Henrico Medal of Honor recipient, 90, ordered to remove flagpole

[Sportmotor]

This is shameful and disgusts me to no end and just gets me so unspeakably upset. If this is what America is coming to then something is VERY wrong.

Col. Van T. Barfoot, a local Medal of Honor recipient, is under the gun from his Henrico County community's homeowner association.

In a five-paragraph letter to Barfoot that he received yesterday, Barfoot is being ordered to remove a flagpole from his yard. The decorated veteran of three wars, now 90 years old, raises the American flag every morning on the pole, then lowers and folds the flag at dusk each day in a three-corner military fashion.

In a priority mail letter, the Coates & Davenport law firm in Richmond is ordering Barfoot to remove the pole by 5 p.m. Friday or face "legal action being brought to enforce the Covenants and Restrictions against you." The letter states that Barfoot will be subject to paying all legal fees and costs in any successful legal proceeding pursued by the homeowner association's board.

Barfoot's daughter said this evening that news reports about the association order have prompted an outpouring of sympathy and offers of help from people following her father's ordeal.

Tonight, the Sussex Square Homeowners Association issued a statement reiterating its position that Barfoot directly violated the association board's denial of his request to erect a flagpole.

"This is not about the American flag. This about a flagpole," the statement reads.

Barfoot lives in the Sussex Square community in far western Henrico; its board of directors rejected a plea from Barfoot in July to approve the pole, disallowing the fixture on aesthetic grounds.

There is no provision in the community's rules expressly forbidding flagpoles, Barfoot's daughter said. But she said the board ruled against her father's fixture and ordered it removed in July, deciding that free-standing flag poles are not aesthetically appropriate. Short flag stands attached to porches dot the community.

"Dad sort of feels like this is the end," said Margaret Nicholls, Barfoot's daughter, who lives a few doors away. But she said this morning that she and her husband are attempting to generate support for her father's cause, a flag-raising rite that he has undertaken for most of his life.

Barfoot received the Medal of Honor on the battlefield during World War II in Italy and fought as well in the Korean and Vietnam wars. A portion of a highway in rural Mississippi, his native state, was named in his honor this fall. A building at McGuire Veterans Hospital in Richmond also carries his name.

Barfoot began regularly flying the flag on Veteran's Day this year despite the Sussex Square board's decision.

He said in November that not flying the flag would be a sacrilege to him.

"There's never been a day in my life or a place I've lived in my life that you couldn't fly the American flag," he said.

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/local/article/POLEGAT02_20091202-091201/309031/

[buckethead]

This isn't what "America is coming to". It is what HOAs are coming to. I live in a deed restricted community, and If I can manage to get out, while still having a place as nice, I will.

I think it is a growing sentiment.

[Dog Walker]

A flagpole!!!  Some HOA members need to get a life!  What's next, haircuts?

[77danj7]

This is an absolutely disgusting story...This guy should be able to place a flagpole and flag wherever he wants.  After his service and injuries he deserves that!  I'm sure to him the wars were not "aesthetically appropriate" but he fought for each one of us.

[samiam]

As long as he complys with federal law, The HOA needs to stay out of this mans business.
http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/RL30243.pdf

[JaxNative68]

someone should offer to mount the flag pole to the side of his house, like a KPF architectural mast, which would no longer put it in the free standing category, and tell the HOA to kiss his ass, because his services in three wars, especially WWII made it possible for them have their snobby little judgmental HOA club.  The man has paid his dues to society, give him a break!

[Reaper man]

while I'm not a fan of patriotism at all, I do believe he should have the freedom to wave the nation's flag. Is it really hurting the HOA, or anyone for that matter, if he only has a bloody flagpole up?

[JaxNative68]

Reaper man:  what are you a fan of?  Or is this a question better left unasked?

[Reaper man]

computers, gaming, anime, sushi, women, etc.... those sort of things :3

To be a bit more specific though, It's more blind patriotism that I don't particularly like.

[samiam]

He should remove the flagpole--just as soon as any of the HOA board members show him their Medal of Honor.

[JaxNative68]

or he should put the flagpole up the a** of the leader of the HOA, and he probably could even at the age of 90.

[samiam]

Or if they have proof they did anything similar for there country
http://www.cmohs.org/recipient-detail/2625/barfoot-van-t.php

[Sportmotor]

Well I can think of a couple of good uses to put the flagpole to, once the flag has been packed away of course.

LOL did you just troll my thread? 

[JaxNative68]

Or if they have proof they did anything similar for there country
http://www.cmohs.org/recipient-detail/2625/barfoot-van-t.php

that is an impressive bio!

[BridgeTroll]

It's more blind patriotism that I don't particularly like.

You mean the kind that causes you to fight in three wars and become a Medal of Honor recipient?

OK...