DUANE ‘BANJO’ DAVIS: Dropping the NFL for dropping to knee for flag and anthem

I was elated when Rankin Smith was awarded a franchise for an NFL team in Atlanta. When the Army sent us to Kansas, I think I had the only vehicle with a Falcon bumper sticker. When we were transferred to Germany, I must have been one of a few who got up at 3 a.m. to listen to a Falcons vs. St. Louis football game on Armed Forces Radio.

It was repulsive for me to learn that some Falcons players knelt during the national anthem Sunday and their wimp coach defended them. I agree we have a right to our opinions, but the NFL conveniently forgets that Tim Tebow used his rights to kneel and pray, but he was run out of the NFL for exercising his free speech.

This great country and its flag and national anthem are important to me and to many Americans. When I swore to uphold and defend the Constitution, when I was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant, that oath was not for just my time in service to this country, but for all time.

In August, 1967, I had the privilege of presenting the U.S. flag to the widow of a dear friend who was shot down in a helicopter in Vietnam. During the last month of my last assignment in my second tour in Vietnam in 1971, I was at Danang and the Army Mortuary was at Danang. When the remains of a soldier was at the mortuary, the flag flew at half-staff. My last month, the flag was always at half-staff. Every time I passed, I thought of the time I gave Hilda Thompson the flag in honor of her husband, my friend Bo Thompson.

When I see someone disrespecting our flag and our national anthem, I am greatly offended because I know what it feels like for soldiers, airmen, Marines, and sailors to have lives on the line. I know what it feels like to have someone close give his all in service to this country.

These who disrespect the flag and national anthem are pitiful, egotistical brats who are too full of themselves. The NFL commissioner is a yes man who is afraid to voice an opinion that differs from these few, their coaches and owners. I applaud Jerry Jones and NASCAR. I won’t watch another NFL game.

DUANE “BANJO” DAVIS

Pelham