May 28, 2007
Dishonoring their memory
Check out what happened to the American flags placed on the graves of servicemen in the great Pacific Northwest.
ORCAS ISLAND, Wash. - Vandals burned dozens of small American flags that decorated veterans' graves for Memorial Day and replaced many of them with hand-drawn swastikas, authorities said Monday.
Forty-six flag standards were found empty and another 33 flags were in charred tatters Sunday in the cemetery, authorities said. Swastikas drawn on paper appeared where 14 of the flags had been.
Members of the American Legion on this island off Washington's northwest coast replaced the burned flags with new ones Sunday afternoon.
The vandals struck again on Memorial Day after a guard left at dawn, the San Juan County sheriff's office said. This time, the vandals left 33 of the hand-drawn swastikas.
"This is not an act of free speech. This is a crime," Sheriff Bill Cumming said in a statement released Monday afternoon.
The sheriff has this exactly right; the First Amendment does not protect this despicable, cowardly act. Notice how these common crooks desecrate the flags under cover of darkness, when there are no witnesses.
I suspect it's because even these idiots know that someone would likely use force to stop them from dishonoring the flags -- and the memory of the heroes who slumber the dreamless sleep of the fallen.
Of course you know that if caught, they'll claim to "support the troops."
Is it alright to question their patriotism?
Un-American, treasonous bastards.
Posted by Mike Lief at May 28, 2007 10:08 PM
| TrackBack
Comments
In a country of 300 million people, it doesn't surprise me that you've got a couple of knuckleheads who want to stick their finger in the eye of society. This has nothing really to do with vets or respect for those who have served and paid the ultimate price.
Don't let this get you down bro. America's a great place. I went to my brother's house yesterday and had a fantastic barbecue with the whole family. We raised our drinks and sang the national anthem, kids and all. It damn near brought me to tears. Then we went out and beat the hell out of each other at a nearby park in a flag football death match. Now that's America.
Posted by: Big Cal at May 29, 2007 07:07 AM
Maybe if these folks get caught they should get charged with 33 counts of attempted arson. That is not a freedom that is a true crime that no orginization can hide from or say that they were expressing there feelings.
Posted by: BADROCK at May 30, 2007 08:50 AM
This is a most disgusting act. I really wish a former Marine had walked in on them. Justice would have been rendered quickly. This kind of stuff sickens me, that the grave of those who defended this country would be desecrated by those who would sacrifice nothing, by little filthy punks who should be beaten so bad their mothers don't recognize them. ARGH!!!!!!!
Posted by: David Homoney at May 30, 2007 10:03 AM
Poetic justice would be a creative judge at sentencing, presuming any of these cretins are caught and convicted. They should be sentenced to scrape barnacles at the nearest USN shipyard, mow the grass at military gravesites, clean latrines on bases of any of the military branches, all under the distainful eye of our best citizens - our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines.
All after a good ass-kicking while 'resisting arrest', of course...
Posted by: TEEBONE at May 30, 2007 11:58 AM
Desecration of a grave is a crime in my state (NC); I would like to think it's a crime in all 50. At the very least this is vandalism. While it's legal to burn the flag (free speech), it has to be YOUR flag, not someone else's.
This angers me beyond words.
Posted by: MorningGlory at May 30, 2007 12:13 PM