Community Corner

A Tale of Two American Flags

A Czech immigrant who escaped through the Iron Curtain to the United States in the 1980s shares the story of how two American flags reminds him of the importance of freedom.

Freedom means a lot to George Stastny, a Czech Republic native who escaped from his nation’s then-communist regime through the Iron Curtain to the United States nearly three decades ago.

“Unfortunately there are so many people in this country who take freedom for granted and don’t even think about what we enjoy, but they would be absolutely horrified if those freedoms would be denied to them,” said Stastny, who became a U.S. citizen in the 1980s.

He recently spoke to Indio Rotary as part of a Veterans Day program.

Find out what's happening in Palm Desertwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The McMinnville, Ore. resident, who comes down to the Coachella Valley every season, said he is thankful to veterans for their dedication and sacrifices.

“But it’s up to all of us to protect those hard-earned freedoms,” Stastny said, adding that his second wife Carolyn’s father was a 30-year Army veteran, serving in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

Find out what's happening in Palm Desertwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Just before his first trip back to the Czech Republic, his friend, Ivan Votava, found out about his father-in-law’s service and gave Stastny a handmade American flag.

“The flag was sewn overnight in 1945 to welcome the U.S. Army that was liberating the western part of Czechoslovakia,” Stastny wrote in his book “Risk for Freedom: One Family’s Quest.”

His friend had gotten it from a farmer who had hidden the flag from the communist government in a barn since WWII.

Votava wrote in a letter to Stastny:

"To the War Veterans of the United States of America who helped liberate Czechoslovakia in 1945:

Dear Friends,

Forty-five years ago in May, 1945, your United States Army under the command of General Patton, liberated West Bohemia and the city of Pilsen.

Thanks to the horrible communist system, these facts were deliberately withheld and people were forced to ‘admit’ that all of Czechoslovakia was liberated by the Soviet Union only. This disgusting system went so far as to remove all monuments and memorials to the American soldiers who died in the liberation process. The communist government persecuted people who put flowers in these places in remembrance and honor to your soldiers who couldn’t return to their homes.

From the bottom of my heart, I would like to apologize to all of you for this inconceivably ugly ideology. At the same time, please accept a small gift. It is an American flag that welcomed American soldiers in May of 1945 in Pilsen. This flag was homemade instantly during the liberation and sewed in a hurry. I believe you will understand and excuse a little mistake of six-pointed stars. I obtained this flag 15 years ago, and I have guarded it since then. All these years when this flag couldn’t billow, it finally flew this spring in the place of its birth, Pilsen, and in Prague, the place where I live. I think that the time has finally arrived for this flag to get into the hands that it was originally made for.

I wish you all very good health and much personal happiness. I hope that someday I can welcome you on the soil of our free country.

Sincerely,
Ivan Votava
Prague, August 6, 1990"

According to Stastny, he presented the flag to his father-in-law and sent a U.S. flag that had flown over the U.S. capital back to Votava in Czechoslovakia.

Votava’s dream of a free country was eventually realized. In January 1993, the country peacefully split into the independent Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Stastny’s book is available for sale his website.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here