Lowering Flag for War’s Dead Brings New Rift

Source: New York Times

Lowering Flag for War’s Dead Brings New Rift
Darren Hauck for The New York Times

http://www.imgred.com/

Larry Dabb lowering the flag to half-staff on Monday at the V.F.W. post in Iron Mountain, Mich. Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm ordered flags lowered for 24 hours to honor a Michigan soldier killed in Iraq.

By IAN URBINA
Published: June 23, 2007
IRON MOUNTAIN, Mich., June 19 — The Stars and Stripes in front of the Veterans of Foreign Wars lodge here flies at half-staff because Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm issued a statewide order to lower the flag for 24 hours to honor a Michigan soldier killed in Iraq. Just blocks away, however, at the veterans’ hospital run by federal officials who say they do not answer to the governor the flag flutters at full staff.

A revered and emotionally fraught symbol, the flag is no stranger to differing opinions about its proper handling. Soldiers have laid down their lives for it, protesters have burned it and lawmakers have considered altering the Constitution to protect it.

But in Michigan, the differing response to Ms. Granholm’s order is part of a broader and, perhaps, more universal wrangle over how to commemorate tragedy when there is so much of it and whether lowering the flag each time a soldier is killed cheapens the tribute by doing it too often. Since the start of the Iraq war, more than half the states have decided to lower their flags for 24 hours or more when a local soldier dies in combat.

Opponents of lowering the flag see it as a subtle antiwar gesture that may run counter to federal guidelines, which reserve the action for “officials,” not soldiers. Others say that governors have the authority to order such tributes and that fallen soldiers are at least as deserving as politicians.

“In the past, soldiers have not been treated well, even though they are giving their lives, so any sign like this of respect is appreciated,” said Patricia Walker, legislative chairwoman of the 6,000-member Society of Military Widows. “For military wives, the American flag is part of our family, and showing respect for it and us is deeply important.”


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/23/us/23flag.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

flying upside down and backwards as a symbol of our terrorist government.

I like the logic of doing it each time "cheapens the tribute by doing it too often".
Too often indeed.

the owners weren't home, but they had a flag flying full staff.

That day, it was reported that several Army guys based in WA had died, and I was waiting for the call from family about my cousin (who is based there). I lowered the flag to half-staff myself... if anyone had questioned my actions that day, I may have just gone postal on them...

We HAVE to STOP this CARNAGE!!! :cry:

i remember seeing this and trying to remember what government official had passed and then i thought "fuck, it's falwell"

fly flags from the UN (I guess it might the country of birth for some members), or maybe anywhere we have soldiers stationed, or anywhere there is a US military conflict. There is usually the Christian flag flying with it.

especially the mega churhes

but it's not ok to honor our fallen patriots with a half-mast display?

What's wrong with this picture?

I think its been traditional for the veterans' groups not to lower the flag to half mast when a soldier dies; the idea seems to be that the soldiers are enabling the flag to be flown in full blown mode, and that they don't want to see the flag flown in a lowly position, but rather in the highest possible position. Am I right in this interpretation, or totally off base? Veterans?

than a member of the military who gave his life for his country. The president, while he is the head of the country is ONLY an elected official. He serves the public. Or is supposed to.

not for the boots on the ground that are dying. my my. what has this country come to?

In states where flags are lowered, the extent of the governors’ orders varies.

Each time a soldier from California is killed, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, orders American and state flags lowered at the Capitol. In Wisconsin, Gov. James E. Doyle, a Democrat, lowers the flag at all state buildings in such cases. Virginia and New Mexico, both with Democratic governors, lower just state flags.

In Michigan, Ms. Granholm has ordered the lowering of all flags at all state buildings, and urged the same for rest of the state, each time a soldier from the state was killed, or 127 times since December 2003, when she began the practice.

“It is not a statement about the war, but it is a statement about service and about soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice,” she said.

I wonder if the author realizes what he really wrote there?

So it's apparently okay for them to die so often, but not okay to lower the flag each time because the *tribute* will be cheapened??

That line is not supported by the rest of the story, except possibly in the quote from the single postal worker.

returning coffins from Iraq.

I'm waiting for someone to compare soldiers' deaths to traffic accident deaths.

Time for more call s I guess....the a last time they pulled this shit it pissed me off to put them on the map. Guess it'll have to be done again.

The American flag at half staff and all the other flags flying with it at full staff?

not to fly my flag while he was still in office. I did before and I will again- someday.

Apparently, the life of a troop isn't worth lowering the flag.

These people make me sick.

has any soldier really laid down his/her life for the flag?

If so, that's a horrible thing.

For the country, for sure.

For a cloth symbol? That's going overboard, and I think divorces the symbol from its meaning.

On the OP, I've been wondering, too, how this ought to work. It's horribly unfortunate that we have so many war dead right now... Perhaps we ought to just leave the flags at half until this catastrophe is ended?

story or anecdote. The thought of someone dying for a fabric or even a symbol makes me crazy. I guess if I had lived 2000 years ago I would have been a gnostic.