Furious Elderly Vietnam Vet Yells At Connecticut Official Kneeling During The Pledge Of Allegiance

One elderly Vietnam veteran in Connecticut, outraged that a nearby town official preferred kneeling during the Pledge of Allegiance, traveled to a meeting to confront the official as she knelt, snapping, “As it says on my shirt, ‘If you don’t like this flag, I’ll help you pack your bags and get the heck out of here.’”

Calvin Bunnell, who lives in nearby Meriden, traveled to Haddam, Connecticut to confront Haddam town official Melissa Schlag, who had previously knelt for the pledge and who had been taped saying the town of Haddam was “fascist” and “racist.” She later apologized on a radio interview, but insisted, “Strong veins of fascism and racism run deep in Haddam.”

Bunnell said he was part of a group of roughly 75 people at the meeting who were disgusted by Schlag’s actions. Once there, Bunnell yelled at Schlag, “As it says on my shirt, ‘If you don’t like this flag, I’ll help you pack your bags and get the heck out of here.’ When you kneeled and turned your back on this flag, you turned your back on half of this town."

Interviewed on Fox News by host Ainsley Earhardt, who asked him why he did what he did, Bunnell responded:

Because to me, the flag is supposed to represent the United States, and when somebody kneels down and does not respect it, it goes along with the national anthem. You’re supposed to stand up and present yourself to that situation as well as the flag. When I first went into elementary school, it was the first thing they taught us, was respect for the flag and what it stood for. It just doesn’t stand for freedom, but it also stands for all the gentlemen, ladies in the service that have been killed in the line of duty. And when somebody kneels down in front of it, for me, it’s a very disrespectful thing because for me, you should stand up and praise these people as well as that flag of the United States.

Bunnell stated that he traveled to Haddam to protest Schlag kneeling, knowing she had knelt for the anthem before. He said, “I just figured it was time some other people besides her town people let them know how they felt on it."

Asked by Fox News’ Ainsley Earhardt whether Schlag should resign, Bunnell answered, “I think so, because when she does something like that, she is not representing the constituents of that town in the right way.”