Remembertheguy Who Wouldn't Take

Van T Barfoot died...

RemembertheGuy who wouldn't take

The flag poleDownon his Virginia

Property aWhile back?

You mightRemember the news story several

Months agoAbout a crotchety old man in

VirginiawhoDefied his local Homeowners

Association,And refused to take down the

Flag pole on His property along with the large

American flagHe flew on it.

Now we learnWho that old man was.

On June 15,1919, Van T. Barfoot was born in

Edinburg,Texas. That probably didn't make

News backThen.
But

Twenty-five years later, on May 23, 1944,

NearCarano,Italy ,
That same Van T. Barfoot,

Who had in1940 enlisted in the U.S. Army, set

Out alone toFlank German machine gun

PositionsFrom which gunfire was raining

Down on hisFellow soldiers.

His advanceTook him through a minefield but

Having doneSo, he proceeded to single-handedly

Take outThree enemy machine gun positions,

ReturningWith 17 prisoners of war.

And if thatWeren't enough for a day's work,

heLatertook on andDestroyed three German tanks

Sent toRetake the machine gun positions.

That probablyDidn't make much news either,

Given theScope of the war, but it did earn

Van T.Barfoot, who retired as a Colonel after

Also servingIn Korea and Vietnam,

a wellDeservedCongressional Medal of Honor.

What did makeNews...Was hisNeighborhood

Association’sQuibblewith how the 90-year-old

Veteran choseTo fly the American flag outside

His suburbanVirginiahome. Seems the HOA rules

Said it wasOK to fly a flag on a house-mounted

Bracket, but,For decorum, items such as

Barfoot’s21-footFlagpole were "unsuitable".

Van BarfootHad been denied a permit for

The pole, butErected it anyway and was facing

Court actionUnless he agreed to take it down.

Then the HOAStory made national TV,

And theNeighborhood Association rethought

Its positionAnd agreed to indulge this

Aging heroWho dwelt among them.

"In theTime I have left,” he said to theAssociatedPress, "I plan to continue

To fly theAmerican flag without interference."

AsWell he should.
And if any of his neighbors had taken aNotion to

Contest himFurther, they might have done well to

Read hisMedal of Honor citation first. Seems it

Indicates Mr.VanBarfootwasn't
ParticularlyGood atBacking down.

If you gotThis email and didn't pass it on -

Guess what -You need your butt kicked

I sent thisTo you, because I didn't want MY butt kicked!

WE ONLY LIVE IN THE LAND OF THE FREE BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE!

AND, BECAUSE OF OLD MEN

LIKE VAN BARFOOT!