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Overcast Valley Stream veterans vexed by theft of flags
Marty Kielawa, commander of American Legion Post 854 in Valley Stream, was on his way to the post office on March 1 to mail details of this year’s Memorial Day parade when he drove past the legion hall and noticed that its American and prisoners of war flags were missing.
He thought that one of his fellow members might have taken the flags down because of high winds, or that they had blown away. He didn’t anticipate having to file a police report hours later that they were stolen from the hall, at 51 Roosevelt Ave.
“I can’t fathom why you would steal an American flag,” Kielawa said. “If you want one, come down here. We’ll give you one.” The legion stores dozens of flags at a time, until they can be donated or properly disposed of.
“They took the hardware that holds the flags,” he said. “The only reason you would take the hardware is if you were gonna use the flag to hang, you know, somewhere else. If you were just taking a flag, you’d take a flag.”
Investigating further, Kielawa and a few of his legion colleagues noticed that the rope had been cut and the brass clips that secured it had been stolen.
Ron Feltington, a former post commander, had been shopping for a new flag several months ago, and was baffled that the salesperson offered a security system for flagpoles. “I go, ‘Wow, who steals American flags?’” he recalled, “and then, bang, it happened to us.”
The flags cost about $200 to replace. At press time, legion members were coordinating a time to borrow one of the village’s utility trucks to secure the replacement flags.
Neither Kielawa nor his fellow members recalled a similar incident over the years. Someone once stole cheap patio furniture from behind the hall — but never a flag.
The veterans were concerned that they might have been targeted, but didn’t know exactly what to make of the theft. George Schuchman, another former post commander, immediately called the Nassau County American Legion to let officials know about the incident. He said that no other flag thefts had been reported in the same time frame.
“I’m mad,” Feltington said. “And you know what’s frustrating? Who do you take it out on? You know what I mean? It’s a tough thing.” He thought the timing of the incident was bizarre, given the recent polarized response to the election of Donald Trump and the transfer of power in the White House. There have been anti-Trump protests across the U.S. and around the world, and thousands of Trump supporters have rallied several times since his election for counter-protests — most recently on March 4.
Feltington referred to the community’s — and the country’s — political anxiety as “the aroma in the air.”
With no one to blame, members of the legion said they feel disrespected and confused, at a time when membership has steadily declined. Each year, Feltington and Kielawa said, there are fewer attendees — veterans and non-veterans — at Veterans Day and Memorial Day services.
“If we have 20, we had a big turnout, and half of them are us and maybe a couple of politicians in the neighborhood,” Feltington said. “But as far as, like, people? Citizens?” His voice trailed off and he shook his head.
“Very rare, if we’re having a barbecue or painting the lines, does somebody say, ‘Can I give you guys a hand?’” he added. “Or just stop by and say hello, and say, ‘Thank you — thank you for your service.’ You don’t get that.”
Kielawa noted that the legion would benefit from younger membership. “We have no young new members from Iraq, from Afghanistan — none of them have come here and joined,” he said. “We’re the young guys at 60.”
But for the moment, the veterans were preoccupied with raising their replacement flags. “We don’t have our flag flying,” Kielawa said, throwing his arms up in disbelief. “That’s us.”
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