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Flags of our fathers?
The town of Waterville Maine celebrated Veteran's Day this year by throwing five of it's veterans in jail. The group was attempting to remove 2,000 white flags planted at the Veterans Memorial Park there. Waterville Police Chief John Morris said "I warned them, very carefully, that they were not allowed to do destructive behavior on these flags. If they did, we would have to ask them to leave the park. If they refused to leave the park then we'd have to arrest them, and that's what happened."
A white flag is internationally known as a symbol of surrender. Arne Springorum, 33, a local geologist, acted as spokesperson for the "peace group" that planted the flags:
''That was an interpretation we never anticipated," Springorum said. ''We thought of several different colors, but black seemed drastic and represented death. Red seemed like it represented a bloody memorial. A white flag seemed appropriate, because it was the color of truth."The five veterans were booked at police headquarters and released after paying $40 to the bail commissioner.''I thought we needed something permanent to remind people about the cost of war," Springorum said. ''I thought the really appropriate place for it would be the veterans park, but I understood that [the veterans group] feel some ownership of that park."
''Frankly I'd be embarrassed if my son saw it like that," said Michael Williams Sr., an Air Force veteran whose son is a sergeant in the Army. ''They don't need to remind me with 2,000 flags that 2,000 soldiers are dead."The veterans altered the route of their annual parade this year, ending at the local American Legion rather than the park.Williams was one of five arrested Thursday evening and charged with trespassing after they attempted to rip the flags from the ground, despite repeated warnings from police.
...Williams, 58, a retired bus driver, looked out over the flags yesterday afternoon, he had to look down. Not because he was having trouble keeping his emotions in check, but to make sure his feet didn't cross from the sidewalk onto the grass. Williams said the police chief warned him that if he stepped foot in the park, he would be arrested again. Williams said he and the others were released, and they are scheduled to appear Jan. 11 in Waterville District Court.
Meanwhile, in Boston, the Veteran's Day parade was cancelled altogether:
For the first time in decades - even with soldiers dying abroad daily - Boston had no Veterans Day parade because organizers feared neither crowds nor marchers would come.But a group calling itself "Veterans for Peace" claims it was their efforts that killed the parade
?It?s sad to say they?re at the Veterans Day sales and the movie theaters,? said Boston Veterans Services Commissioner Eugene Vaillancourt.
The parade was canceled. In its place was a ceremony on City Hall Plaza that quickly turned into a political spat about US military involvement in Iraq. And, just as that war has polarized civilians, it split the American Legion and a veterans' antiwar group, who offered sharply differing accounts of why the parade was called off.Attendance at the Boston ceremony, however, supports the parade organizer's claim. Only 150 people showed up.Officials from the American Legion, which hosts the parade each year, said they canceled this year's march because fewer and fewer people have lined the parade route in recent years.
''We have been marching around Boston for years and people have not really shown up," said Jake Comer, a past national commander of the American Legion and one of the parade's organizers. ''We are seeing more people here than we have in years."
But representatives of Veterans for Peace, an antiwar group, said the parade was canceled to keep them from protesting.
''The American Legion does not want us to be in the parade, so they canceled it," said Tony Flaherty, a former naval officer. ''No one wants to hear about peace."
Protesters stood in the back of the crowd, carrying signs that read ''Support our troops, bring them home" and ''No War."The "Veterans for Peace" group had less success in Milwaukee:
<...>
While American Legion officials tried to downplay tensions, Veterans for Peace members grew increasingly hostile and began booing speakers midway through the ceremony.
MILWAUKEE -- Organizers of the Milwaukee Veterans Day Parade scheduled Saturday have banned the local Veterans For Peace chapter from the event, saying the group's political activism violates the spirit of the parade to honor veterans.The "peace group" leader then revealed more than he might have wanted to about his agenda:''I will not allow anything political,'' Mary Ann D'Aquisto, president of Veterans Day Parade of Milwaukee Inc., said Tuesday.
She appeared at a news conference called by John Zutz, a leader of the local peace group, to denounce the action.
''You're trying to use our parade to further your political agenda,'' D'Aquisto told Zutz. ''It's a political organization; not a veterans organization.''
Zutz then grabbed an American flag and suggested that veterans carrying the flags in the parade also would be making political statements.Kudos to Mary Ann D'Aquisto who responded: "I don't care what you think about the war, President Bush or gays in the military, all we want to do is honor the veterans."
And that is what most Americans did yesterday, as they have for years. But the last word in this story belongs to the father of one of the veterans arrested in Maine:
Malcolm E. Williams, 87, said he wished the police who arrested his son had taken him into custody, too. ''I'm beginning to feel ashamed I even fought for my country," said the World War II veteran, a medic in the Army Air Corps who recalled the many surrender flags he saw in Germany.
Update: The Globe didn't make this clear - the "memorial park" is a cemetery. The "peace group" is called Waterville Area Bridges for Peace and Justice", their web page is here.
