Marcel Gagne defended the American flag in Vietnam. Represented it on a peacekeeping mission in the Middle East, too.

Now retired after 21 years in the Air Force and Army, the Lewiston man protects the Stars and Stripes from what he considers disrespect, misuse and ignorance on his home turf.

“I get so aggravated,” Gagne said. “The flag isn’t something you just stick out there.”

Tuesday gave Gagne fits. It was National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, commemorating the 63-year anniversary of the surprise Japanese attack in Hawaii.

President George W. Bush and Maine Gov. John Baldacci each issued proclamations urging state and federal agencies, businesses and individuals to fly the flag at half-staff in honor of the 2,400 Americans killed that Sunday morning.

Gagne was flabbergasted, then, when he drove by Veterans Memorial Park at the corner of Main and Lincoln streets in Lewiston and saw the star-spangled banner fluttering high in the breeze.

Hours after Gagne phoned the Sun Journal to vent, I drove down the slushy hill to inspect the memorial park myself. Lo and behold, some good citizen had lowered the flag by then.

Encouraged that patriotism had prevailed, I inched across Longley Bridge, intending to turn around in Great Falls Plaza and return to safety. Then I noticed that two of Auburn’s most prominent gateway buildings had failed to lower their flags.

Hmm. Was Gagne onto something here?
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With two hands clutching the steering wheel and a notebook trapped between my elbow and the armrest, I took a 90-minute cruise and unscientifically surveyed Lewiston and Auburn’s compliance.

Make that noncompliance. Twenty-nine buildings hadn’t lowered their flags. Only six had. Six poles displayed no flag at all, which actually was proper etiquette given the wintry weather conditions.

I’ll omit names to protect the guilty, but violators included a police station, an American Legion hall, a major car dealership and a prominent hospital. Oh, and one newspaper.

Gagne is especially irked by organizations he says should know better.

“How will the general population pay attention to flag etiquette if the military organizations don’t?” he asked. “Around here, the American Legion is the biggest offender of flag etiquette, and they’re the ones who make the rules!”

Bert Dutil is chairman of the local veterans’ committee, and yes, he accepts partial responsibility for maintaining Veterans Memorial Park on the bank of the Androscoggin. He’s also familiar with Gagne’s crusade.

Ready with reminders

Dutil said that other presidential proclamations this year, such as those for the deaths of President Ronald Reagan and local military personnel in Iraq, make it difficult to keep track. The declarations rarely merit media attention in advance.

“Other presidents never really did this,” said Dutil. “We bring the flag down every time someone dies in Iraq. I hear a lot of veterans say, Hey, they never did that for us.’ It’s gotten kind of screwy.”

There are two holes in that defense, and neither is anything Dutil or Gagne can fix.

Dec. 7 should be ingrained in our consciousness as much as July 4, Sept. 11 and Nov. 11. But it isn’t.

Our flag ought to be more than an audacious ploy to attract customers. But it isn’t.

“You see a lot of businesses hang out a huge flag to say, Look at us. We’re patriotic.’ Hey, I don’t mind,” Gagne said. “I’m glad to see it there. Just do it properly.”

They can count on Gagne’s reminders. After Reagan’s death on June 5, when the flag was supposed to fly at half-staff for 30 days, Gagne spent more than two hours on the phone one morning calling area stragglers.

Gagne spent years training to beat the bad guys, so this continuing fight for Old Glory is important to him.

“That flag is the only thing that we all share regardless of race, religion, sex or whatever,” Gagne said. “Stop and think how many guys have died defending that flag.”

Kalle Oakes is the Sun Journal’s columnist. His e-mail is [email protected].