There are bad guys out there; and there are good guys out there

Cretins desecrated the flag that had once draped the coffin of a soldier who died in Iraq.  And an ex-Marine who is now a police officer showed the kind of deep respect that helped soften that blow:

Not since his son was killed in combat in Iraq has Paul Olson felt so emotionally jarred.

On Memorial Day, somebody yanked the American flag out of its metal stand in front of Olson’s Corte Madera house and threw it on the ground.

It was a flag that had been draped over the casket of U.S. Army Cpl. Nicholas Olson, a Novato resident who was killed in Iraq in September 2007.

“My son’s name is on that flag. Now it’s been soiled,” Olson said. “My heart’s broken.”

Olson called the Twin Cities Police Department and filed a report. The flag, which has Nicholas Olson’s name on it, is about 5 by 6 feet and is not easy for one person to fold properly. Twin Cities police Officer Anthony Shaw came out to the house and made an impression on Olson.

“I was so upset, and then he said he had been in the Marine Corps and had done a tour of duty,” Olson said. “Then he said, ‘Would you like like me to help you fold it, sir?’ That really meant a lot to me.”

You can read the rest of the story here.

By the way, this is the second time in as many days that Vets have made a difference in my home County.  As you may recall from an earlier post, when a drunk driver plowed into a dad and daughter (killing the child and almost killing the dad), it was a vet who was able to provide immediate help.  He probably saved the dad’s live, although the dad must be suffering such horrible physical and mental anguish right now, that may not be a gift he can or ever will appreciate.