Political correctness be damned.
Via The Eagle-Tribune, North Andover, MA
Gary Egge says he isn’t the kind of guy who likes to make waves or cause trouble.
But when the 71-year-old Vietnam War veteran recently heard about the Confederate flag controversy in South Carolina, he just had to speak out in his own quiet way.[…]
Across the country, opposition mounted against flying Confederate flags. Political leaders, including some presidential candidates, called for their removal.
Egge did just the opposite — he began searching online for a Confederate flag he could fly next to his American and Revolutionary War flags above the veterans memorial display he created in the front yard of his Veronica Avenue home.
“All of a sudden they are taking it down off buildings,” he said. “I was ticked off.”
Egge sympathizes with those affected by the tragedy in South Carolina, but said taking down the flag isn’t the way to resolve racial issues.
“I have the right to fly the Confederate flag,” he said. “One of my neighbors asked me to get one for him.”
Egge said he’s tired of a society controlled by political correctness.
“It’s a part of history,” he said, speaking of the flag and the Civil War. “I’m not out to offend anyone. I think our rights keep get taken away.”
Flying the Confederate flag has raised some eyebrows in other parts of the Granite State.
The town administrator in Caanan asked employee J.R. Defosse to remove a flag he was flying on his personal vehicle while it was on town property, but later reversed his decision because of a state law that protects the free speech of municipal workers.[…]
When Egge began looking on the Internet for his own flag, he found that companies that usually sell Confederate flags suddenly didn’t have any to offer. It took four weeks before he could finally add one to his veterans display.
The display in Egge’s yard features the three flags, a flowerbed, stone cross, a brass POW/MIA statue featuring an eagle, and the “Jungle Boots” he wore while serving with the U.S. Army in Vietnam in 1967.
The nearly 50-year-old boots are filled with concrete and bolted down so they won’t disappear.
“I’m very proud of it,” he said of the display. “It’s something that reminds me of my time over there.”
Other veterans have liked the display as well, he said.
Egge, a Republican, said he takes pride in his service to the country. He’s concerned that the nation’s military isn’t as strong as it was before the administration of President Barack Obama.
It’s an issue that many of 17 GOP candidates for president have raised while they campaign in New Hampshire.
“We need to bring this country back to what it was after the last eight years,” Egge said. “We are in trouble — we are going to get attacked. We have to realize our security is at risk.”