Eagles to Challenge Doves While a Flag Flies Defiantly
March 1, 2007

by Joseph P. Tartaro
Executive Editor

Pardon me if I depart from the gun issue in this column to touch briefly on a broader American problem: the struggle between the right to express oneself and old-fashioned common sense. Perhaps my view is tainted by older ideas and my own military service long ago, but some issues need an airing.

Anti-war activists who plan a march to the Pentagon on Mar. 17 will discover that their path won’t be as clear as it has been in the past.

The group, led by Cindy Sheehan, Jane Fonda, Ed Asner and their ilk, according to a US Veterans Dispatch, plan to gather on St. Patrick’s Day at the Vietnam Memorial Wall to begin a march to protest America’s involvement in the Iraq war. The date marks the fourth anniversary of the war’s beginning.

This time, however, protestors will see objectors if they spit on Iraqi veterans again, or throw paint on a war memorial. This time, they will encounter a buzz saw of Vietnam veterans and supporters who will gather to protect the Wall, and show their support for US troops. The counter-protestors are calling themselves the Gathering of Eagles.

The counter-protesting veterans are angry that the Wall is being used as a jumping off point for a political protest with its associated fawning media coverage, and they are gathering to protect it from yet another storm of anti-war activists.

“The anti-war/anti-America group cannot be allowed to use the Vietnam Memorial Wall as a back-drop to their anti-America venom and stain the hallowed ground that virtually cries out with blood at the thought of this proposed desecration ... it must not happen,” said veteran Bud Gross. “... All Americans are invited to support our effort, which is intended as a defender of hallowed ground and intended as a non-violent competition between those that would sell out America and those of us who support freedom and keeping the fight with the enemy on distant shores.”

Identifying Supporters
The group defending the Wall will be wearing armbands to identify themselves. Those who are unable to stand with the defenders are being asked to wear armbands with small US flags to show their own communities that they abhor the Fonda-Sheehan tactics.

“We’ll be there to act as a countervailing force against the Cindy Sheehan-Jane Fonda march from the Vietnam Memorial to the Pentagon,” retired Navy Capt. Larry Bailey said. “We will protect the Vietnam Memorial. If they try to deface it, there will be some violence, I guarantee you.”

Bailey and thousands of his fellow Vietnam vets are worried that the anti-war protesters will damage the wall, just as they spray-painted the steps of the Capitol at their last march.

The wall is sacred to the men and women who fought in that war.

“It is our contact with our dead brothers—those who lost their lives in the cause of their country,” Bailey said.

And so it is that Washington will see a Gathering of Eagles—Americans determined to stand up against leftist propagandists who denigrate US troops and the mission for which they sometimes sacrifice their lives.

Retired Col. Harry Riley organized the Gathering of Eagles. Organizers hope thousands will show up in Washington from as far away as Hawaii, and they won’t only be Vietnam veterans. Families, friends and veterans of other wars, including Iraq, and soldiers still on active duty, will be there to defend the Wall.

“When we say a gathering of eagles, that signifies people who support the American way,” Bailey said.

The peacenik website (pephost.org/site/PageServer?pagename=m17_homepage) describes the anti-war demonstrators this way:

“The March on the Pentagon has already attracted more than 1,500 endorsers, including prominent individuals and national and grassroots organizations. Students on college campuses and in high schools will be attending in large numbers. There will be a large turnout from the Muslim and Arab American community, which is organizing throughout the country.”

The anti-war movement is well-financed. Its sponsor list is lengthy and contains highly recognizable names, as well as those of Fonda and Sheehan. Most of these people are well known for their ubiquitous protests of almost anything American, including ex-US Attorney General Ramsey Clark (who offered his services to defend Saddam Hussein); Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA); ex-Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA); Ron Kovic, Vietnam veteran and author of Born on the 4th of July; the Free Palestine Alliance; Gay Liberation Network, and several Muslim and Arab community organizations.

More information is available on the Gathering of Eagles message board at: www.usvetdsp.com/feb07/eagle.htm.

Flag Controversy
It is not just the veterans who are defiant. The Hartford Courant recently reported on the East Windsor, CT, mother of a soldier serving in Afghanistan who flies an American flag in defiance of her condo group’s rule against them.

The soldier, Cpl. Tony Donihee, came home from Afghanistan last August to the sight of the American flag waving outside his mother’s condominium, and he beamed, according to The Courant.

His mother, Teresa Richard, said he was so moved by her gesture that he saluted the flag at the end of his several-week visit.

Now back in Afghanistan, Donihee, a member of the Connecticut National Guard, calls his mother about once every two weeks to talk, and to ask if the flag is still there. But since his visit, Richard has received several warnings from her condominium association that the flag, hanging from a pole in her front lawn, is in violation of “common area” rules.

The last letter from the Stoughton Ridge Condominium Association arrived in January, notifying her that the American flag, along with her Blue Star flag hung by mothers of soldiers, will be tolerated until Labor Day weekend. Every day after that, she will be subject to a $25 fine.

But Richard is standing firm and vows not to lower her flags after Labor Day, or any other day.

The flags, an acknowledgement of her son fighting for freedom, will remain just outside her kitchen window, where she leans over to watch them flutter every morning while making coffee and every night before heading to bed.

The Courant reported that Richard has been trying to gain the support of residents, veterans and politicians, with limited success.

The East Windsor Veterans Commission sent a letter on Feb. 2 to Richard’s condo association urging it not to destroy an “honorable and long tradition.”

Richard is waiting for other heavy hitters to weigh in, including US Rep. John Larson (D-CT), Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT), and state Rep. Ted Graziani (D-Ellington). They had yet to respond when The Courant published its story on Feb. 6.

Two-Year-Old Rule
Meanwhile, the veterans’ commission letter has prompted little reaction from the association, which adopted the rules and regulations regarding flags in October 2004.

Two years before the rule was adopted, the association had a similar run-in with some residents who had pitched and hung flags outside their condos. A few received letters from the property manager at the time, requesting the flags be removed. One resident, Gene Doering, refused and hired an attorney, threatening to sue. He said he hasn’t heard from the association since.

An American flag still hangs from a pole on his front lawn.

Both Doering and Richard cited Public Law 109-243 as their legal right to display the American flag. The federal bill, passed in July 2006, prohibits a condominium association from adopting a policy that “would restrict or prevent a member of the association from displaying the flag of the United States on residential property within the association.”

So Richard continues her personal crusade, The Courant story concluded. Meanwhile, she said, at least she can enjoy a seven-month reprieve.

Richard received a call from her son last week. He asked: “Mom, are my flags still up?”

She replied: “Yes, they are.”
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