To the editor:

As we look towards achieving our 46th President's goal of unity and healing, I would recommend we look no further than the heroic actions of our nation's first Black recipient of the Medal of Honor. Army Sgt. William H. Carney, earned our nation's highest honor for protecting one of the United States' greatest symbols during the Civil War, the American flag.

Carney was born into slavery in Norfolk, Va., in 1840, was granted freedom, and eventually moved to Massachusetts. In March 1863, he joined the Union's first African American Infantry Unit of the Civil War: the 54th Massachusetts Colored Infantry Regiment. Among the soldiers of this famed unit included two sons of the abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Most of us are familiar with history of this fabled unit from its depiction in the Academy Award winning movie "Glory".

During the 54th's first major combat mission in Charleston, South Carolina on July 18, 1863, the soldiers of Carney's regiment led the charge on Fort Wagner. During the battle, the unit's flag bearer was shot and killed. Carney, who was just a few feet away, saw the dying man stumble, and he scrambled to catch the falling flag.

Despite suffering several serious gunshot wounds himself, Carney kept the symbol of the Union held high as he crawled up the hill to the walls of Fort Wagner, while urging his fellow troops to follow him. He planted the flag in the sand at the base of the fort and held it upright until his near-lifeless body began to falter. According to witnesses, despite being critically injured, Carney refused to relinquish the flag to his rescuers until he made it safely back behind Union lines.

Carney lost a lot of blood and nearly lost his life, but not once did he allow the flag to touch the ground. His heroics inspired other soldiers that day into securing and a crucial victory for the North. Carney was promoted to the rank of sergeant for his actions and was awarded the Medal of Honor on May 23, 1900.

Contrast Army Veteran Carney's actions with those of the BLM rioters. Nearly 157 years later in the city of Boston on May 31, 2020, BLM protesters became violent and vandalized the very monument erected to honor the brave men of Carney's 54th Massachusetts infantry Regiment. Its granite pedestal was spray painted with four-letter words, and phrases that included:  “Black Lives Matter,” “No Justice, No Peace,” and “Police are Pigs.”

The irony of this heinous act should not go unnoticed to all of us, as the artist, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, created this masterpiece at the end of the 19th century to honor Black heroism and rebuke the racial bigotry of the Jim Crow era.

As a fellow Army Veteran, like SGT Carney, I believe our nation's flag deserves to be treated with the utmost respect. Its noble visage should not be marred or encumbered by unofficial banners expressing slogans and symbols of extreme ideology and/or partisan political rancor. Nor should the Town Council be using our American flag pole as a platform to virtue signal to latest social justice cause "de jour".

I know I do not and cannot speak for all American veterans; however, I believe that we should also not be so naive as to think BLM represents the interests of all African Americans. I am sure SGT Carney would not have approved of the defacing of his Regiment's monument.

The Barrington Town Council is elected to represent all of its citizens. They should not be catering solely to the interests of fringe special interest groups. Even if the Town Council, in their infinite wisdom, felt they possessed the necessary judgement to equitably select the best "winners and losers" for their American Flag Pole, 1st Amendment Lottery, they would inevitably leave some well deserving organization or group out.

There are only three official flags that represent all the residents of this community. They are the American Flag, the Flag of the State of Rhode Island, and the Flag of the Town of Barrington. In addition, under federal law only the POW/MIA flag is mandated for display under the American Flag on federal properties.

It is time for our community to heal, to move on and a good first step would be to stop flying divisive and political banners from its flag poles, whether officially sanctioned as public free speech or as government speech. Only official flags should be hung on the same pole possessing the very flag SGT Carney fought so valiantly to protect.

Please join me at the next Barrington Town Council meeting to be held at 7 p.m. on Feb. 1, to support an amendment to the currently proposed Town Flag Policy. One that will ensure that only non-political official flags be permitted to be flown under the American flag on Town Property. These flags as previously stated would be limited to the following: the official State,Town and/or POW/MIA flags.

Respectfully,

Dr. Paul Dulchinos

Barrington

Dr. Dulchinos is Barrington United Veterans Council president and a retired Lt. Colonel in the US Army.