From Sara at Soldiers' Angels comes the word of another hero's family fighting Association rules to support their Hero:

An open letter to the Pine Crest homeowners association and residents of Pine Crest.

Although some may consider the war in Iraq an inconvenience and a distraction barely affecting their day-to-day lives, there are others who are much more personally involved. None are more affected than the families of our uniformed men and women who serve in Iraq and at other danger spots throughout the world.

Before I address the issue of the continuing controversy with the Pine Crest Board I would you to meet our Marine. His grandfather on his fathers’ side was a Marine serving in the Pacific in WWII. His grandfather on his mothers’ side was an Army Ranger who saw action in Korea. Our Marine wanted to join the Corp from the time he was 15. When he asked his mother to sign for him at the age of 17 she refused. The moment he turned 18 he was able to join on his own and did so. He is a combat Marine serving in the Sunni triangle in Iraq. He is the SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon) light machine gunner for his fire team. We could not be more proud of this splendid young man. You should be too, after all, he truly is one of your own – he lives here in this community. Before he left some of you should have taken the opportunity to meet this real American hero. Maybe you will get that opportunity and privilege when he (hopefully) returns in November.

You might believe that we now have an all volunteer military. But we really don’t. Only the troops volunteer. The families, and particularly the moms, are drafted. Families deal with the deployment of their sons and daughters in a number of different ways, some of which may be difficult to understand by those who have never worn the uniform of their country.

Our most precious resource, the mothers of those we send in harms way, should be protected from unnecessary trauma at all costs. They, more than any other members of our society, will suffer the most if they are ever confronted with the unfathomable image of a government car pulling up to the front of their home and a Marine in dress blues walking toward their door. Such pain, if necessary, should be inflicted by the enemy without, and never from the enemy within – which may include some American citizens in general and members of our own community in particular.

Let me give you a few facts about our particular situation. When our Marine left for Iraq we placed a Marine Corp Service flag on the front of our home. This flag was purchased at the Marine base in Parris Island We also placed 8 yellow ribbons on the property. One ribbon is to be removed each month which means that we will have one ribbon left when he leaves Iraq. That ribbon will remain until he gets back home sometime in November or December.

Within a few days we received a letter from the board of Pine Crest stating that only the Stars and Stripes were permitted to be flown in this community. That flag was taken down the same day. With very little difficulty we found what we considered an appropriate flag in two different magazines which sell exclusively Marine Corp materials. For those of you who have not seen the flag in the newspapers or on TV, this is a 5’ by 3’ American Flag with the Marine Corp emblem across the face of the red and white stripes. There was a 6-8 week waiting list indicating that they are selling a lot of these flags. When it arrived we placed the flag in the now empty flag holder. In a short time we again received a letter from the board stating that this flag "is in violation of the code for proper display of the American Flag" and that "several community residents have expressed their displeasure with your display of a defaced American flag." We removed the flag and contacted a reporter from the Intelligencer that we met at a meeting of the local chapter of the Marines Mom’s Association of Eastern Pa. An article subsequently written in the Intelligencer led to our being contacted by News 3 and CN8. Both arrived at our home for an interview and portions of that interview were aired the night of May 5th.

One of the news programs reported that the president of the Pine Crest homeowners association stated that some community veterans were offended by the display of the American Flag with the embossed image of the Marine Corp across the face. In my opinion, any veteran, particularly a combat veteran, should feel nothing but shame for doing or saying anything that would cause a combat Marines mom any grief, discomfort or anxiety while her son is deployed in a combat situation in the defense of this country. It would demonstrate a level of callousness, and a mean-spirited disregard for the emotional wellbeing of a military family that I find difficult to believe would exist in any of our veterans.

The president of the Pine Crest homeowners association was interviewed by all three news organizations. A quote from one interview demonstrates my perception of a degree of rigidity and lack of common sense that may be pervasive in this community -- “no exceptions, a rule is a rule and we intend to enforce the rules. If we do not enforce the rules then we will wind up with no rules. We’ll have people putting up flags that are objectionable in many respects.” With all due respect, if this board believes that there is no discernable difference between an American flag being flow to honor a combat Marine currently serving in Iraq and something like an Easter Bunny flag then I believe there really is cause to question the values of this community and I have to agree with Cathy’s comment on the TV news programs that "It is a sad day for the Pine Crest Community."

The president of the Pine Crest homeowners association told reporters that he checked with the Betsy Ross Rules and Regulations for flying the flag, and determined from this reading that the flag being flown qualified as a defaced flag which was not permitted in Pine Crest. The Betsy Ross foundation is not tasked with writing law in this country. Although it may be reporting recommendations and suggestions I do not know if any of the information is actually quoting the legalities of flying the flag. Therefore I have approached our two Federal Senators, one of which is chairman of the Judiciary Committee, for a more formal opinion as to the legality of this flag which is being sold commercially. Regardless of the outcome, sometimes it is not enough to be technically correct, and the human element can and should supercede a book of Community rules and codes. If these Betsy Ross Rules and Regulations are indeed found to be the law of the land then I presume that this board will strictly enforce every one of its Rules and Regulations including those about flying the flag after dusk and in inclement weather. Failure to strictly enforce every single Rule will lead me to believe that the issue of "selective enforcement" quoted by the President of the PineCrest homeowners association in his TV interview only applies when the board chooses. I also suspect that if the all the rules are strictly applied then the PineCrest Community will not longer be flying any American flags at all.

Cathy is a member of SoldiersAngels.org. This is an organization that locates troops in Iraq that would like to receive letters and packages from home. Members of the organization then contact volunteers like Cathy who supply letters and packages to these troops. Every single night you will find Cathy sitting at the kitchen table writing one or more letters to young soldiers she has never met and never will meet. In addition she sends out 13 care packages each month. Three of these are to members of our Marines fire team, three are to our Marine, and seven are to contacts located through SoldiersAngels. Each package costs about $30 including postage and our monthly budget for these packages is $400. If a tiny portion of our citizens would do a fraction as much for our troops in the field as Cathy continues to do every single day there would be no need for an organization such as SoldiersAngels.

When faced with the choice of backing a Marine mom supporting her son who is fighting for us in Iraq versus supporting a Community Association that is fighting only for itself, I found the decision not at all difficult to make. The American flag with the Marine emblem will fly again and we will pay the $50 monthly fine. However, we won’t be paying the fine alone. Our troops in the field will participate. We plan to deduct this $50 from our fund used to send care packages to the troops deployed in Iraq. So, due to the actions of the Pine Crest homeowners association, our troops serving in Iraq will receive less of what they really want from those who put them there.

It would be a very sad situation if this entire episode was precipitated by a small minority of the 300+ households living in Pine Crest agitating a Board whose members have chosen to behave more like unthinking, uncaring robots rather than living, breathing human beings. I already know the position of this particular Board in PineCrest. I assume that some segment of PineCrest residents wholly supports this position. I also know that some support us and our Marine because they have come and talked to us about it. I wonder how the rest of you feel? I wonder if you even know about this controversy that is ongoing in your community? Does the Board know how you feel? Do you take great pride in the recent actions and positions taken by your Board members? It is my opinion that a more appropriate action would be to hang ones head in shame.

Unlike the letter that we received from the Homeowners association which contained no specific individual’s signature and only noted that it came from "The PineCrest Board of Directors", you will find our names affixed to this document.

In closing I think that the motto of SoldiersAngels is very appropriate.

May no soldier go unloved
May no soldier walk alone
May no soldier be forgotten
Until they all come home

Michael De Vita
Catherine Andreacchio


I have to admit I'm torn whenever I hear these stories. I wholeheartedly support those who support our deployed Heroes, especially the families of those deployed to protect all of us. However, residents of communities like this know the rules going in. To break the rules for one means that "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" flags might also have to be permitted - a sickening thought.

Past stories like this have included families that have wanted to put up their flag / sign their way despite Association guidelines - a waiver of the rules just for their point of view, which I can't support - again, this would leave open a whole host of "expression" I shudder to think about.

In this case, Cathy and her family have made an effort to choose a flag that would express their support as well as comply with Association rules - and one would think that the Association should be able to meet them halfway. I'm not knowledgeable enough to comment on whether the superimposing of the Marine Corps emblem is a "defacement," but I suspect that the objection comes from something other than a concern for the flag. Call it my suspicious nature, if you wish.

Read the stories below, and see what you think:

York Dispatch - Homeowner group bans flag with Marine emblem

News on the Lighter Side from the Eyewitness News Newsroom

NBC2 Online - Weird News

Marine Corps Times - Pa. homeownersb association bans flag with Marine emblem

LancasterOnline.com: News in brief from the Philadelphia area