EDITOR:

I hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th. I also hope we collectively take the day to remember the sacrifices of our troops that the holiday stands for. I hope we understand and respect the enormous sacrifices that were and continue to be made so we can enjoy the freedom this country stands for.

I don’t imagine anyone will be flying a Union Jack (the British Flag), or the ISIS flag alongside their Stars and Stripes though. Of course not, right? That would be insipid nonsense, to fly both our flag and the flag of an enemy we’re currently fighting, or the flag of an enemy we fought in the past. That would be entirely disrespectful to those who fought and died, right? It would basically be celebrating our enemies and spitting in the faces of those who fought those enemies, to fly the flag of the enemy who maimed and killed them as they fought for our freedom.

But some of you will be flying the Stars and Bars (Confederate Battle Flag), or swastikas, which, no matter what position you take on history, are the flags of our enemies. Who untold thousands of our troops fought and died to destroy. I don’t care if you deny the Holocaust, the Third Reich was America’s enemy. I don’t care if you think the Civil War was about state’s rights, men under the Stars and Bars killed our troops under the Stars and Stripes. Enemies.

To my mind, there could be nothing more disrespectful to our troops than to go around proudly, or ignorantly, waving the flag of those they fought and died against. Britain may be our ally now, but waving the Union Jack on the 4th of July is ignorant and disrespectful of those who died due to the actions of troops under that banner. It’s no different for flags of the 3rd Reich or the Confederacy. Perhaps none of those men are alive to be offended, but it’s still celebrating their enemies and pissing on their graves.

I realize that this is America, so we’re all free to be as ignorant and disrespectful as we want, and thus can wave whatever flag we want. And that’s fine, that’s a principle my ancestors fought and died FOR. But if you think you’re a proud patriot and you support our troops, and you’re flying a Confederate Battle Flag, or a swastika, or the black ISIS flag, you’re neither the patriot nor the supporter you think you are, at all. You might as well look every vet in the face and tell them you don’t care about their sacrifices, you support the other side.

Because waving flags is a symbol of what and who you support. You can support our troops, or the troops who fought against them. By definition, it cannot be both. So please, in respect, put the flags of our enemies in the trash pile of history where they belong.

Robert Wood

Escanaba