Flags being stolen, damaged in Uniontown
A veterans organization is asking for help in identifying the people who have damaged or stolen more than 50 American flags along the streets of Uniontown during the last two weeks.
American Legion Post 51 in South Union Township is considering offering a reward to anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest of whoever has been damaging and stealing the flags and bending the flagpoles, said trustee Asa McCormick.
Legionnaires and members of Uniontown’s Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 47, which is undergoing a financial review and is closed, set up the flags and poles along Fayette Street, Gallatin Avenue, Main Street and Morgantown Street in the downtown so the streets are lined with the colors for Independence Day.
The latest damage was discovered Thursday morning when 21 flags along Fayette Street were found lying on the street, McCormick said.
‘They just tear them off and leave them lying in the street,” McCormick said. “They don’t just destroy the flags, they bend the poles.”
Uniontown police Officer Chuck David said extra patrols will be conducted on the street where the flags are located. He said anyone who sees someone damaging a flag should police at 724-430-2929 or call 911.
On Gallatin Avenue, some flags were destroyed and some were stolen recently, McCormick said.
Legion financial officer Mike Gaydos said those responsible for the damage should be forced to attend boot camp and serve with the Marines in Afghanistan to the learn why the flag is so important.
“Then they’ll know what it’s like to fight for the flag and the freedom we have,” Gaydos said.
The veterans organizations buy the flags and the members set them up before several holidays every year and taken them down afterward, but the flags really belong to all Americans, he said, adding that the aging veterans receive help from members of the Knight of Columbus and the Elks.
“These flags belong to the people,” McCormick said. “They’re not our flags, they belong to the people. This is their flag.”
He said he hopes people who see anybody destroying or removing a flag will call the police or 911.