D.C. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton will be visiting the D.C. War Memorial today with a specific mission in mind: Getting Congress to order the armed forces to fly the D.C. flag alongside flags of the fifty states.
Norton will hold a press conference this morning at 10:30 at the memorial on Independence Avenue in Southwest D.C. According to her office, she will also ask President Barack Obama to require federal agencies to display the D.C. flag.
Mayor Vincent Gray, D.C. Office of Veterans Affairs Director Matthew Cary, and D.C. Vote Public Affairs Director Eugene Kinlow will attend the conference as well.
At issue is a graduation ceremony at Naval Station Great Lakes where all state flags were raised -- but the D.C. flag, which would have honored graduate Jonathan Rucker, was not.
"Today’s D.C. Veterans Day commemoration is about respect for the District of Columbia and the citizenship of our residents, epitomized by the treatment of Seaman Jonathan Rucker at his graduation from Naval Station Great Lakes,” Norton said in a release.
Full release:
WASHINGTON, D.C. – At a press conference today, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and two D.C. parents will call on Senate Democrats to include in the final fiscal year 2013 Defense authorization bill the House-passed provision requiring the armed forces to display the D.C. flag whenever the flags of the 50 states are displayed. At the Veterans Day press conference on Monday, November 12, 2012 at 10:30 a.m. at the D.C. War Memorial (Independence Ave. near 17th Street SW) they will also ask President Obama to issue a memorandum requiring the same from all federal agencies. D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray, D.C. Office of Veterans Affairs Director Matthew Cary, and DC Vote Public Affairs Director Eugene Kinlow will join the parents at Norton at the press conference.
Tomi Rucker, an investigator with the D.C. Fire and EMS Department, and Michael Boyd, a sergeant with the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department will writing the Congresswoman after witnessing the raising of the state flags to honor each graduate of Naval Station Great Lakes at a graduation ceremony, except for the D.C. flag, which would have honored their son, Seaman Jonathan Rucker. In turn, Norton has contacted the White House and Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“Today’s D.C. Veterans Day commemoration is about respect for the District of Columbia and the citizenship of our residents, epitomized by the treatment of Seaman Jonathan Rucker at his graduation from Naval Station Great Lakes,” Norton said. “And, it is about respect for our World War I memorial, which was at issue last Veterans Day, but has been secured exclusively for D.C.’s World War I dead in time for this year’s commemoration. The election has just ended, but at our press conference, we will discuss some unfinished work for the President, the Congress and the Defense Department."
