Flag maker is waving bye-bye to Stars & Bars

A MAJOR FLAG maker whose products have accompanied soldiers into battle and astronauts to the moon said yesterday it will no longer manufacture the Confederate battle flag and other manufacturers may follow suit.

The Valley Forge Flag Co., based in Wyomissing, Pa., joined companies including Walmart, Amazon and eBay in banning the flag following the killings last week of nine black people at a historic black church in Charleston, S.C.

"When you have a sea change moment like you have with the tragedy in Charleston, we felt it was simply the right thing to do," Valley Forge Vice President Reggie VandenBosch said. "We don't want to do anything that causes pain or disunity for people."

VandenBosch, who also heads the Flag Manufacturers Association of America, said other flag makers may stop making the Confederate flag.

Valley Forge's decision came as a growing chorus of civil rights and political leaders called for removing the Confederate battle flag from South Carolina's state capitol grounds and removing its image from the state flag of Mississippi.

The battle flag, with a star-filled blue cross on a red field, adorns bumper stickers, keychains and T-shirts. Some states, including North Carolina and South Carolina, offer the flag as an optional license plate icon.