by JEN BIUNDO

Due to lack of maintenance, the U.S. flag flails in front of the Kyle Post Office raising the ire of some local residents. (Photo by Sean Kimmons)

A Kyle resident and World War II veteran says he’s outraged by the condition of the U.S. flag hanging outside the Kyle Post Office.

Arthur Hill, a member of the Kyle VFW, said he’s complained numerous times about the broken hooks anchoring the flag, leaving the stars and stripes hanging limply rather than flying proudly.

“They said they have to have a work order to take it down,” Hill said. “I wonder if the men and women defending that flag got a work order before they got killed.”

Hill says he’s complained four times to the post office and written a letter to the postmaster general in Washington. The post office employees called the police on Hill the last time he went in to complain, he said, though police officers did not arrest him.

Hill said he was stationed in Iceland and Northern Ireland during WWII, then landed in Normandy 10 days after the D-Day invasion and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. During his time in Europe, his commanding officer and half of his platoon were killed, Hill said; he escaped with a bayonet wound. Today, he and his wife live with their daughter in Kyle.

Kyle Postmaster Carol Williams said the hooks that held up the flag occasionally break.

“We had a problem with the flag yesterday, but it’s straightened out today,” Williams said Tuesday.
When told that the flag was still mis-hung, Williams said the office would look into it.