On behalf of NCOA's noncommissioned and petty officer members, I fully expect the members of Senate Judiciary Committee to approve legislation and pave the way for the matter of Flag protection to be brought to the Senate floor for vote in an expeditious manner. NCOA urges your support of S.J. Res 14. In closing allow me to reiterate the importance of this manner to NCOA members and their families. They will never give up on this issue and look to you to support their desires to see Flag protection legislation passed during the 1st Session of the 106th Congress Sincerely, ROGER W. PUTNAM, President/CEO. THE OHIO AMERICAN LEGION, Hon. ORRIN HATCH, Washington, DC. DEAR SENATOR HATCH: The Ohio American Legion, consisting of 165,000 members, is supportive of a Constitutional Amendment to protect the U.S. Flag from physical desecration. We urge your favorable consideration and vote for a measure that will allow the American people what polls have shown for years they favor, the right to have their flag protected by laws of the land. Sincerely, CARL SWISHER, Department Commander. APRIL 5, 1999. DEAR SENATOR HATCH: I am writing to express my support and gratitude for your sponsorship of the flag protection constitutional amendment (S.J. Res. 14), which I understand may come before the Senate for a vote in the near future. Like you, I regard legal protections for our flag as an absolute necessity and a matter of critical importance to our Nation. The American flag, far from a mere symbol or a piece of cloth, is an embodiment of our hopes, freedoms and unity. The flag is our national identity. I am honored to have commanded our troops in the Persian Gulf War and humbled by the bravery, sacrifice and "love of country" so many great Americans exhibited in that conflict. These men and women fought and died for the freedoms contained in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and for the flag that represents these freedoms, and their service and valor are worthy of our eternal respect. Most of these great heroes share my view that there is no threat to any right or freedom in protecting the flag for which they fought. Perhaps as much as any American, they embrace the right to free speech. Indeed, they risked death to protect it. I do see a very real threat in the defilement of our flag. We are a diverse people, living in a complicated, fragmented society. And I believe we are imperiled by a growing cynicism toward certain traditions that bind us, particularly service to our nation. The flag remains the single, preeminent connection among all Americans. It represents our basic commitment to each other and to our country. Legally sanctioned flag desecration can only serve to further undermine this national unity and identity that must be preserved. I am proud to lend my voice to those of a vast majority of Americans who support returning legal protections for the flag. This is an effort inspired by our nation's history and our common traditions and understanding, under which, until a very recent and controversial Supreme Court decision, the American flag was afforded legal protection from acts of desecration. The flag protection constitutional amendment is the only means of returning to the people the right to protect their flag, and your leadership will undoubtedly help to ensure the success of this important campaign. Sincerely, H. NORMAN SCHWARZKOPF, APRIL 29, 1999. Hon. ORRIN G. HATCH, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Washington, DC. Hon. PATRICK J. LEAHY, Ranking Minority Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: We, the undersigned religious leaders, believe the proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit physical "desecration" of the flag of the United States is a disturbing usurpation by Government of a responsibility reserved in the Bill of Rights to be freely exercised only by religion. "Although we represent diverse faiths, it is unique to religious traditions to teach what is sacred and what is not. No government should arrogate to itself the right to declare 'holy' and capable of 'desecration' that which is not associated with the divine. To do so is to mandate idolatry for people of faith by government fiat. Our First Amendment has guaranteed to people of faith or to those with no faith that the government would not be arbiter of the sacred. "We understand that those who promote the proposed amendment* are seeking to honor our country and would not wish to compel idolatry on people of faith. We hope Congress will not enshrine idolatry in the Constitution but will respect people of faith and honor the Bill of Rights. We urge Congress to defeat this religiously offensive amendment." Rev. Robert Millner Adams, Sun Prairie, WI. Rev. Dr. Alan B. Anderson, Bowling Green, KY. Super Intendent Darline Balm-Demmel, United Methodist District, Sioux City, IA. Reverend Doctor Lee Barker, Neighborhood Church, Pasadena, CA. Rev. Eugene Birmingham, United Church of Christ, IL. Rev. Ruth M. Brandon, United Church of Christ, Westfield, MA. Pastor Charles W. Brockwell, Jr., Fourth Avenue United Methodist Church, Louisville, KY. Rev. Leo Brummett, KY. Clerk John Buck, Patapsco Friends Meeting, MD. Ret. Rev. John Burt, Bishop of Ohio. Prof. Dr. Joeseph Chuman, Columbia University, NJ. Rev. James Conn, United Methodist Church, Los Angeles, CA. Rev. Sam Cox, Kailua, HI. Reverend Doctor Beverly Dale, Disciples of Christ, Philadelphia, PA. Rev. Joseph R. Alfred, Evergreen Park, IL. Rev. Martin J. Bagay, Sparta, NJ. Rev. David A. Barber, Community United Church for Christ, NC. Rev. Henry L. Bird, Episcopal Diocese of Maine, Brunswick, ME. Rev. Walter Boris, Kirkland Congregational Church, U.C.C., Kirkland, WA. Priest Canon Roberts Brooks. Rev. John Buchanan, Southern Baptist. Pastor Dr. Michael Burr, American Baptist Churches, USA, Issaquah, WA. Prof. & Trustee Ernest Cassara, First Parish and the First Church in Cambridge, Cambridge, MA. Pastor Robert C. Cochran, MI. Clergyman Paul Connie, Myerstown, PA. Pastor Rufus Cuthbertson, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Dahlonegaq, GA. Rev. Terrence H. Davis, West Hartford, CT. Rev. Randall Day, St Mark's Episcopal Church, Teaneck, NJ. Minister Herbert Dimock, United Church of Christ, CA. Rev. John P. Donovan, Hamilton, NY. Minister Dr. E. Dale Dunlap, United Methodist Church, Raymore, MO. Rev. Myles W. Edwards, Kensington, MD. Rev. Johnathan Eilert, OH. Ret. Rev. W.W. Finlator, Pullen Memorial Church. Rev. William J Fleener, New Era, MI. Rabbi Joan Friedman. Rev. John E. Gibbons, First Parish in Bedford, Bedford, MA. Rabbi James A. Gibson, Mount Sinai, PA. Canon Doctor John S. Gill, Los Olives, CA. Lay Minister Donald W. Gregg, Atlanta, GA. Rev. Linda Hansen, Cedar Rapids, IA. Director Stanley Diamond, Northwest Interfaith Movement, Philadelphia, PA. Rabbi William Dreskin, Woodlands Community Temple, White Plains, NY. Sister Maureen Fiedler, SL. Rev. W.W. Finnlator, Raleigh, NC. Rev. Dr. Allen M Fluent, Mt. Sinai Congregational United Church of Christ, Mt. Sinai, NY. Treasurer Barbara P. Gardner, Unitarian Universalist Church of Riverside, Riverside, CA. Trustee Greg Gibbs, Fenton United Methodist Church, Holly, MI. Rev. Gordon Gibson, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Elkhart, Elkhart, IN. Rabbi Debora Gordon, Congregation Berith Sholom, NY. Father Robert Gregg, Stanford University Chaplain, Stanford, CA. Rev. Ruth W. Hamilton, Presbyterian Church (USA), DC. Staff Associate Gary Harke, Provincial Elders Conference, Sun Prairie, WT. Rev. Lansing Hicks, Hamden, CT. Rev. Earl K. Holt III, First Unitarian Church of St. Louis, St. Louis, MO. Rabbi Daniel Isaak, Congregation Never Shalom, Portland, OR. Ret. Clergy Wayne G. Johnson, WI. Rev. Carol Karlson, Unitarian Universalist Association, Brattleboro, VT. Rev. Axel Kildegaard, ELCA, MN. Rev. Earle C. King, St. Martin in the Fields Episcopal Church, Grand Island, NY. Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, Congregation Bethel, Sudbury, MA. Rabbi Sue E. Levy, West St. Paul, MN. Rev. Helen Locklear, IN. Rev. Mary Marguerite Kohn, Mechanicville, NY. Ret. Minister Dr. J. Mac McPherson, Royse City, TX. Secretary David Mertz, Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ECLA), Aurora, IL. Rev. Sandra Herman, Milwaukee, WI. Ret. Minister C. Alan Hogle, United Methodist Church, FL. Rev. Dr. Arnold Howard, Enon Baptist Church. Rev. Susan Irish, United Church of Christ, So. Royalton, VT. Rev. Carlos Jayne, IA. Rev. Charles Kapps, All Saints' Church, Fallsington, PA. Rev. Canon Elizabeth Keaton, Newark, NJ. Rev. Theresa A. Kime, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Erie, Erie, PA. President Duane Lemley, Eastrose Unitarian-Universalist Church, Portland, OR. Rabbi Michael M. Remson, Naperville, IL. Rev. Timothy McDonald III, First Iconium Baptist Church, Atlanta, GA. Rabbi Ralph Mecklenburger, Beth-El Congregation, TX. Rev. Mark Middleton, The Episcopal Church, USA. Pastor Jerry Mileson, United Methodist Church, Wichita, KS. Rabbi Jay Moses, Chicago, IL. Rev. William Murphy, WI. Rev. Sue Ann O'Neill, Momence, IL. Rev. Peter Baldwin Panagore, Congregational Church of Boothbay Harbor. Rev. William Potter, St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Hope, NJ. Rev. Lisa Romantum Schwartz, Topeka, KS. Rabbi David Saperstein, Union of American Hebrew Congregations. Rabbi Jeffrey Schein, Beachwood, OH. Rev. Gilbert Schroerlucke, Louisville, KY. Rabbi Barry L. Schwartz, Temple Sinai, Amherst, NY. Rabbi Charles P. Sherman, Tulsa, OK. Rev. Stephen B. Snider, Wynnewood, PA. Rev. Betty Stapleford, CA. Reverend Doctor Dave Steffenson, Columbus, WI. Rev. Jim Mitulski, Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco, San Fran cisco, CA. Rev. Randall Mullins, WA. Rev. Thea Nietfield, IA. Rev. Michelle Panabecker Neff, First Fundamentalist Constitutionalist Church of the Savior, Dublin, OH. Reverend Doctor Harold G. Porter, The Pres. Church, USA, Cincinnati, OH. Rev. Carl W. Rohlfs, TX. Trustees Jerry Sankot, Michael Servetius Unitarian Church. Rev. Ken Sawyer, MA. President Katie Schimoeller, Eastrose Unitarian-Universalist Church. Rev. Judy Schultz, Crown Hill U.M Church, Seattle, WA. Rev. Dr. Thomas Scott, St Mark's Episcopal Church, Evanston, IL. Rev. Timothy Sloan, Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston, Houston, TX. Rev. Jeffrey Spencer, Tolt Congregational United Church of Christ, Carnation, WA. Rev. E.S. Wasosky. Rabbi Daniel Weiner, Harrisburg, PA. Rev. Robert J. Wilde, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Pittsburgh, PA. Ret. Pastor Elmer N. Witt, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, WA. Rev. Michael Zampelli, SJ, Santa Clara, CA. Rev. Melanie M. Sullivan, Un. Univ. Church of Chattanooga, Chattanooga, TN Rabbi Paul Teicher. Lay Minister Arthur Thexton, James Reed Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Madison, WI. Reverand Doctor Vester L. Vanstrom, San Antonio, TX. Rev. Orloff W. Miller, Germany. Rev. Brent Walker, Director of Baptist Joint Committee. Rabbi Arthur Waskow, The Shalom Center, Philadelphia, PA. Rev. James Watkins, Óld South Church, U.C.C., Kirtland, OH. Rev. Robin Whitlock, New Orleans, LA. Rev. John W. Wimberly, Jr., Western Presbyterian Church, Washington, DC. Intern Minister Amy Zucker, Champlain Valley Unitarian Universalist Society, Middlebury. LEGION ASSAILS FLAG PROTECTION AMENDMENT DETRACTORS, CALLS FOR SENATE TO "DO RIGHT THING" WASHINGTON (April 28, 1999)-Calling on the Clinton administration to be consistent, the elected leader of the 2.8-million member American Legion condemned the administration and some Senators who "just don't get it" for lobbying against Senate Joint Res. 14, a flag-protection constitutional amendment. "Today's testimony by Senators Chafee, Kerrey, former Senator Glenn and Randolf Moss of the Justice Department was a slap in the face to Americans, past and present, who believe that the citizens of this great land have a constitutional right to representative_government," Butch Miller, national commander of The American Legion said. "Even as the administration testified today before the Senate Judiciary Committee against Senate Joint Res. 14, a constitutional amendment that would protect our flag, various polls conducted over 10 years have shown consistently that 80 percent of the American people support the amendment. Forty-nine state legislatures have passed resolutions supporting the amendment. "Why is it, a handful of Senators continue to thumb their noses at the right of the people, and the 49 state legislatures who represent them, to simply exercise their Article V right under our constitution?" Miller said. "It is time for those we have elected to represent us in Washington to do the right thing, and the right thing is for them to vote 'yes' on SJR 14 and send it to the state for the ratification process. Stop the lying and fear mongering about protecting Old Glory. Let the people decide. "When the president's place in history was in the hands of members of Congress, the administration wanted the will of the people' to prevail, because the polls showed most Americans wanted him to finish his presidency," Miller said. "All we want is for the Clinton administration to be consistent in this record. If the polls save the presidency, then the polls can save our flag." Miller and other Legion officials are enraged at the president's flip-flop; Clinton supported protecting the flag when he was a presidential candidate while addressing The American Legion National Convention in Chicago in 1991. "Crossing_the_Memorial Bridge in Washington, D.C., you see the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery, the Korean War Memorial, the Vietnam War Memorial, the Iwo Jima Memorial, the World War II Memorial site, and may even pass a school where children are respectfully raising the American flag. Yet, the administration seems to believe that our flag is not worth protecting," Miller said. "Relegating our flag to 'a piece of cloth' is a revisionist view of our nation's history. Our founding fathers did not permit desecration of the American Flag. The flag was protected in its role as an incident of our sovereignty. "The flag flies over our young men and women in uniform in Yugoslavia. We approved the use of the Flag of the United States on foreign oil tankers during the Persian Gulf War so Saddam Hussein couldn't attack them. An attack on them, like an attack on our men and women in uniform, would have been an assault on the sovereignty of the United States of America. Refugees from Kosovo are fleeing to the protection of that flag, as did many of our forefathers. "A piece of cloth-of no value? Is that their position? God help our nation if it is their final testament that the flag that may drape the coffins of some of our sons and daughters is just a piece of cloth in their eyes." The proposed 28th Amendment, "The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States," passed in the House in each of the last two sessions—and is likely to pass again in the 106th Congress. Essentially, two Senate votes are all that keep the amendment from being sent to the states for ratification. A pair of 5-4 rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1989 and 1990 invalidated century-old federal law and the laws of 48 states that banned physical desecration of the U.S. Flag, and ruled flag-protection statutes unconstitutional. Only by a constitutional amendment can the American people reclaim the right to protect the U.S. Flag from acts of physical desecration. WALTER D. EHLERS OF BUENA PARK, CA-CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENT If there is a day that changed the rest of my life, it was the day that I had to get my Mother and Dad's signatures on my Army enlistment papers. My Dad said he would sign. My Mother said she would sign on one condition, “If you are going to be a soldier, be a Christian soldier." I told her I would do my best. It was not easy to be a Christian soldier. There were many temptations and every time I was tempted, I could see the tears in my Mother's eyes and I was not about to cause her any disappointments. I was born in Kansas, raised on a farm. The first nine years of my life were great. Then came the Great Depression and the worst drought of the century in the Midwest and in 1935 the worst flood. We were able to survive but it wasn't easy. My Dad and Mother worked hard and set a good example for family life. I joined the Army in October 1940. I went to Ft. Ord. On the day war was declared, December 7, 1941, I was on Mt. Rainier in Washington State. I was at about 8,000 feet altitude, strapping on a pair of skis. I had never been on skis before. I hadn't been on a hill over 200 feet. When the radio at the ski shack announced the bombing of Japan, followed up with the announcement that all servicemen were to return to their units immediately, it probably saved my life. I unstrapped my skis. I never went down the mountain. I shudder to think what might have happened. In October, 1942, we set sail for our overseas destination. We were briefed about our landing objective; it was to be French Morocco, North Africa. If I hadn't been so seasick, I would probably have been scared. But it didn't take the seasickness long to wear off. The casualties on the beach and the strafing soon gave me much more to worry about. I was transferred to the First Infantry Division. My brother and I were in the same company. We fought through Africa and Sicily. My brother was wounded in Sicily and sent to a hospital in Africa. I finished up in Sicily and we were sent to England. We trained constantly until we boarded ships for the Normandy Invasion. My brother had returned from the hospital in Africa. At the embarkation was the last time I saw him. He was killed in the D-Day landings on Omaha Beach. I went on to receive several decorations including three Purple Hearts and the Medal of |