A former U.S. Marine said Friday he was fired from his contract job with Time Waer Cable in Charlotte after he lowered the American flag to half-staff on Memorial Day.
Allen Thowell, 29, was thinking about his best friend, a former Marine who he said killed himself two years ago when he retued to the U.S., the Charlotte Observer reported.
The paper reported that Thowell was fired Tuesday. The service that arranged the job for Thowell said Time Waer told them they were disturbed by what was termed as “passion for the flag and (his) political affiliation.”
Thowell said he remains in shock over his firing. Murphy Archibald, Thowell’s attoey, said his client should have never lost his job.
“It’s disgraceful,” Archibald, who is a Vietnam vet, told the Observer. “He didn’t do anything wrong. He’s a veteran working on Memorial Day who corrected what he thought was a disrespectful flying of the American flag ... I would have taken it down myself.”
Thowell, who was discharged in 2014, knew the U.S. Flag Code policy which states that the baer should be half-staff until noon on Memorial Day. Thowell said the incident happened at around 2:30 p.m. He said he wishes now he had permission.
“I didn’t think of it as the property of Time Waer Cable,” he said. “It’s everybody’s flag.”
A Time Waer spokesman confirmed to the Charlotte Observer Friday that the former Marine “was no longer under contract” with the company but declined to provide further comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.