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Van T Barefoot died... |
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Old news but still very worthy of note.ThumbUp
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 takedown 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 ofwar
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 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, itemssuch as
Barefoot 's 21-foot flagpole was "unsuitable".
Van Barefoot: 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 anyof 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.
