[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 13844]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       LOSING SIGHT OF OLD GLORY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, recently, in Texas, we actually had a 
woman ordered to remove her American flag from her work space. Debbie 
McLucas works at Kindred Hospital in Mansfield, Texas. She comes from a 
very patriotic family. Her husband and both of her sons served in the 
United States military. Her daughter is a combat medic and is currently 
deployed on her second tour of duty in Iraq.
  When Debbie arrived at work the Friday before Memorial Day, her 
American flag was gone from her hospital work space. She had displayed 
it in honor of Memorial Day and in honor of our troops. Debbie was met 
by her supervisor and was told that there had been complaints about the 
American flag. An immigrant coworker had complained that the American 
flag was offensive, so the flag was taken down by management. Debbie 
found her flag wrapped around the pole and laying on the floor in the 
corner of her supervisor's office.
  Debbie McLucas said in an interview that one of her colleagues who 
had migrated to the United States from Africa 14 years ago had 
complained to the supervisor. Debbie was then told by management that 
it only took one complaint, and the so-called ``offensive'' flag had to 
come down immediately. Debbie told her supervisor that she was offended 
that somebody removed the flag. She said she could not fathom that 
anyone in America would find the American flag objectionable.
  As soon as this episode hit the news wires, there was outrage from 
sea to shining sea and rightfully so. After all, Debbie's freedom of 
speech to display the flag was stolen by the hospital elites because 
one person whined and griped. Let me tell you about how some Americans 
appreciate the flag as Debbie McLucas does.
  Several years ago during the Vietnam War, a university student in 
Houston, Texas, had desecrated the American flag. He was charged under 
Texas law with the felony of flag desecration. That was before the 
Supreme Court gave peaceniks the right to burn the flag, saying it was 
free speech. Anyway, two young prosecutors--Vic Pecorino and Andy Horn, 
a recent returning Vietnam veteran--had to prove to the jury that the 
flag was, in legal terms, a venerated object, or one that deserves 
special treatment.
  After proving the case, except for this one requirement, the State 
called Chris Cole, a judge, to prove that the flag had to be treated in 
a respectful manner. He came in to testify, accompanied by his seeing 
eye dog. Judge Cole was a marine in World War II. He was involved in 
the bloody island hopping of the South Pacific. During the flag trial, 
he was asked by the prosecutors when the last time was he saw the U.S. 
flag.
  He paused, and with a tearful response, he said, The last time I saw 
the flag it was raised on Mt. Suribachi on Iwo Jima Island in 1945. You 
see, several days later, Judge Chris Cole had a Japanese hand grenade 
explode near him, and he permanently lost the sight in both eyes. He 
never saw Old Glory again.
  In the flag trial, the defendant was convicted by the jury because 
they thought, as Judge Cole testified, that the flag holds special 
significance to Americans; but the law was declared unconstitutional by 
the Supreme Court.
  There are a lot of Americans, especially those who serve in the 
military, who hold the view that the flag represents everything that is 
good and right about our Nation and that it is their right to display 
the flag.
  Mr. Speaker, the flag is displayed here on the wall behind me. Each 
morning, Members of Congress pledge allegiance to the flag as do 
schoolchildren across the vast plains of America. Obviously, Debbie 
McLucas is another one of those Americans who respects the values that 
the flag represents, and she wishes to proudly display it. Debbie 
McLucas should be praised for exercising her constitutional right of 
freedom of speech by displaying America's flag.
  So, in her honor and to honor her military family, I have requested 
that an American flag be flown over the United States Capitol on 
Saturday, June 6, on the 65th anniversary of the D-day landing of 
Normandy during World War II. The flag will be sent to this American 
lady in appreciation of her patriotic spirit, of her loyalty to 
American warriors and to the American flag. May she display it proudly.
  And that's just the way it is.

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