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A former U.S. Marine said Friday he was fired from his contract job with Time Warner Cable in Charlotte after he lowered the American flag to half-staff on Memorial Day.
Allen Thornwell, 29, was thinking about his best friend, a former Marine who he said killed himself two years ago when he returned to the U.S., the Charlotte Observer reported.
The paper reported that Thornwell was fired Tuesday. The service that arranged the job for Thornwell said Time Warner told them they were disturbed by what was termed as “passion for the flag and (his) political affiliation.”
Thornwell said he remains in shock over his firing. Murphy Archibald, Thornwell’s attorney, said his client should have never lost his job.
“It’s disgraceful,” Archibald, who is a Vietnam vet, told the Observer. “He didn’t do anything wrong. He’s a veteran working on Memorial Day who corrected what he thought was a disrespectful flying of the American flag ... I would have taken it down myself.”
Thornwell, who was discharged in 2014, knew the U.S. Flag Code policy which states that the banner should be half-staff until noon on Memorial Day. Thornwell said the incident happened at around 2:30 p.m. He said he wishes now he had permission.
“I didn’t think of it as the property of Time Warner Cable,” he said. “It’s everybody’s flag.”
A Time Warner spokesman confirmed to the Charlotte Observer Friday that the former Marine “was no longer under contract” with the company but declined to provide further comment.
While I think one could argue that technically it was 2:30 which is two and a half hours after the flag is required to be at half mast, I also think a better argument is that it's absurd to lose a job over this. Even if we could say what he did was a mistake, which frankly I'm not so sure I could be convinced that it was, it was a mistake that could be corrected pretty much immediately and under no reasonably circumstance would justify firing him.
The paper reported that Thornwell was fired Tuesday. The service that arranged the job for Thornwell said Time Warner told them they were disturbed by what was termed as “passion for the flag and (his) political affiliation.”
Whether Time Warner Cable was improperly displaying the flag during the country’s annual tribute to its dead veterans is a matter of debate. The U.S. Flag Code, which offers guidance on how to fly the flag during holidays, says the banner should be at half-staff until noon on Memorial Day then returned to its normal position. Thornwell said the incident took place around 2:30 p.m.
Thornwell, who was discharged in 2014, said he was aware of the holiday protocol but was moved to lower the flag anyway. He wishes now that he had asked permission.
“I didn’t think of it as the property of Time Warner Cable,” he says. “It’s everybody’s flag.”
On Monday, he arrived at the company’s service center off Arrowood Road having left his security badge at home. A boss sent him to pick up a replacement. Waiting outside the security office, he noticed the nearby flag at full-staff. Without a word to anyone, Thornwell says he marched, Marine-style, to the pole, lowered the flag to a midway point, came to full attention, then about-faced and walked away. He didn’t salute. He says Marines don’t salute when out of uniform.
Inside the security building, Thornwell said he was told by one of the guards that “It’s company policy that no one touches the flagpole.”
By the time Thornwell left – and only a few minutes after he had lowered it – the flag was back at full-staff.
Thornwell said he reacted angrily at what he took as a sign of disrespect to him and other vets. He can be heard cursing twice in a short video he shot at the scene with his phone. He said he wanted to send a message to military personnel around the world that “this is what the people back home think about us.”
Unless you replace flags with cakes and Time Warner with small cake shop in some random state...
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