November 21, 2007

Veterans who served on the U.S.S. Intrepid aircraft carrier presented Jim Brossard with a certificate and flag for cutting down a  U.S. flag that was flying beneath a Mexican flag at a  Reno bar. "To fly the American flag underneath the Mexican flag, it just defies everything," said Wayne Erven, West Coast representative of the U.S.S. Intrepid Association Inc. "Our flag goes on top. That's the honor we give our flag."

Reno Gazette -Journal:  PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson notes that the man attacked private property .

By Geralda Miller 

Veterans who served on the U.S.S. Intrepid aircraft carrier presented Jim Brossard with a certificate and flag for cutting down a  U.S. flag that was flying beneath a Mexican flag at a  Reno bar.

"To fly the American flag underneath the Mexican flag, it just defies everything," said Wayne Erven, West Coast

representative of the U.S.S. Intrepid Association Inc. "Our flag goes on top. That's the honor we give our flag."

Erven of Pleasanton, Calif., gave  Brossard the appreciation Tuesday at the James D. Hoff Peace Officer Memorial in  Idlewild  Park.

"To go and pull that down, you've got more guts than brains maybe," Erven told  Brossard.

In attendance for the presentation was Daryl Saldausky, a veteran and former crew member who lives in  Reno, and a couple of  Brossard's friends.

Brossard said that he has no regrets.

"If I hadn't done that, then I'm afraid it wouldn't have gotten done," he said. "I was ready and fully willing to accept any consequences, legally or any other, that might have come in my direction."

The veteran made national headlines in October when video was broadcast of  Brossard cutting down a  U.S. flag that was flying beneath a Mexican flag. The action came after raids on 11 area McDonald's restaurant led to the arrest of more than

50 undocumented workers.

Broussard said he received hundreds of phone calls from people around the country who thanked him. He also has been on many radio talk shows and news programs, he said.

"It's just unfathomable to me that I've done something to deserve this,"  Brossard said.

Bob Fulkerson, state director for the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, said  Brossard does not deserve to be rewarded for stealing property.

"I think what they're doing is rewarding criminal behavior, and they're rewarding violent behavior," Fulkerson said. "To me, that goes against our Constitution. That goes against the values of our country."

The U.S.S. Intrepid participated in World War II and the Vietnam War. It was hit

four times by Japanese kamikaze and once by a torpedo.

"There are some good sea stories about that," Erven said.

The ship, which is docked in  New York City, now is the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum.

The U.S.S. Intrepid Association has a flag program that raises  U.S. flags on the carrier's flight deck and then gives them to towns and vets.  Brossard's flag was raised this past July 12, Erven said.