[Mystic_Rhythms]

Originally Posted by demopolite

But the Union Jack is the flag of the country in which he was born...not the flag of a long- defunct country that fought against the country in which he was born...right?

Also, can we just state here and now that segregation, denial of voting rights, and intimidation did not happen hundreds of years ago. It happened in the second half of the 20th century. It's easy to get off on tangents here, guys and girls. Let's keep the discussion civil (no pun intended) and on point.

Couple of questions for those who fly the flag to "honor ancestors, right or wrong": if your grandfather were - say - a Nazi soldier or a KGB agent, or even one of the officers charged with minding the Japanese interment camps, would you still celebrate their actions, right or wrong, because they stood up for what they believed in, or is it distinctly related to the Civil War? Not trying to pick a fight...just think about it. I'm interested in whether it's the ancestory, the geography,
or the history that affects your stance more.

Posted via Mobile Device

That's a hard question to answer. I would have to be in that position to answer it so any answer I could give would be purely a guesstimation. I know that my uncle on my dads side of the family told me a few years before he died that when he served in WWII he actually became good friends with a German soldier that was captured by the Allied forces. To him, it didn't matter what flag he fought under or for what purpose they fought, they found out they had alot in common. They both liked deer hunting and all that stuff and had it not been for the war and the fact that they both were an ocean apart they could've been great friends. To me, that attest to the fact that when you were called up to defend your country and you were in the military, that's what you did...defended your country to the best of your ability. The same can be said for the majority of Confed. soldiers. They fought for their country and alot of them died. The Civil War was brother against brother, father against son. North against South. You made your choice about what side you wanted to defend and you stood by it. The battle flag of the Confeds to me ONLY represents those who chose to fight when their country asked them to step forward and for the blood they shed on the field. Yeah, the South lost that war, but even the Northern Generals had alot of respect for the South in the way they fought. In every war, someone has to win and someone has to lose. But losing doesn't mean you have to forget all about it.