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thedrifter
05-01-07, 06:48 AM
Patriotism prevails over protest
By SHAWNE K. WICKHAM
New Hampshire Sunday News Staff
Sunday, Apr. 22, 2007

Hampstead - Her heart was breaking, until the man with the flag restored Monika McGillicuddy's faith.

It was last Wednesday, and the town of Hampstead was saying goodbye to one of its beloved sons, Army Capt. Jonathan Grassbaugh, who was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq on April 8.

The funeral for the 25-year-old Army Ranger was being held at St. Anne Catholic Church.

Just down the street, at the real estate office where she works, McGillicuddy noticed the protesters on the corner.

Three members of a Topeka, Kan., organization that calls itself the Westboro Baptist Church were there, their signs shocking. The group uses extreme language and Biblical references to claim that a variety of events -- from the death of soldiers in Iraq to, most recently, the Virginia Tech shootings -- are God's punishment for America's tolerance of homosexuality.

The Kansas group has been in New Hampshire before, including a protest outside the ceremony installing the Rev. Gene Robinson as the Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire. But this is the first soldier's funeral they've picketed, and the experience left local residents deeply shaken.

McGillicuddy, who lives in East Hampstead, was among several who confronted the protesters, and found herself the target of one woman's hate. "She was saying that all the deaths were my fault, and negative stuff about God. Like God wanted death and that it was our fault this was happening and we were godless and we're going to burn in hell."

"No, I think it'll be you," McGillicuddy finally told her before walking away, shaken.

Her biggest concern was that Capt. Grassbaugh's parents, brother and young wife would see the signs, and hear the hateful speech and chanting. "My heart was breaking," she said. "I can only imagine the horrific pain they're feeling, and to see something like that ... I was devastated."

That's when she noticed the man. He was carrying a large American flag, and he placed himself squarely in front of the protesters.

Pat Langlois of Kingston also works at the Hampstead real estate office.

When she first saw the man with the flag, Langlois feared a confrontation; she could tell he was upset. But he just stood there, defiantly, proudly, with his flag. "I felt for that man," she said. "He was so hurt by what they were doing."

"Then all of a sudden, other people started to gather around him. Then a whole procession of other people came up the street with their flags," Langlois said

She went outside and shook the man's hand, "and thanked him for standing there in that cold."

"He said all we can do is outnumber them."

"He was a proud American," Langlois said. "He wanted that family to know that these people were insane, crazy. I think he just wanted to be a part of honoring this young man and trying to outnumber these other people."

Langlois also confronted one of the protesters. "I said to her she was dishonoring this young man and his family. Then she started talking about hell and how all these soldiers are going to hell."

"She tried to quote verses from the Bible and I could tell just listening to her and looking at her that it really wasn't coming from the Bible. I go to church. I read my Bible."

"That's not God's way. That's hatred, in my book," Langlois said.

McGillicuddy wrote a blog about the experience, and included a photo of the mystery man with the flag. She'd like him to know how much the counter-protest inspired her.

"It was just really heartening to see," she said. "It made me smile, even though the rest of it was so horrible to look at."

The Kansas group's picketing at other soldiers' funerals across the country led Congress to pass, and President Bush to sign last Memorial Day, the Respect for America's Fallen Heroes Act, which restricts protesters at funerals held at national cemeteries.

The group's protests also gave rise to the Patriot Guard Riders, an amalgam of veterans and motorcycle groups who attend military funerals.

A "news release" posted April 13 on the WBC website had warned it planned to picket the hometown funerals of service members killed that week, held at churches of numerous denominations. It listed Capt. Grassbaugh on its "roster of the damned."

Paul Boore of Milford is a ride captain for the New Hampshire PGR. He attended Capt. Grassbaugh's funeral in Hampstead; it was his first encounter with the WBC protesters.

"It made my stomach roll," he said. "The hate that they spewed out was overpowering."

But he said his group's response was to walk quietly by without confronting the trio. "In the tradition of a biker, basically you turn your back on them and don't acknowledge them," he said. "That's the ultimate insult."

Boore said the PGR members do not attend the funerals because of the protesters. "We will only be there if we're invited by the family, and then we're only there to pay respect to the soldiers."

David Slone of Ruckersville, Va., was one of the Patriot Guard Riders "ride captains" for Capt. Grassbaugh's burial services, held last Thursday at Arlington National Cemetery. He said the WBC did not picket that service, but they have been outside the cemetery gates at other military burials.

"These guys are fighting to give them the freedom to talk about these guys in these ways," said Slone, who lived previously in Hooksett. "It's just heartbreaking."

The PGR's primary mission is to honor the fallen heroes and take care of their families, he said. "I've buried 23 heroes."

Slone said the riders, armed with 3-by-5-foot American flags, line the road across from the WBC protesters. "And when the WBC starts singing their chants, we've been known to break out into all sorts of patriotic songs ourselves. If it really gets bad, we've been known to start up our motorcycles and drown them out."

Slone said the founders of the group were Vietnam veterans, who knew firsthand the pain of returning home to disrespectful protests. "And they said never again. That was the genesis of the PGR."

Ellie