Memorial Day 2024 in Barrington (RI) Without Veterans Council Due To Town Flying BLM Flag Over War Memorial
Our nation is facing extreme cultural and political stress points. But we must remember those who gave all, and honor them.
As we do on every Memorial Day, we remember Mike Spann, Roslyn Schulte, Jonathan Porto, Billie Taylor Presson, Christopher David Horton, the Cornell Class of 1944, and the other fallen, known and unknown.
The St. Louis Jewish Light had a recent article about Schulte:
… I’ll admit I never much contemplated what Memorial Day stands for until 15 years ago, when I – along with 1,300 others — attended the funeral of Air Force 1st Lt. Roslyn Schulte, who was killed in May of 2009 by a roadside bomb near Kabul, Afghanistan. She was 25 years old, and the first female USAFA graduate to be killed in action in the global war on terrorism.
Roslyn “Roz” Schulte is the daughter of Robert and Susie Schulte of Ladue; the family has long belonged to Congregation Temple Israel and Roslyn was confirmed there. It was also on Memorial Day in 2009 that TI Rabbi Emeritus Mark Shook presided over her funeral and said, “Memorial Day will never be the same. No one in this place now will ever take Memorial Day for granted again.”
He was so right….
In her memory, Lt. Schulte’s parents championed an award that is given each year since her death to a first-class cadet who embodies the values their daughter lived by: “impeccable character, unwavering leadership and spirit of service.” This year’s 1st Lt. Roslyn Schulte Award for Exemplary Cadet Character and Leadership will be given out Tuesday, May 28, at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. Her parents plan to be at the ceremony, as they are every year, to meet the recipient and nominees and their families.
In addition, Lt. Schulte has been memorialized at her high school alma mater, John Burroughs, with a scholarship in her name. The annual Missouri Girls Lacrosse All Star Game is dedicated to her; she was inducted into the Missouri Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2018.
Sometimes when I go to The J, I’ll look over at the memorial plaque near the flagpole in front of the Arts & Education Building that was dedicated in Lt. Schulte’s honor. Even now, 15 years after her passing, Roz Schulte continues to be an inspiration and role model to so many as well as a reminder of the many Jewish veterans who served our country so valiantly.
I also found a Virtual Wall entry for Presson:
In 2016, Porto’s widow, Rachel, wrote for Legal Insurrection, I am proud to be the widow of Cpl Jonathan Daniel Porto, USMC:
Memorial Day. What does it mean to me?
It means a time to reflect on my husband’s service and sacrifice. A time to reflect on the sacrifices of thousands of families like my own….
On January 15, 2010, our daughter Ariana was born. I was fortunate to receive a call from him while I was in labor and because of that, he was present with me when his daughter graced this earth. We had a few months to go until he would be home with us and physically get to meet her.
Except, that day never came.
On March 15, 2010, two uniformed men rang my doorbell before dawn. A Navy Chaplain and a Marine Staff NCO from 6th Marine Regiment. Their words forever changed our lives as they informed me Jonathan had been killed the day prior.
This photo before his deployment says it all:
I don’t have any updated information regarding Porto, and how his daughter and widow are doing, but I know that one of his relatives is a Legal Insurrection reader, so if you see this, please add the information in the comment section or email it to me and I will add it to this post.
We update information regarding Johnny “Mike” Spann every November 25, the anniversary of his death in Afghanistan.
I see that the Chris D. Horton Legacy Sniper Competition 2024 is scheduled for Ooctober 25 – October 27, 2024:
The competition Facebook page has plenty of photos.
His widow, Jane, who wrote a post about him for Legal Insurrection in 2016, “My husband, like many fallen service members, would want to see you live”. I saw that Jane tweeted after the debacle of the U.S. exit from Afghanistan:
My soul poured out on a page.
How the fall of Kabul affected me after losing my husband in Afghanistan. Praying for an apolitical after action review of what actually happened and how we can do better as a country. Please read and share. https://t.co/0YJkbLNqpC
— Jane Horton (@JaneMHorton) August 31, 2023
The Cornell Class of 1944 just celebrated its 80th Reunion. I can’t imagine many of that class are still alive, certainly not the men who died in World War II.
In Barrington, Rhode Island, the Memorial Day Parade will take place without the Veterans Council, which has resigned in protest of the continued flying of the BLM and other political flags above the Town War Memorial, as we reported in March of this year, Barrington (RI) Veterans Council Resigns In Protest Of Town Flying BLM Flag Over Veterans Memorial
The town manager (at the time)[2020] followed by the Town Council went full BLM radical, to the point of flying the BLM flag above the town’s Veterans Memorial. This led to protests by the Barrington United Veterans Council (BUVC), an affiliate of the Town, which for almost 70 years was the voice of veterans in town. BUVC objected to ANY political flags being flown on the town flagpole over the Veterans Memorial.
The BUVC organized and ran the annual Memorial Day Parade, which is still a big deal in town, but their protests led to retaliation by the Town Council, which pulled the parade from BUVC. We covered the whole sordid saga in March 2022, Veterans Group Alleges Retaliation For Opposing Flying BLM Flag Over Barrington (RI) Veterans Memorial.
The BUVC eventually was restored to control of the Parade, after continued public outcry which made the town councilors look petty and meanspirited.
- After Retaliation for Objecting To BLM Flag Flying Over War Memorial, Veterans Group Restored to Organizing Memorial Day Parade
- Barrington (RI) Memorial Day Parade Restored To Veterans Group Ousted After Objecting to BLM Flag Flying Over Veterans Memorial
So the story had a happy ending, right? Right? Buehler?
Sorry, BUVC is out again, not just of the parade, but of existence. It has decided to disband because of the continued refusal of the Town Council to get the BLM flag and other political flags, such as the ‘Pride’ flag, off the town flagpole over the Veterans Memorial. Attempts at compromise, such as erecting another flag pole to be placed nearby to fly political flags, were rejected.
See that post for the full Veterans Council statement:
Unfortunately, the Barrington Town Council, which does not have a single Veteran among its members, has chosen to virtue signal to controversial national political entities outside of our community rather than respect the wishes of those that have served and sacrificed from within the community. Therefore, effective immediately, the Barrington United Veterans Council will cease to exist as an official Town of Barrington government entity, and all its current members hereby resign in protest from their volunteer duties and obligations. We can no longer serve in good faith a local government that harbors such hostility and animosity towards its Veterans and its families. In the future, Barrington American Legion Post #8 will continue those Veterans functions deemed necessary.
Our nation is facing extreme cultural and political stress points. But we must remember those who gave all, and honor them.
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Comments
The Town Council’s insistence on kissing the ring of nonsense like BLM and “pride” is a slap in the face to the fallen men. These woke groups don’t give a damn about anyone other than themselves, which is the exact opposite attitude of all the brave men who paid the ultimate price for their country.
Both Black Liars & Black Losers, grifters do not matter. Productive citizens matter, note citizens, not illegals & there is no pride in sexual deviancy. This is doubly true on Memorial Day.
The day a large BLM banner went up on a church I had attended immediately led to my leaving, and any further $$s. They actually had the nerve to dun me afterwards.
Hopefully the council will be voted out
I would like to see an update with coming elections
In Flanders Fields
John McCrae
In Flanders fields the poppies blow,
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Every Memorial Day when I grew up the high school valedictorian would recite that poem at the town Memorial Day ceremony.
Essentially, the Communists won the Cold War in Barrington. Admittedly, a phyrric victory for the USSR but a solid win for Marx, Lenin and Mao.
This sort of thing will stop when someone, veteran(s) or not, just goes in, tears down the BLM (or other Cause of the Month Club) flag, replaces it with an American flag, and then stands there to guard it.
I DARE any law enfarcement people to arrest the veteran(s). The whole world will be watching.
Good idea, are you a veteran or know one nearby
Cause to me, they win, all the good guys quit and leave the city unchecked and unchallenged for evil to rule supreme
And where’s the mayor of the city on this
Did he vote for this?
Is this a predominantly black city?
Barrington isn’t a city, it’s a small town. It doesn’t have a mayor.
In the mid-20th, the town demographics were split between a large working-class Italian and smaller Irish and Portuguese populations (check out the names on that plaque), and “arrived” WASPs who swarmed to build tony waterfront properties on Nayatt and Rumstick Points. It was (and still is, AFAIK) a dry town, and you can probably guess which demographic arranged that.
Barrington is the home of the RI Country Club, lampooned on Family Guy as the Barrington Country Club. All you want to know about Barrington’s black population is summed up perfectly here.
Speaking of flags and symbols, I wonder if we should start using the two-finger (index and middle fingers) sign that is often meant to convey “peace” as a sign that there are only two genders.
I think the Appeal to Heaven flag would do better for every bs subject they throw at us. Don’t make a symbol or a flag to mean any one cause. Keep it generic. Keeps them guessing.
My good friend SGT Cory Aultz, US Army was killed in 2007 by a roadside bomb during our deployment to Ramadi Iraq. We lost dozens KIA and many more WIA in that department. The hell of it was he and many others were killed and wounded AFTER the end of our original deployment date. We had our deployment extended three times to a total of 17 months. Some of these young men had already met their enlistment contract but were retained on AD due to Stop/Loss. Others were held in the Unit by Stop/Move. Those young men wouldn’t have been there to be wounded and killed after the end of the initial deployment end date and some would not even have been on AD. Let’s keep this sort of thing in mind the next time the chicken hawks and sunshine patriots want to send someone else to war but refuse to answer the Nations call themselves.
My daughter was offered a full scholarship to the Air Force Academy, but it was during Bush2 and his payback wars , I said no.
I didn’t believe we were fighting the right war, Iraq, didn’t believe they had weapons of mass destruction
Couldn’t get over all the Saudis on 9/11 and we go into Iraq….besides knowing where Osama was during the Clinton years, Afghanistan, we went to Itaq…
Didn’t want to see my daughter in a body bag or come home leg less, armless or brainless
One of the first damaged young men of the Iraq war was in my home town, at that time a conservative town, I’m sure many young men signed up after 9/11
At the time, endless stories of his valor, service and the family left to care for him, a quad, traumatic brain injury, unable to speak, move again.
I’ll never forget him
I am a veteran, and I am one of those who signed as a patriot and not someone in search of college money. I went to boot camp during the Reagan administration. It wasn’t until I was in that I became disillusioned with what our military has become.
The recruiters came sniffing around my kids in 2004, when both of them were in high school. This was during the time period when military members were getting run through the ringer for shooting the enemy.
I told the recruiters to stay away from my kids, not because I was afraid that they would be wounded or killed, but because I was worried that they would shoot someone to save their own lives and would wind up in prison for doing so.
That we prosecute our soldiers does blow my mind. Wtf
No one wants their family members to come home damaged or dead. The fact is for every person who chose to avoid military service someone else carried the load on their behalf, often involuntarily. Which is all the more reason to honor our Veterans for their service, keep Congress honest about the VA and on Memorial Day keep the focus on the empty chairs around Nation and what led to them being empty.
By 2005 the stop loss and stop move policies were put into effect precisely B/C folks were not signing up in sufficient numbers so the young men and a few young women were involuntarily held past their discharge date, in their current unit and shipped back for a second or in some cases like ours a third deployment since 9/11.
Bottom line is we have, for the moment, a free Country and we all make choices. We then must be responsible enough to accept and live with consequences. When the direct consequences of our choices are borne by others due to our own failures then a forthright person will also accept the shame of that choice instead of seeking to shift blame, make excuses or otherwise seek to avoid accountability. Every action or failure to act carries a price and those empty chairs today are in part a result of folks avoiding military service not just Iraq/Afghanistan GWOT but also Vietnam especially considering the higher KIA there.
A thousand up votes if I could.
Just as we are beginning to see a nascent push-back on college campuses against the Pro-Terror Hamas-Loving idiots, I would like to see some patriotic youths cut these flags down and burn them.
Just cut this shit down, burn it, and put Old Glory back up where she belongs. They’re allowed to do it all the time, why can’t we?
If a group pulled down and burned the BLM Flag, Pride Flag or any other Leftist political flag, that group would be arrested for “Hate” speech and probably thrown in jail for years before trial.
Now if it was an American Flag flying over the memorial and a group pulled it down and burned it, that group would be hailed for their 1st Amendment protected protest.
correct
The story behind the flag,
Appeal to Heaven
Would make a great movie
Any independent producers out there reading this?
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/05/27/exclusive-odonnell-forever-young-memorial-day-revolutionary-war-unsung-hero-and-appeal-to-heaven/
to allll the patriots that have served to defend america and have lost life or limb in doing so
we give our undying and never ending thanks and honor for your commitment to preserve freedom for humanity
blm is an admitted communist organization and ACCORDING TO AZ DEM
A TERRORIST GROUP
Terrorism is defined as a threat or violence for a political outcome. That’s what this is. I think the Department of Justice is really ramping up and starting to prosecute.
HIS WORDS IN REGARDS TO MAGA
BUT IN REALITY IT INDICTS THE BLMPLO ORG IN THE USA
now only if he would admit to THAT
Terrorism is defined as a threat or violence for a political outcome. That’s what this is. I think the Department of Justice is really ramping up and starting to prosecute.
This is the Memorial Day remembrance that moves Biden, Harris and fellow Democrats and illiberals.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/05/24/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-four-years-since-george-floyds-murder/
Watched Tucker Carlson on YouTube describe the only time he lost his temper in public and viciously insulted his dinner host. He was dining with a general in Iraq who was toasting a female soldier and mother who had just died that day, having her legs blown off. Tucker told the general only a sick society would send its women to war rather than leaving it the exclusive and natural province of real men. Good for you Tucker. We are now a nation of nancy boys.
What was your branch of service and where were you deployed?
What was yours?
US Army, tactical PSYOP. 10th Mountain Division. OEF – Kandahar 2010-11.
Your turn.
BLM is Cultural Marxism, and they are not going to go away. I term the “Pride ” flag as Cultural Marxism’s banner
Does it have enough colors yet, or does it still need a few more?
The best way for us to honor our fallen is to be the kind of citizen worth dying for. Do we promulgate the values necessary to keep our society free, or do we take what we can with no thought to paying forward the great gift that we have been given? It starts with gratitude, really, and that’s what this day tries to remind us. So much of the envy and hate we see is due to a simple lack of gratitude, both to our armed forces and ultimately to God. My small-town ceremony this morning was well attended, the weather held off (thank you, God), and the remarks were quite appropriate (and brief). My thanks to all those who served and are serving, and may our fallen rest in peace.
“The best way for us to honor our fallen is to be the kind of citizen worth dying for.”
This.
And as citizens maybe insist on “military” adventures only worth the human cost. My problem is finding levers to push on as a citizen, or human.
TY.. I owe them all a debt that is impossible to fully repay. The least I can do, the very least, is to take the time to go and vote. It is my way of showing respect and gratitude.
The posturing people always take over someone else’s thing, because they can maybe take over, but can’t do an actual thing.
“Activism”, making a spectacle of yourself to convince people better than you to do what you cannot, without wondering if they, being so much more capable, might also know better than you.