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I remember something about this ....

Outdoorsfellar

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
..... but I now know the whole story :



Van T. Barfoot died at the age of 92 on 2 last March 2012. Remember the guy who wouldn't take the flag pole down on his Virginia property a while back?
You might remember the news story several months ago about a crotchety old man in Virginia who defied his local Homeowners Association, and refused to take down the flag pole on his property along with the large American flag he flew on it.
Now we learn who that old man was.
On June 15, 1919, Van T. Barfoot was born in Edinburg , Texas . That probably didn't make news back then.
But twenty-five years later, on May 23, 1944, near Carano , Italy , that same Van T. Barfoot, who had in 1940 enlisted in the U.S. Army, set out alone to flank German machine gun positions from which gunfire was raining down on his fellow soldiers.
His advance took him through a minefield but having done so, he proceeded to single-handedly take out three enemy machine gun positions, returning with 17 prisoners of war. And if that weren't enough for a day's work, he later took on and destroyed three German tanks sent to retake the machine gun positions.
That probably didn't make much news either, given the scope of the war, but it did earn Van T. Barfoot, who retired as a Colonel after also serving in Korea and Vietnam , a well deserved Congressional Medal of Honor.
What did make news...
was his Neighborhood Association's quibble with how the 90-year-old
veteran chose to fly the American flag outside his suburban Virginia home.
Seems the HOA rules said it was OK to fly a flag on a house-mounted bracket, but, for decorum,
items such as Barfoot's 21-foot flagpole were "unsuitable".
Van Barfoot had been denied a permit for the pole, but erected it anyway and was facing
court action unless he agreed to take it down.
Then the HOA story made national TV, and the Neighborhood Association rethought its
position and agreed to indulge this aging hero who dwelt among them.

"In the time I have left", he said to the Associated Press, "I plan to continue to fly the American flag without interference."
As well he should.
And if any of his neighbors had taken a notion to contest him further,
they might have done well to read his Medal of Honor citation first. Seems it indicates
Mr. Van Barfoot wasn't particularly good at backing down.
 

"J"

Git Off My Lawn
Supporting Member
56,743
274
North Carolina
Older gentleman walking down the street, all we see is an old guy but hidden inside is a history that would probably boggle most of our minds....

I know a person who works at the VA and too see the heartbreak of the WW2 vets who need care and only come as a last resort breakdown into tears for having too ask for help.... Saddens the soul too see them and then the leaches on society who act like they're owed everything.... And haven't done a fuggin thing too deserve it.....