Flag-Folding Narration Banned from Veterans' FuneralsFamilies' First Amendment rights stripped following one complaint.Flag-folding recitations by Memorial Honor Detail volunteers are now banned at the nation's 125 veterans' cemeteries because of one complaint at California's Riverside National Cemetery, The Associated Press reported.
“One disgruntled narcissist has caused a complete ban affecting 300 million Americans," Rees Lloyd with the Defense of Veterans Memorials Project told Family News in Focus. "We think it's an outrage, and we intend to fight it.”
During thousands of military burials, the volunteers have folded the American flag 13 times and recited the significance of every fold.
The first fold represents life, the second a belief in eternal life, and so on.
The complaint revolved around the narration in the 11th fold, which celebrates Jewish war veterans and "glorifies the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob."
The National Cemetery Administration then decided to ban the entire recital at all national cemeteries. Details of the complaint weren't disclosed.
Administration spokesman Mike Nacincik said the policy, outlined in a Sept. 27 memorandum, is aimed at creating uniform services throughout the military graveyard system.
Romey Kilgore, founder of United We Serve, called it a slap in the face to the military.
“Our American veterans, they've fought and died for our beliefs and our right to express them," she said. "We owe them nothing less than that.”
The policy change is on shaky legal ground, according to Doug Napier with the Alliance Defense Fund.
“Veterans and their families have First Amendment rights just like everyone else," he said. "They shouldn’t be curtailed because one person complains.”
