WHAT'S IN A FLAG? – Commentary by Jim Dean

This is an American Heritage website, and we aim to give you plenty of it, from a lot of different folks...real folks, real stories, real feelings.

One of the silliest questions that heritage people get asked by 'non believers' is why we care so much about a flag. It is hard to imagine where to even start with a person who could ask such a brain-dead question, particularly an adult. Our answer is in Sir Edmond Burke's quote at the top of the About GHC page. It's the start of a long long story.

But some folks don't acknowledge wisdom from the past. So today we have a contemporary answer...a Texas funeral for a newly fallen soldier. They do things differently in Texas, as you will see.

There was a time not long ago when Confederate Memorial Day was a major holiday in the South to pay respect to those who fell in that terrible conflict. We lost a good part of our gene pool.

One of our earliest Heritage TV shows had Judge John Sammons Bell, designer of the '56 Georgia Flag, describing how he used to go to these events as a boy when Confederate Veterans still attended. He distinctly remembered their marching in and watching them tap their canes to the music as Dixie was sung. People loved them dearly. It was one of my memorable goose-bumps times as a host.

But the years have dimmed this time-honored salute to the fallen. The PC media crowd downplays the day with token respect and attention. It is buried in column inches by Mr. King day and black history month. Schools and businesses no longer close. As a people, we are not remembering. We are not being good trustees, and we must wear the shame of it.

What you are about to see below is a slice of what it was like back then. The flag is different...the people quite similar...the feeling the same.

But I hope as the years pass by that the hundreds of American soldiers killed in the current conflict will not suffer the fate of hundreds of thousands of our Confederate soldiers...to be forgotten, and even worse---maligned. But ah...you say, "Confederate soldiers are different." Really? They are official United States veterans by act of Congress. They died defending their families, homes and country. So what really is the difference, the essential difference?

I guess that it is all in the eye of the beholder. To be...or not to be...a good trustee.

Last Day above Ground ***What follows is a message (don't miss the photos below!) from Vicki Pierce (in Highlands Ranch) about her nephew James' funeral (he was serving our country in Iraq): "I'm back, it was certainly a quick trip, but I have to also say it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. There is a lot to be said for growing up in a small town in Texas. The service itself was impressive with wonderful flowers and sprays, a portrait of James, his uniform and boots, his awards and ribbons. There was lots of military brass and an eloquent (though inappropriately longwinded) Baptist preacher. There were easily 1000 people at the service, filling the church sanctuary as well as the fellowship hall and spilling out into the parking lot. However, the most incredible thing was what happened following the service on the way to the cemetery. We went to our cars and drove to the cemetery escorted by at least 10 police cars with lights flashing and some other emergency vehicles, with Texas Rangers handling traffic. Everyone on the road who was not in the procession, pulled over, got out of their cars, and stood silently and respectfully, some put their hands over their hearts, some had small flags. Shop keepers came outside with their customers and did the same thing. Construction workers stopped their work, got off their equipment and put their hands over their hearts, too. There was no noise whatsoever except a few birds and the quiet hum of cars going slowly up the road. When we turned off the highway suddenly there were teenage boys along both sides of the street about every 20 feet or so, all holding large American flags on long flag poles, and again with their hands on their hearts. We thought at first it was the Boy Scouts or 4H club or something, but it continued .... for two and a half miles. Hundreds of young people, standing silently on the side of the road with flags. At one point we passed an elementary school, and all the children were outside, shoulder to shoulder holding flags . kindergartners, handicapped, teachers, staff, everyone. Some held signs of love and support. Then came teenage girls and younger boys, all holding flags. Then adults. Then families. All standing silently on the side of the road. No one spoke, not even the very young children. The last few turns found people crowded together holding flags or with their hands on their hearts. Some were on horseback. The military presence...at least two generals, a fist full of colonels, and representatives from every branch of the service, plus the color guard which attended James, and some who served with him . was very impressive and respectful, but the love and pride from this community who had lost one of their own was the most amazing thing I've ever been privileged to witness. I've attached some pictures, some are blurry (we were moving), but you can get a small idea of what this was like. Thanks so much for all the prayers and support." Click the photos for larger versions Passion swells with in us. A wonderful tribute to one of ours. God bless America. Let Freedom Ring!*** --Vicki Pierce

Thank you, Vicki. And we thank your nephew, today, tomorrow and a hundred years from now. We are heritage people, the real kind. And we don't fade with age. We just get better.

Jim Dean is the producer of Heritage TV, a member of the Georgia Heritage Coalition and the Military Order of World Wars.

Webmaster's Note: This commentary brings to mind the story of the two funerals of CSA President Jefferson Davis. Over 200,000 attended his funeral in New Orleans in 1889 and when his body was moved to be reinterred in Hollywood Cemetery in Virginia four years later in 1893, thousands turned out to pay their respects all along the train route and at every stop. [Read the story! at the link above] The point? As Jim Dean writes, "The flag is different...the people quite similar...the feeling the same." This same feeling was deeply felt by the vast majority of Southerners for all their fallen Confederate veterans (=American veterans)---they, like Jefferson Davis, were men of honor we hold in great reverence. Today, we have many heritage-haters striving to remove Davis' name from schools and streets across the South. Just last year, Davis' memorial statue in New Orleans was vandalized again with spray paint. Our honorable American heritage is under attack...and that does not bode well for our future. This story related above gives hope that that respect still lies deep within us and can be restored as a more prevalent aspect of American life.