Van T. Baarfoot Died

Van T Barfoot Died

Remember the old guy who wouldn't take the flagpole down on his Virginia property?


You might remember the news story several months ago about a crotchety old man in Virginia who defied his local homeowners' association and refused to take down the American flag in his front yard.

Now we've learned a little more about who that old man was. On June 15, 1919, Van T. Barfoot was born in Edinburg, Texas. Twenty-five years later, on May 23, 1944, near Carano, Italy, that same Van T. Barfoot set out alone to overcome German machine gun positions from which fire was raining down on his fellow soldiers.

His advance took him through a minefield, but he proceeded to single-handedly take out three enemy machine gun positions, as well as returning with 17 prisoners of war.

And, if that wasn't enough for a day's work, he later took on and destroyed three German tanks sent to retake the machine gun positions.

His valiantry earned Van T. Barfoot a well-deserved Congressional Medal of Honor.

Colonel Barfoot made news when his neighborhood association quibbled with the 90-year-old vet about his right to fly an American flag outside his suburban Virginia home. It seems the HOA rules affirmed that flying Old Glory on a house-mounted bracket was OK, but a 21-foot flagpole was unsuitable.

When Van Barfoot was denied a permit for the pole, he put it up anyway and was facing court action unless he agreed to take it down.

When the story made national news, the HOA rethought its position and agreed to indulge the aging hero who was their neighbor.

"In the time I have left, I plan to continue to fly the American flag without interference," Col. Barfoot affirmed to the Associated Press.

And if any of his neighbors had taken the time to read his Medal of Honor citation before they started this ruckus, they would have discovered that it indicates very clearly that Van T. Barfoot never backed down.


WE ONLY LIVE IN THE LAND OF THE FREE BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE--BECAUSE OF OLD MEN LIKE VAN BARFOOT!