Free Republic

"Leadership is about submission to duty-  not elevation to power" Ever met an actual hero before? Here's your chance... You might remember a news story that began a couple years back, re. the 'stubborn' old man who defied his homeowners association, refusing to take down the 21-foot flagpole and full-size US flag he'd recently erected on his property. A little bit of background might help you understand his point: the man in question was born Van T. Barfoot -a Choctaw Indian, actually- in Edinburg, Mississippi on June 15, 1919.  Twenty-five years later, a world away near Carano, Italy, the lanky, 6'4", Van T....

Subject: Remember the Guy that Wouldn't take the Flag down? Head east from Carthage on Mississippi 16 toward Philadelphia . After a few miles a sign says you're in Edinburg. It s a good thing the sign's there, because there's no other way to tell. On June 15, 1919, Van T. Barfoot was born in Edinburg -- probably didn't make much news back then. Twenty-five years later, on May 23, 1944, near Carano , Italy , Van T. Barfoot, who had enlisted in the Army in 1940, set out to flank German machine gun positions from which fire was coming...

Retired Army Col. Van Barfoot was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for attacking three German machine gun nests and then three German tanks. He now will be allowed to continue raising Old Glory without having to face a lawsuit from thye Sussex Square homeowners' association near Richmond, Va.

Every day at sunrise, Medal of Honor winner Col. Van T. Barfoot hoists Old Glory with respect and pride. However, the 90-year-old veteran was recently told to remove the flagpole from his own front yard or face a lawsuit and fines. In fact, the local homeowner’s association says the 21 foot flagpole violates neighborhood regulations and needs to come down soon – by December 11. If the flagpole is not removed, a Richmond, VA law firm will go after Col. Barfoot. Call for Urgent Action Please urge the Sussex Square Homeowners Association to drop the case and allow Col. Van...

<p>WASHINGTON -- White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday that it is "silly" to think that a 90-year-old Medal of Honor winner is being asked to remove a flagpole from his front yard.</p>

No doubt you have heard of the flagpole complaint* against Col. Van T. Barfoot, a 90-year-old Medal of Honor winner and Choctaw Indian. His homeowner’s association is trying to force him to remove the flagpole on his property, for purportedly “aesthetic” reasons, even though the association’s bylaws do not expressly forbid free-standing flagpoles or vertical masts. Hoping to catch a pedestrian’s eye view of Barfoot’s house using Google’s Street View, I looked up his Richmond, Virginia address in an Internet phone directory, and then plugged it into Google Maps. His house was not pictured; Google’s cameras have not reached his...

Col. Van T. Barfoot, one of the country's last-surviving Medal of Honor winners, is under the gun from his Henrico County community's homeowner association. In a five-paragraph letter to Barfoot that he received yesterday, Barfoot is being ordered to remove a flagpole from his yard.