Monuments, names and flags

Growing up in Union County, we sometimes would visit Rose Hill with a school class, or a Boy Scout Camporee, or a simple family outing. That was the plantation home of South Carolina's secession governor, William H. Gist, and is now a State Historic Site. Dad used to say that Governor Gist was in our family tree, although I haven't been able so far to trace that connection. We studied South Carolina history in 7th grade at Buffalo Elementary. Our principal, Mr. Burton, taught that class, and took the class on an overnight to Charleston to visit historic sites and even spend a couple of hours on the beach at Isle of Palms. But that's a different story for a different day.

But as a kid growing up, I guess I was especially naive. I look back on conversations and events from today's perspective, and things are so much more clear. It turns out Union County in many ways wasn't the idyllic Southern community. Business leaders were also Klan organizers. Union would have been in the straight shot between Spartanburg and Columbia, but Interstate 26 swings west to Laurens County instead, apparently because some of those leaders didn't want "outside influence." And it took until 1969 to desegregate our schools, 15 years after Brown v. Board of Education.

As a Navy officer back in the day, I served as the Weapons Officer on USS Semmes (DDG-18), one of only a few Navy warships named after men who served in the confederate navy. The New York Times of the Civil War era referred to Semmes as a pirate, because basically that's what he was. I actually chose Semmes coming out of the Navy's Department Head school not because of the name of the ship, but because she was homeported in Charleston.

So when it comes to monuments, military base names, and flags, I can claim that Southern heritage as much as anyone I know. But the "erasing history" complaint doesn't cut it, because very few Americans know the truth about confederate generals like Braxton Bragg or John Bell Hood or A.P. Hill. If my family connection to William H. Gist, and his cousin States Rights Gist, are indeed true, I take no special pride in their open rebellion against the United States of America 160 years ago. While I am proud of my Navy service, including on the Semmes, I celebrated a few weeks ago when the statue of Semmes in Mobile was removed from the public square by city officials.

So I say obliterate those monuments and base names from the public square. That's not erasing history, it's simply eliminating those men from a place of honor they don't deserve. Replace the monuments with symbols of peace and unity. Rename the bases for Medal of Honor winners - Fort Bragg could be renamed Fort Charles George, after PFC Charles George, the North Carolina native and Cherokee who was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously after being killed in action in Korea. 

Like the bumper sticker on my truck says, we are one nation with one flag, or as when we pledge allegiance, we are One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.