Van T. Barfoot

Col. Van T. Barfoot is a 90-year-old Congressional Medal of Honor recipient.

He's an American hero, and he wants to fly the American flag from a flagpole on his property.

The Sussex Square Homeowners Association in Henrico County, Virginia won't permit this veteran of three wars to do it.

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

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.

This is another case of an idiotic homeowners association throwing its weight around.

What is it about being in a position to wield power and exert control over others that causes some of the people on these boards to go nuts?

Barfoot did not receive permission to have a freestanding flagpole and he put it up anyway.

That's a violation, but it was an unreasonable decision by the board.

A flagpole isn't aesthetically pleasing? Give me a break.

That's ridiculous.

The Sussex Square Homeowners Association should not only allow Barfoot to keep his American flag display, it should issue him an immediate and very public apology.

The Association should pay to erect a statue in honor of Barfoot. Perhaps that would remind the members the debt that they owe Barfoot and heroes like him.

Video.


UPDATE: "Veteran draws support in fight for flagpole"

A flood of help is building for an embattled Medal of Honor winner in Henrico County who was ordered this week to remove a flagpole from his yard by his community's homeowners association.

From the halls of Congress to the 90-year-old colonel's old infantry unit, a local law firm and scores of service members, help is making its way to Col. Van T. Barfoot.

"He said he was outraged and wanted to help," Barfoot's daughter said yesterday, speaking of U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., who learned of Barfoot's plight on TimesDispatch.com yesterday.

..."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.

Barfoot's neighbors are split, with some saying that the community covenants should have no exceptions, and that Barfoot was given the community's covenants before he bought the property. Others support him regardless.

Sally Hedleston, whose house has a legal flagpole attached, said she has asked board members to make an exception for the Medal of Honor winner.

"Some board members say that rules are rules -- well, how many of them have broken the speed limit every day here?" she asked.

Here's the thing: "There is no provision in the community's rules expressly forbidding flagpoles," according to Barfoot's daughter.

When Barfoot bought the property he couldn't have known that his request would be denied.

The association made an arbitrary decision forbidding the flagpole based on aesthetic grounds. Obviously, that's very subjective. If different people were on the board, it's entirely possible that they would have permitted Barfoot's request.

He did submit a request to the board. The board members' response was totally unreasonable.

Yes, rules are rules; but it's wrong to enforce an utterly lame ruling.

I can't believe those people would actually threaten 90-year-old Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Barfoot with legal action.

This is not good publicity for the Coates & Davenport law firm in Richmond, (800)450-8311. What were they thinking to get involved in a case like this and use such heavy-handed tactics?

It's a disgrace.

Barfoot deserves to be honored, not harassed by dweebs.

The Sussex Square Homeowners Association board of directors should be ashamed.
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UPDATE: "Homeowners group backs off flagpole threat"
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UPDATE: "Colonel thanks backers, but flagpole saga may not be over"

Freed from the threat of immediate legal action, the battle-tested retired Army colonel at the center of a fight over a flagpole and the American flag thanked his thousands of supporters yesterday.

...[A] Sussex Square resident last night with knowledge of board deliberations, stressed that no decision has been made about how the board intends to proceed, if at all.

Asking that he not be named because of the intense level of debate and commentary, he warned against any definitive notion that the pole will be allowed to remain in place uncontested. He described the dropping of legal action as an effort to calm nerves and allow some state of normalcy to return to the community.

"We are a community of older residents," he said, noting that some board members are veterans and that American flags hang from many porches. "Some of us in the community have received death threats. Some board members have received up to 200, 250 telephone calls a day."