Vietnam veteran allowed to fly flag after 20-year legal battle: 'The flag was with me through it all'

Hope Schreiber
·Writer
Richard Oulton will finally be allowed to raise his flag, which used to fly over his hilltop bunker in Vietnam, in his community after a 20-year-long legal battle. (Photo: FOX4KC)
Richard Oulton will finally be allowed to raise his flag, which used to fly over his hilltop bunker in Vietnam, in his community after a 20-year-long legal battle. (Photo: WTVR)

A Vietnam veteran was finally able to raise the American flag on his property, twenty years after he was first ordered by a judge to take down a flagpole outside his Virginia home.

For the past two decades, former U.S. Marines combat medic Richard Oulton made headlines and racked up thousands of dollars in court fees as he fought for the right to fly a flag on a flagpole outside his home in Wyndham, Virginia.

In 1999, he was told his original flagpole, standing at 25-feet, was a visual nuisance, and inconsistent with the rules of his homeowner's association. Oulton took his case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, both of which declined to interfere with the initial ruling.

“Twenty years ago, I got a nice house I thought it would look great on. Then... I was ordered to take it down or go to jail, basically. That was the final order from the judge. So 20 years later I persevered, and here it is. It’s clearly a beautiful flag on a beautiful pole,” Oulton told the Omaha World-Herald.

The flag is the same one that flew over the then-21-year-old Richard's bunker in Vietnam. “The unit I was with was the 1st Battalion 9th Marine which got nicknamed in Vietnam 'The Walking Dead' because of the casualty rate,” Oulton told Virginia news station WTVR. While Oulton saved hundreds of his fellow Marines, many did not make it. The 1st Battalion 9th Marine experienced the worst casualty rate in the history of the Marine Corps.

“So [I] took a little PTSD home with me from Vietnam. Mostly it’s a profound sadness that I have. I tear up a lot," Oulton told the outlet, "I used to hide from [the memories] and wish they went away. Now I welcome them because they’ll all be my brothers...I don’t mind the memories now. They’re just part of my life."

Delegate and former Navy Seal John McGuire had a part in swaying members of the Wyndham Homeowners Association to change their minds, and this time, a more understanding HOA approved the motion.

“You know what we did was get together and talk about it,” Oulton said. “I would love to get [the HOA] a high five or a round of applause because it’s a great American thing they did to get this Veteran his flagpole up.”

On Saturday, neighbors gathered to witness Oulton raising the American flag for the first time since 1999.

"I was a witness to a lot," Oulton said. "And the flag was with me through it all.”

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