Southern Heritage
Brenda Heigl
Avon Park
Published: July 14, 2009Randy Ludacer’s letter "Stars and Bars:" generosity philosophy? Smirking "professional southerners" third-rate historians?
You don’t know anything about the southern way of life and undoubtedly you don’t want to learn.
First, let me begin by saying that I belong to "America’s First Families" because I am the 11th great-granddaughter of Thomas Lockett of Scotland (1646-1689) and Virginia whose son, James (Lockett) Lockhart, fought in the Revolutionary War with the Army of North Carolina.
Second, the Civil War was about states rights and the federal government trying to bully the states into doing what the federal government wanted, just as it is today.
Slavery was and is wrong; most people agree on that. The Civil War was a horrible thing to live through and fight in and most people agree on that. But, I also belong to the Daughters of the Confederacy because I have numerous grandfathers, uncles and cousins who fought gallantly and courageously in that war.
Yes, I said gallantly. For they had honor. Most people have forgotten what that is or how that feels but in the 19th Century honor was a way of life.
I proudly fly the Confederate Flag in remembrance of those family members and the cause they fought for, states’ rights! Did you know that about 5 percent of all southern farmers owned slaves? If you don’t like us "professional southerners," go back where you came from.
Third and last, my daddy was attached to Patton’s 3rd Army while in the 1306 Combat Engineers. He saw action all over Europe and later in the Pacific Theater.
He was at the Battle of the Bulge and on Utah Beach but he flew the "Stars ‘n’ Bars" for the same reason I do.
My father-in-law was 35 years in the Navy and in both World War I and World War II. My brother was in the Army and my husband in the Navy during Vietnam and our son-in-law was in both Iraq and Afghanistan with the Marines.
Do not try to trivialize my southern family patriotism or our commitment to this great country. Re-enactments on old battlefields are not a "dumb show, but it is a celebration of our ancestors and their way of life.
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