Mark Alexander on Colonel Barfoot

Profiles of Valor: Col. Van Barfoot

This is not the usual profile of valor. This is the story of a highly decorated 90-year-old World War II and Vietnam vet fighting his homeowner’s association to keep his flagpole. Col. Van Barfoot has been awarded more than 20 medals, including three Purple Hearts, the Bronze Star, the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit and the Medal of Honor, and is thought to be the most decorated living combat veteran.

Barfoot recently placed a flagpole and U.S. flag outside his home near Richmond, Virginia. The homeowner’s association guidelines don’t expressly forbid flagpoles but say they must be “aesthetically appropriate.” Apparently, that means only short poles on porches. The association issued a statement saying, “This is not about the American flag. This is about a flagpole… We are a neighborhood of patriotic Americans, many of whom have served our country in the military as Col. Barfoot has done…” They might try serving it again by dropping this outrageous request.

Barfoot’s story is also quite a contrast with that of our current commander in chief, who, while at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska, refused to be photographed with the F-22 that he fought so hard to cancel.

Some Sentences Shouldn't Even Be Written

Read this sentence and tell me why you should not be reading it:

One of this country's last remaining WWII Medal of Honor recipients is being asked to remove a flagpole from his property.

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Gathering of Eagles: NY
Fighting the Insurgency at Home
Should WWII Medal of Honor Hero Be Allowed To Fly His Flag?
December 3, 2009

Col. Van T. Barfoot, Rtd., is a 90 year young veteran of WWII, Korea and Vietnam. Never a shirker from his duty he is fighting one more war today, the Battle of Henrico County.
One note of warning to the Sussex Square Homeowners Association; “I think you picked a fight with the wrong guy!”

MoH Recipient Has Flagpole Issues

WWII MEDAL OF HONOR WINNER FACES SUIT OVER HIS FLAG-FLYING
By Zinie Chen Sampson The Associated Press
RICHMOND

A 90-year-old Army veteran who won the Medal of Honor during World War II is battling his neighborhood association for what he says is his right to fly the American flag from a pole in his front yard.
Col. Van T. Barfoot says he erected the 21-foot flagpole in September, raising the flag daily at sunrise and retiring it at sunset.
The Sussex Square homeowners’ association told him recently that the free-standing pole violates the townhouse neighborhood’s aesthetic guidelines and ordered him to remove it by 5 p.m. Friday or face a lawsuit.
“I don’t have any qualms with their authority, but the thing about it is that I cannot get enough conversation out of them where we can try to work out a solution,” Barfoot said Wednesday in a telephone interview.
The homeowners’ association said they denied a previous request by Barfoot to erect the flagpole but that he put it up anyway, according to a statement issued by its lawyer Sandy Bowen. The statement says Barfoot can display an American flag, as long as it’s in a way that conforms with association rules.
“This is not about the American flag. This is about a flagpole,” the statement reads. Barfoot, who moved into his townhouse in June, won his medal for actions near Carano, Italy, in 1944 and is one of about 90 surviving Medal of Honor winners. He also won the Purple Heart and other decorations, and served in Korea and Vietnam before retiring from the service in 1974.
“I’ve flown the flag at my home as long as I can remember,” said Barfoot, who lived in rural Amelia County before moving to suburban Richmond. “This is the first time in the last 36 years that I’ve been unable to put my flag up on the same pole, the same staff and take it down when it’s time to come down.”
Neighbors largely have expressed their support, but he realizes that ultimately it’s up to the nine-member association board whether they will grant an exception to the rules.
“Emotional torture is what they’ve done to my father,” said his daughter, Margaret Nicholls. “He has lost sleep; he worries about it constantly. He just doesn’t understand. He thinks that if it’s on his property they can’t tell him what to do.”