The cemetery flag
From: vaproto@optonline.net
Chuck,
Sent the following to the new owners:
Sirs:
I live in New York State and am a student of the Civil War. In the 1950s, the United States Congress declared ALL those who fought in the Civil War to be AMERICAN soldiers and that their symbols – INCLUDING FLAGS – are AMERICAN and therefore to be respected.
I have learned that you intend to remove the flag that flies over the graves of Confederate soldiers in your newly acquired Lakeview Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Phoenix City, Alabama. Tell me, do you intend to remove the AMERICAN flag that flies over Union soldiers in any of your properties? Because if you remove the one, then you must also remove the other since they are, according to the Congress, the same in value and worth. The men over whom this flag flies died for their State and for their beliefs and since the United States Government has declared their sacrifice worthy of respect, I fail to see why you feel yourself qualified to decree otherwise.
The present debate about the history, heritage and symbols of the South is a manufactured creation of a politically correct, revisionist history that has NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with facts or truth OR history. What’s next? Will you remove the Crosses or Stars of David from the graves of Christians and Jews because someone is OFFENDED? Most probably, not. Why then do you purchase "hallowed ground" in Alabama and insult the majority of the people of that state by removing a revered symbol in order to placate people who act in both ignorance and intolerance?
Let the flag of these dead heroes fly.
Thank you for your courtesy.
Val
