CRESTVIEW — The rebel flag is fluttering once more above Confederate Park.
City councilmen Joe Blocker and JB Whitten on Monday voted in favor of raising the rebel flag below the American flag.
The flags were hoisted Wednesday morning under that configuration with multiple generations of descendants of William A. “Uncle Bill” Lundy in attendance.
Lundy, who died in 1957, was purportedly the last surviving Civil War veteran in Florida, although some people, citing federal census records, question his record.
The Crestview Lions Club established the memorial in 1958. Since 1996, the City Council has heard numerous requests — particularly from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's Okaloosa County branch — to have the flag removed from public property.
“This is the Confederate Park,” Lundy’s great-grandson, Greg Lundy, said. “It is not the William Lundy Confederate Park. It’s for all Confederate soldiers. It’s not just for my great-granddaddy.”
“I don’t know who it is that’s causing this whole shebang,” William Lundy’s grandson, Dell Lundy, said, referring to the current controversy over the flag flying above city property. “This is a piece of history that doesn’t need to be destroyed. Our granddaddy just happened to be one of the last three Confederate States veterans. He represents a whole group. This is just something we need to keep in our history books.”
Greg Lundy said their ancestor was honored by both the state of Florida and the 82nd U.S. Congress under President Dwight Eisenhower for his purported wartime service.
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WANT TO GO?
The Crestview City Council will hold a public meeting to discuss Confederate Park at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 6 at Warriors Hall in the Whitehurst Memorial Building. Residents wishing to address the council should complete a speaker’s card and present it to City Clerk Betsy Roy before the meeting. Speakers will each have three minutes. A group may be represented by one spokesperson who will have 10 minutes to speak. A council policy making and legislative session will follow public comments.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview's Confederate battle flag flies again