On this past Memorial Day, army veteran Allen Thornwell, 29, was called into work at Time Warner Cable in Charlotte, North Carolina. He'd been working there as a technical troubleshooter for about a month, and visited the service center to pick up a spare security badge. Seeing the American flag nearby was at full-staff, Thornwell marched to the flagpole and lowered the flag to a midway point, before going about his day. Thornwell did not salute, he says, because soldiers do not salute when out of uniform. Upon returning inside, a guard told him that "It's company policy that no one touches the flagpole." The flag was raised again just minutes later. The says that he was not acting disrespectfully or irrationally, and that the security guard had even said, 'I fought. I understand.'
Later that day, Thornwell posted pictures of the flag and a video of himself walking back after lowering it, entitling the post, "So many years wasted. I'm telling you... PEOPLE DON'T GIVE A F***."
His words were soon proven true.
The following day, Allen Thornwell was fired. A manager's only explanation as to his early dismissal from his contract was that Thornwell's "Passion for the flag and (his) political affiliation" disturbed them.
Thornwell is an ex-marine Sergeant, who says he lowered the flag on Memorial Day to honor his fallen comrades, specifically his Marine friend, Sgt. Geoffrey Alan Day, who committed suicide two years after returning home. He is also suffering from PTSD after serving our country as a technical specialist from 2005 to 2014, including tours of Iraq and Afghanistan. His mother claims that since returning he has a more intense need for order and doing things properly. “I didn’t think of it as the property of Time Warner Cable,” he explains to The Charlotte Observer why he didn't ask for permission, “it’s everybody’s flag.”
"According to the U.S. flag code, flags should be lowered to half-staff until noon on Memorial Day, then returned to full-staff. Thornwell said the incident occurred at 2:30pm."
Thornwell says his actions arise from “deeper emotions he felt throughout the day about his country, his dead friend and his own service." He also said that he "understood the true meaning of Memorial Day" for the first time. Does he really have to explain himself, though?
To summarize, a veteran who risked his life fighting for this country, currently suffering from PTSD, had his job seized because he lowered the American flag on Memorial Day, and voiced his (*cough, cough, free speech*) discontent on Facebook. Wow.
