[Proud] N.Y. Family Watched As Marine Hung Flag

Associated Press | Wednesday, April 9, 2003

[JohnHuang2]

N.Y. Family Watched As Marine Hung Flag

.c The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) - The world watched Wednesday as a Marine corporal clambered up a statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad and covered its face with an American flag just before the monument was pulled down and torn to pieces by cheering Iraqis.

Also looking on raptly was Cpl. Edward Chin's family in New York.

``I thought, 'Oh, my son, you are making history, you are part of the Iraqis' liberation,'' his father, Stanley Chin, said after watching the image of his son broadcast on television all over the world.

Shortly after wrapping the flag around the towering Saddam's face, military officials - highly conscious of anything that could be interpreted as a sign of American occupation - ordered Chin, 23, to take it down. He then replaced it with an Iraqi flag.

His fiancee, Anne Fu, said she knew Chin meant no disrespect.

``He wanted to show the Iraqi people that they were free, that they were liberated, that the U.S. was there to help them and that Saddam is over,'' she said outside the family's home.

Chin and his family are ethnic Chinese from Myanmar, formerly Burma. They moved to the United States when Chin was 1 week old and live in Brooklyn. He joined the Marines in 1999 and is stationed at the Marine Corps Air/Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, Calif.

His family said they had not seen him since before Christmas before they glimpsed him on television.

``I'm very proud of him,'' his sister Connie Chin told WWOR-TV. ``Here's a 23-year-old doing all these amazing things and representing America and representing it well, I think.''

[stanz]

I didn't get to see any of the tapes of the statue coming down or the general jubilation in Baghdad until late last night. Boy what a treat. I only have MSNBC and having been watching mostly them and occasionally Fox at my mom's throughout the course of the war. The coverage has been excellent on both. Our soldiers have sure done themselves proud. Amusing that voices from the left have been stilled. I like it that way. The reception by the free citizens of Baghdad is heartwarming. We're almost there. Where is Saddam?

[Bigg Red]

``I'm very proud of him,'' his sister Connie Chin told WWOR-TV. ``Here's a 23-year-old doing all these amazing things and representing America and representing it well, I think.''


And America agrees with you totally, Connie!

[Bigg Red]

American pride bump!