Category: Veterans in the news

For some stupid reason, Mayor Ed Hozza decided that Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania needed a Syrian flag raising on public property. To accomplish that, he took the POW/MIA flag down from the pole and raised the Syrian national flag in it’s place. The article at WFMZ doesn’t explain why that was particularly important at the time, but they are rather graphic about the anger that resulted at a township commissioners meeting last night when veterans confronted the mayor;

Some called for Hozza to resign.

One man claimed he violated federal laws.

Another compared him to “Hanoi Jane,” a name given to actress Jane Fonda, who will never be forgiven by many vets for what they consider her traitorous visit to North Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

[…]

Township resident Kevin Seyfried declared the only time the POW/MIA flag is allowed to come down “is when all 88,000 POWs and MIAs return home.” He also maintained no other flag is allowed to fly on the same pole as the American flag. And he said the U.S. State Department considers Syria a terrorist-supporting country — yet its flag was placed underneath the American flag at the April 18 program.

Seyfried asked township commissioners to take formal action so the POW flag “never comes down again.” He also wanted “a public apology from all who were involved on April 18 to POWs, MIAs, their families, the veterans, the people of this township and the men and women serving our country today.” Seyfried was loudly cheered and applauded.

The article goes on for five more pages. But it looks to me like veterans in Whitehall have a handle on this. Some of them, it is pointed out in the article, wore motorcycle club vests – so, oh, so scary veterans were there.

I’m just curious as to why the mayor decided to raise the Syrian flag in Pennsylvania.

Township resident Nidal Yacoub also apologized, saying there was no intention to insult anyone by having the flag raising. “If what we did caused any insult to anybody, we do apologize,” said Yacoub. “We respect the troops, we respect the veterans. “We come from Syria, but we’re American. We live here now. We don’t like to insult anybody. Accept our apology if that caused any harm to anyone of you.”

Yeah, well, just coming from somewhere doesn’t justify raising a flag from that place on US government property. And why the mayor would think it wouldn’t piss off people is beyond me. He should be removed from office just because of his poor judgement.

According to the Valdosta Daily Times Michelle Manhart, an Air force veteran, got a call from a friend about a group of protesters at Valdosta State University who were protesting something or other by walking on a flag, so Manhart went over there and took the flag away from them, you know taking advantage of her right to freedom of speech, like the protesters were doing. But, she was taken into police custody for her protest;

“I was just going over there to pick up the flag off the ground. I don’t know what their cause is, but I went to pick it up because it doesn’t deserve to be on the ground.”

Manhart said she was taken into custody by VSU police officers who then returned the flag to the demonstrators. She admitted to The Valdosta Daily Times that she resisted arrest after seeing the flag being returned.

The group reportedly declined to press charges against Manhart. The officers attempting to detain her also declined to press charges for resisting.

The protesters declined to identify their group or what they were actually protesting with the Valdosta Daily Times reporter. Manhart didn’t know what they were protesting, either, she only opposed the way they were protesting.

“If your cause is racism then find some white people and walk on them,” said Manhart. “But to walk on the flag is walking on our symbol of freedom. You have the freedom to do what you are doing because of it. I’m not fighting against them. I’m fighting against the way they are going about it.”

Manhart was issued a criminal trespass warning “which effectively bans her from any university activity, including graduation and football games”. So, see, there is an upside to it all.

After watching the video, I’d say she went about this the wrong way.

Someone sent us a link on Facebook about two veterans, Kirk Allen and John Kraft, who got tired of the corruption in their county, Edgar County, IL and decided that they’d do something about the local government which overspent into $79 million of debt for their 18,000 constituents. Allen and Kraft founded the Edgar County Watchdogs;

Through a combination of public pressure, Freedom of Information filings, lawsuits, and media exposure, they have created a system that deeply threatens Illinois’ corrupt, entrenched political establishment. They operate a blog called Illinois Leaks that exposes corruption at the state and local levels. The blog is so popular that, it is trusted more than the local paper.

The main thrust of the article though, is about the time that they arrested the entire Clark County Park District Board for violation of the Illinois Open Meetings Act.

When asked if there would be public comment, one of the board members said, “I vote no.” Followed by five other board members.

Board attorney, Kate Yargus, could be heard on video saying there would be no public comment that night, and told the board members they were “free to go,” even after Kraft’s citizen’s arrest announcement. She tried to cite statute to Kraft, but before she could finish, he said, “Just sit down, you are making yourself look like a fool.”

Deputies were dispatched to the scene, but instead, Clark County Sheriff, Jerry Parsley, personally responded that night. Parsley said he knew it was a heated situation and felt it would be best if he handled it. He said that Kraft handled the citizen’s arrest responsibly, and the board was definitely in violation of the Open Meetings Act by not allowing the public to speak.

“It’s not that they should have. They’re mandated to,” Parsley said. “The people need to have their voice. It’s not a dictatorship. It’s a democracy.”

The sheriff arrested six of the board members.

Here’s a link to Illinois Leaks. These guys kick serious ass.

Mark sends us link from the Syracuse.com which reports that Robyn DeCuffa will be recovering the Purple Heart medal that she had lost in a robbery years ago thinks to Purple Hearts Reunited.

Her father, Army Pfc. Thomas Edward McGraw, of North Syracuse, died in an ambush at age 19, among the first casualties of the Vietnam war from Onondaga County.

McGraw’s Purple Heart had been presented posthumously to her mother, who gave it to Robyn when she turned 18, along with the flag that had covered her father’s coffin. Years later the medal was stolen, and DeCuffa said she never thought she would see it again.

But thanks to the persistence of two strangers, the Purple Heart will be returned to DeCuffa and her family next month — 15 years after it was found by a fourth-grader at the Liverpool School District’s Willow Field Elementary School on Route 31.

Karen Galloway’s son found the medal and turned it into the school’s lost-and-found. Nobody claimed it after a year, so Galloway held onto it until Jan. 20, when she heard about the group Purple Hearts Reunited.

Our buddy, Jeff Schogol, sends us a link to his latest article at the Military Times with director David Ayer who just released his film “Fury” last night in Washington, DC.

Ayer, who served as a sonar operator aboard a submarine in the 1980s, talked to Military Times about what makes “Fury” different from other World War II movies.

At the link is also a video interview with George Smilanich, one of the World War II veterans who consulted with the cast and crew to make a realistic movie.

I’m just glad to see a movie about the 2d Armored Division (Hell On Wheels) for a change.