{"id":6967,"date":"2013-05-15T23:41:48","date_gmt":"2013-05-15T23:41:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ramworks.net\/blog\/?p=6967"},"modified":"2016-01-28T19:41:20","modified_gmt":"2016-01-28T19:41:20","slug":"what-we-are-missing-today-are-more-men-like-van-t-barfoot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/what-we-are-missing-today-are-more-men-like-van-t-barfoot\/","title":{"rendered":"What we are missing today are more men like Van T. Barfoot!"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a must read which was sent to me by my friend Buz Mills at Gunsite<\/a>:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Van T. Barfoot died at the age of 92 on March 2, 2012.<\/p>\n

Remember the guy who wouldn’t take the flag pole down on his Virginia property awhile back? 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 flagpole on his property along with the large American flag he flew on it. Now we learn who that old man was:<\/p>\n

On June 15, 1919, Van T. Barfoot was born in Edinburg, Texas.\u00a0 That probably didn’t make news back then.<\/p>\n

But twenty-five years later, on May 23, 1944, near Carano, Italy , that same Van T. Barfoot, who had in 1940 enlisted in the U.S. Army, set out alone to flank German machine gun positions from which gunfire was raining down on his
\nfellow soldiers.<\/p>\n

He advance took him through a minefield but having done so, he proceeded to single handedly take out three enemy machine gun positions, returning with 17 prisoners of war. And, as if that weren’t enough for a day’s work, he later took on and destroyed<\/em>\u00a0 one and repelled two German tanks sent to retake the machine gun positions.<\/p>\n

That probably didn’t make much news either, given the scope of the war, but it did earn Van T. Barfoot, who retired as a Colonel after also serving in Korea and Vietnam, a well deserved Congressional Medal of Honor.<\/p>\n

What did make news, <\/em>was his Neighborhood Association’s quibble with how the 90-year-old veteran chose to fly the American flag outside his suburban Virginia home. Seems the HOA rules said it was OK to fly a flag on a house-mounted bracket, but, for decorum, items such as Barfoot’s 21-foot flag pole were “unsuitable”.<\/p>\n

Van Barfoot had been denied a permit for the pole, but erected it anyway and was facing court action unless he agreed to take it down. Then the HOA story made national TV and the Neighborhood Association rethought its position and agreed to
\nindulge this aging hero who dwelt among them.<\/p>\n

“In the time I have left”, he said to the Associated Press, “I plan to continue to fly the American flag without interference.”<\/p>\n

As well he should.<\/p>\n

And if any of his neighbors had taken a notion to contest him further, they might have done well to read his Medal of Honor citation first. Seems it indicates Mr. Van Barfoot wasn’t particularly good at backing down.<\/p>\n\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a must read which was sent to me by my friend Buz Mills at Gunsite: Van T. Barfoot died at the age of 92 on March 2, 2012. Remember the guy who wouldn’t take the flag pole down on his Virginia property awhile back? You might remember the news story several months ago about a crotchety old man in Virginia …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2509,2579,2500,1],"tags":[39,40,41],"class_list":["post-6967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-defense","category-editorial","category-shooting","category-uncategorized","tag-flying-the-flag","tag-medal-of-honor-winners","tag-van-t-barfoot"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5hujZ-1On","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16357,"url":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/daily-blog-12-5-20\/","url_meta":{"origin":6967,"position":0},"title":"DAILY BLOG: 12\/5\/20 (Traditions)","author":"gunwriter","date":"December 5, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Unpacking from my deer camp adventure earlier this week, I got to thinking. In 2006 I hunted in Ireland for fallow deer. Some of my ancestors came from Ireland at a time when the only people who could hunt there were royalty. It felt good for a hillbilly to walk\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Daily Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Daily Blog","link":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/category\/daily-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/1205-1-2.jpg?fit=1000%2C523&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/1205-1-2.jpg?fit=1000%2C523&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/1205-1-2.jpg?fit=1000%2C523&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/1205-1-2.jpg?fit=1000%2C523&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7022,"url":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/not-forgotten\/","url_meta":{"origin":6967,"position":1},"title":"Not Forgotten","author":"gunwriter","date":"May 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"This Memorial Day weekend, my son and I traveled up to our hunting camp in Hampshire County, West Virginia. We had chores to do; cut grass, clean up mouse poop, sweep for hornet nests and take a general survey of what the camp needs for this upcoming hunting season. We\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "EDITORIAL"","block_context":{"text":"EDITORIAL","link":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/category\/editorial\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Camp-Big-Shanty-300x224.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8573,"url":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/hold-a-fine-bead\/","url_meta":{"origin":6967,"position":2},"title":"Hold a Fine Bead","author":"gunwriter","date":"March 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"From the time I was knee high to my grandfather I can remember him saying, \"You gotta hold a fine bead.\" Of course he was talking about shooting and shooting was something that was a matter of pride to him and just about every other West Virginian I met. Well,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "SHOOTING"","block_context":{"text":"SHOOTING","link":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/category\/shooting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"kyanko-31214","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/kyanko-31214-251x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8597,"url":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/turkey-hunting-is-stupid\/","url_meta":{"origin":6967,"position":3},"title":"Turkey Hunting is Stupid","author":"gunwriter","date":"March 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Turkey hunting is stupid. I know, some of you have already picked up rocks to throw my way; you may have even loaded your Mossberg 500 with three-inch magnums and jumped in your truck to drive to West Virginia. But wait; let me explain. You get up before the crow\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "HUNTING"","block_context":{"text":"HUNTING","link":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/category\/hunt\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Gobble","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Gobble-300x190.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8553,"url":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/the-trespasser\/","url_meta":{"origin":6967,"position":4},"title":"The Trespasser","author":"gunwriter","date":"March 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning I was looking back over some work I'd completed 10 years ago. Sometimes I have to research my own work because my brain is old and cannot remember things. While doing so, I stumbled on this story I wrote and it might be of interest to some. (This\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"hunting with dad\"","block_context":{"text":"hunting with dad","link":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/tag\/hunting-with-dad\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Z2","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Z2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Z2.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Z2.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Z2.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12077,"url":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/the-trespasser-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":6967,"position":5},"title":"The Trespasser","author":"gunwriter","date":"September 11, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"This is an excerpt from the upcoming book, Under Orion - Hunting Stories from Appalachia to Africa Small patches of fog drifted above the treetops like lost spirits. Sunrise was an hour gone but the morning was cool and overcast. The world seemed dim and for hunting, he was late.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"hunting memories\"","block_context":{"text":"hunting memories","link":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/tag\/hunting-memories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"TRs-2","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/TRs-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/TRs-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/TRs-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/TRs-2.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6967"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12499,"href":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6967\/revisions\/12499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}