter, Army Spc. Holly McGeogh, of Taylor, Mich., was killed in Iraq in 2004. Just before her body was brought home, Ms. Zasadny had a flagpole placed in her yard, and she follows Gov. Granholm's directions on flag protocol. “Even if we have to put our flags up and down every single day, that's something we as civilians of this great country need to do,” she says. “Those soldiers are fighting for us.”
Last November, at Bon Homme Yankton Electric Association in Tabor, S.D., employees were dealing with a terrible ice storm; 90% of customers were without power. At the time, Richard Schild, the company's office manager, was a National Guardsman serving in Iraq. When he got an email about the storm, he actually called in from overseas to offer input and advice.
The next day, while in a convoy driving through Baghdad, Sgt. 1st Class Schild was killed by a roadside bomb.
Back in South Dakota, the governor would soon order flags to half-staff. Sgt. Schild's grieving colleagues sought to lower the flag in front of the company's headquarters, but because of the ice storm, the flag was frozen to the pole. Eventually, general manager Merlin Goehring was able to hack off the ice and bring down the flag.
“It was very emotional,” says Mr. Goehring, “but we felt we needed to show Rich the respect he deserved. We wanted to get that flag flying the way it was supposed to.”
Interesting article, I was looking up something about the flag and came across your post. I completely agree with you and Governor Granholm and the other 15 governors that we should honor our fallen soldiers and the very least we can do is lower the flag. I don't think it's a politically motivated decision, although some may perceive it to be out of guilt. Most of the country hasn't been affected at all by the war in Iraq and on terrorism and we need more reminders of what our soldiers are doing and sacrificing on our behalf.
As we saw even when politicians tried to oppose this tribute, like Dick DeVos, they have to change their position due to public outcry. This shouldn't be a huge issue.
Nicely put, Carter. The War in Iraq is just too distant from most of our daily lives, and a soldiers death shouldn't be politicized, by anyone.