Flag Remains at Half-Staff to Honor Troops In Southern Vermont

In the quaint, historic and blue-collar town of Bennington, Vermont, at a small house on North Branch Street, Army National Guard veteran and father of three David P Monroe Jr. has his flag lowered to half-staff.

It has been there since April 16, and he says it will stay there until our troops come home from the Middle East. Monroe says he first lowered the flag in respect for the victims of the Virginia Tech Massacre, then decided to keep it there until Memorial Day for the troops. The more he thought about it, the more he felt the need to make a statement, and he resolved to keep it lowered until the troops come home.

In April, numerous sources such as MSNBC and CNN, reported that Sgt. Jim Wilt had lamented that his comrades' deaths have become a mere blip on the TV screen, lacking the "shock factor" to be honored by the Stars and Stripes as the deaths at Virginia Tech were. "I find it ironic that the flags were flown at half-staff for the young men and women who were killed at VT, yet it is never lowered for the death of a U.S. service member," Wilt wrote in an unusually blunt and critical article issued by the public affairs office at Bagram military base in Iraq.

David Monroe says, "Every day, men and women serving our country are dying. t just seems like everyone is going on with their lives and forgetting that" I was struck while he talked with the similarity between his feelings and Sgt. Wilt's comments in his article.

"I stopped at Turcotte Design and they gave me a great deal on this sign," said Monroe. "After I answered scores of folks asking about the flag being at half mast, I figured I needed one." Mounted on the flagpole is a small blue sign with white letters saying simply, "This flag will remain at half mast until all the troops come home". When the local paper came by to take pictures, he was asked if this was against the war. The veteran of eight years in the National Guard insisted to me that it is not. It is simply intended to honor our troops making the supreme sacrifice. Monroe's point is that whether you support the war or not, you should honor the brave men and women dying every day.

SOURCE: Interview with David Monroe 7/4/07 Charlotte L Welch

SOURCE: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18274805/