ASHLAND — A military veteran recently walked by the county office building in downtown Ashland.
When he got to the flagpole, his eyes — out of habit — gazed upward. He saw Old Glory, but the flag underneath — the black POW/MIA flag that has flown there for years — was not there anymore.
“I happened to look up one day and saw it wasn’t there. I wondered what was going on?” said Jack Cadley, a Navy veteran who served in Vietnam as a medic in 1968 and 1969.
Cadley is not alone.
On Aug. 31, Ashland County commissioners unanimously adopted a policy that limits the flags flown on county flag poles to those “of the United States, the State of Ohio, and the Ashland County.”
Since then, several veterans have voiced opposition to the policy, according to county emails obtained by Ashland Source through a public records request.
On Sept. 1, Vietnam War veteran Greg Gorrell wrote, in part: “I would urge the commissioners to reconsider this issue. It would seem logical that you would have a commissioners agenda topic to have others who ARE WILLING TO BE KNOWN, to have a discussion in an open session before establishing a ‘new policy about this specific flag.’”
On Oct. 30, Andrew Leidigh, a Veterans of Foreign Wars commander with other roles in local VFW organizations, called the policy “a mistake.”
“I feel that the passage of a policy to remove the POW/MIA flag from county properties is an embarrassment to the county, a slap in the face to the veterans that fought for this country, and a dishonor to the families with lost loved ones.”
Leidigh said he has yet to hear back from the county commissioners.
Brooke Leidigh, Andrew’s wife, emailed the commissioner on Sept. 6. She also serves in local VFW roles. At the time, she thought the policy was only a rumor.
“Like the saying goes ‘bad gas travels fast in a small town’ I am hoping the rumors to remove the POW/MIA flag are just that, rumors and bad gas,” she wrote.
Brooke Leidigh said she received a call from Welch after her email.
“Pretty much, their point and stance is they’re not going to fly (the POW/MIA flag) because if they flew it, that means they would have to consider flying other flags,” she said.
Jack Colvin, a Vietnam War combat veteran, said he heard a similar explanation from Commissioner Jim Justice.
“He told me that what’s going on around the state, in counties, is that organizations are coming in requesting to fly their flags … Any organization,” Colvin said. “So the commissioners had got their prosecutor’s office to research it, and the only way to avoid the issue is to prohibit all flags other than U.S., state and county.
“I accepted that. I don’t like it, but I accept it.”
Ashland Source, through a public records request, asked for copies of communication between county commissioners and the prosecutor’s office. The request was denied.
“Regarding the communications between the office and the prosecutor, legal advice is confidential and privileged and is not a public record,” wrote Nikki Hiller, clerk of the Ashland County commissioners office.
Hiller’s email included two Ohio legal citations that point to decisions that solidify attorney-client privileges apply to state agencies and their in-house counsel.
Michael Donatini, first assistant prosecutor for the Ashland County Prosecutor’s Office, provides legal counsel to the commissioners’ office. When asked if he had been tapped to provide research or legal advice regarding the county’s flag policy, he declined to answer, citing attorney-client privileges.
Nevertheless, Colvin said the POW/MIA flag has personal relevance to him.
“That flag is personal to me because my captain, Bruce Johnson, was killed and never found,” he said.
‘It should fly up there’
This is not the first time the POW/MIA flag has come down in Ashland County.
The flag came down at some point in 2015 and was replaced with the city’s bicentennial flag, according to minutes from an Ashland County Board of Commissioners meeting of June 16, 2016.
Hiller, the commissioners’ clerk, said there is no record of a request to fly the city’s bicentennial flag instead of the POW/MIA flag.
However, the POW/MIA flag didn’t go back up for a while — at the behest of attorney and former Ashland County Prosecutor Bob DeSanto.
“It was one person that strongly suggested to us that that flag needed to come down. He wanted it to come down and I was quite surprised it came from Bob DeSanto,” said Barb Queer, in a Times-Gazette article published in June 2016.
The article stemmed from an Ashland County commissioners meeting, where a group of veterans — headed by Colvin and Gorrell — requested the POW/MIA flag fly again on the county flagpole.
“Mr. Colvin said he had recently noticed the absence of the POW/MIA flag from the flagpole at the Veterans Memorial at the Ashland County Office Building,” read minutes from the June 16, 2016 meeting.
Reached recently, DeSanto — a Vietnam War veteran — stood by the words he uttered seven years ago.
“But the POW flag, you know, there’s an emotional connection to it that a lot of veterans have. And I think it’s a question of whether the U.S. flag looks better alone or with other flags underneath it,” he said.
He continued.
“The American flag is a great flag that looks so good and powerful and inspiring and it’s an uplifting flag. The POW flag is seen with an American soldier with his head down, being guarded — I don’t know if that’s uplifting … it’s not a great depiction of an American fighting man,” DeSanto said.
Nevertheless, when asked if he believes the flag should fly on the county flagpole, he said he thinks it should.
“It’s not a fight worth having. If it means that much to certain people, veterans or others, then it should fly up there … there are a lot of people who it means a lot to,” DeSanto said.
What’s the solution?
The policy commissioners created in August likely will not be amended, said Mike Welch, the president of the Ashland County Board of Commissioners.
Instead, veterans around the county have agreed to purchase their own flag pole and POW/MIA flag and install it next to the county’s flagpole on the Veterans Memorial site, Welch said.
Will the flag fly on Veterans Day?
“As far as flying the (POW/MIA) flag on Veterans Day, I’m not sure that it’s gonna be up,” he said.
Keith Boales, president of the Ashland County Veterans Service Commission, said he has worked with commissioners and veterans groups to find the solution.
“It’s a hot issue with veterans,” Boales said. He said purchasing a flagpole, along with the POW/MIA flag is a solution veterans among the American Legion, VFW, Amvets and Disabled American Veterans agree upon.
The flagpole, he said, will be installed next to the county’s flagpole on the memorial site. Boales said the organizations will donate the money to purchase and install it, around $3,000, he said.
“We’re trying to move as quickly as possible — next couple weeks. That’s the target,” Boales said.
Boales said he believes the POW/MIA flag should fly “all the time.”
“But I understand the situation. If they are going to say no, it has to be a no to everything,” he said.
About the POW/MIA flag
The National League of POW/MIA Families designed and developed the black flag in 1972 during the Vietnam War.
It reads, “You are not forgotten,” and depicts a man beneath a guard tower gazing down at a barbed-wire fence. It’s dedicated to prisoners of war and service members missing in action.
The league chose not to seek a trade mark or copyright in order to reach “the widest possible dissemination and use” of the flag. This means the use of the flag is not restricted legally.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) states more than 81,000 Americans are still missing from conflicts dating back to World War II.
The National League of POW/MIA Families’ website states the flag, other than the nation’s flag, “is the only flag ever to fly over the White House, displayed since 1982.”
In 1998, Congress passed a law requiring the flag to be flown six days each year. They are:
- Armed Forces Day (the third Saturday of May)
- Memorial Day (the last Monday of May)
- Flag Day (June 14)
- Independence Day (July 4)
- National POW/MIA Recognition Day (the third Friday of September)
- Veterans Day (Nov. 11)
In 2001, the National League of POW/MIA Families passed a resolution that “strongly recommends that state and municipal entities fly the POW/MIA flag daily to demonstrate continuing commitment to the goal of the fullest possible accounting of all personnel not yet returned to American soil.”
A federal law passed in 2019 cemented the flag’s presence at prominent federal buildings and national war memorials. The law also requires every post office throughout the country to fly the “you are not forgotten” flag.
Some state capitols have adopted laws requiring the flag to be flown at state-owned buildings.
The ‘You Are Not Forgotten’ flag in Ohio
Ohio passed a law in November 2018 that states “the general assembly hereby encourages the display of the POW/MIA flag during normal business hours at each public building.”
The law defines public building as “the principal municipal building of each municipal corporation, the principal county building in the county seat of each county, and the state house in Columbus.”
At the time of the law’s passage, the general assembly said there were 117 servicemen and women from Ohio who served in Indochina or Vietnam that are still listed as prisoners of war or missing in action.
There are 3,657 from Ohio who are listed as “unaccounted for” by the DPAA.
“The POW/MIA flag is a powerful symbol of the plight of these prisoners of war and missing Americans and reminds the public of the commitment this nation must have in determining the fate of its servicemen and servicewomen.
“Thus, it is appropriate that the POW/MIA flag should be displayed at certain public buildings throughout this state to increase public awareness of the issue of prisoners of war and those missing in action and to gain public support for the efforts of the United States government to resolve this matter,” reads the state law.
If the veterans groups in Ashland County purchase their own flag, state law requires the U.S. flag to fly to the right of all other flags, including the POW/MIA flag.