Glad I'm not the only person to notice that. Either the wrong photo's been posted, or the family's story/history of that flag has been 'mixed up' a bit.

The stars were the first thing I noticed as well.

I am guessing that perhaps the grandfather received the flag as part of a later veteran's day celebration, for example.

Or, the family is trying to make a better story out of the tragedy.

Wow - Cassivella - incredible. First thing you should notice is the flag. Look past the flag and you'll see ninety years of life flatten - wiped out in violent twisted seconds.

"Or, the family is trying to make a better story out of the tragedy??" Astounding. Breathtaking.

You do realize these flags are often presented to the families after the persons death? You can probably connect the dots from there....hopefully.

That's a 50 star flag. Can't anyone count any more? WWII flags have 48 stars.

The flag used to drape the coffin and given to the family of deceased veterans is the In-Service flag at the time of death. I know this because my father received one. Hope this clears up the confusion as the number of stars.

You star counters must have a pretty light schedule. Enjoy the story and stop trying to poke holes in everything you read, Columbo.

Not to mitigate this family's loss, and perhaps I have a different view of death than some here, but I really don't find it that tragic when a 90 year old passes away. She has lived more than her expected lifespan. It is unrealistic to believe that a tornado hitting a 90 year old's home would end in any way other than the elderly person dying.

Frankly, this article is a puff piece where the journalist is trying to put a human face to the tragedy. I don't believe he/she has done a very good job about it. First, there is/was the issue with the flag's description - the journalist and editor published the article without taking this glaring inconsistency into account - as you see, most of the comments here are about the flag. Any type of error, whether it be factual or grammatical, distracts readers from the point the journalist is trying to make.

Secondly, the flag has little to do with the victim in this case. Had the WWII veteran been killed in the tornado, then this would make a little more sense. But, it was his 90 year old wife. I am sure there are greater tragedies surrounding these storms.

45 people died two days ago in these storms. Articles like this try to personify each of these deaths because they feel that Americans cannot conceive 45 dead. Journalists are taught that one death is tragic, but anything above that is a statistic.

So, I will continue to mention stars because someone has to hold journalists to some standards in reporting. Americans should be educated enough to look past the persuasive writing that attempts to tug at heartstrings in order to actually see the facts that are reported.

Don't let this journalist coalesce your feelings into one microcosm family. Mourn the 45.

Mother, daughter and son-in-law died. This family lost not only their love ones but also memories revisited in the form of a homestead and familiar things. I hope you never have to suffer like this! Pitiful!

Cassivella or perhaps the reporter was trying to write a feel good piece in light of the tragedy so get off your high horse. And NO where did the reporter state to mourn only them, they where writing of what's left of one family and how they are couping so stop being rude, and mourn them and all the others....

Cassivella . . . you are a putz!

I'm just pleased to see Americans behave with dignity and grace during this tragic mess! Americans haven't always acted so well during terrible acts of mother nature and other tragedies, but this gives me hope that the heathens haven't totally taken over.

Wow. Such vehemence against people who merely pointed out that the story could not be factually correct.

Now we have resorted to name-calling.

Are you proud of yourselves? Is this how you nice Christians behave? Immediately start judging people if they question the status quo? Isn't that what you are supposed to leave to your sky god to do?

This story was about a flag. And the majority of commenters have rejected the original posting's veracity. Perhaps the name-callers have missed out on this point - the journalist has accepted that he/she made an error. I, and probably the rest of the posters, have accepted that correction as apology.

Media's purpose is to report the facts. But when they clearly aren't reporting the facts correctly, we need to step up. There is nothing high-handed or rude about bringing errors to the attention of a respectable journalist. And a respectable journalist should be able to take criticism from his/her readers without having a bunch of people who are ignorant of the original situation try to take sides.

I would submit that you name-callers are the ones that are drawing this discussion away from being a discussion on the tornado tragedies. I'm sure if the family is reading they are happy to see how far you have taken it away from the original purpose of the story.

I was calling you a putz for your view that the 90 year old mother and grandmother dying was not tragic. How heartless for you to say!

Some think dying at 60 or 70 is not tragic. So when one of your loved one dies, hope you have the same attitude when someone says, "oh well, they lived their life!"

The story was about more than the flag, but obviously you didn't get that. And as you choose not to believe in God, you might be one of those that doesn't think a whole lot about America either. So maybe just a story about someone raising the American flag perturbs you and you just had to find fault somewhere!

Yes, when my family members pass on after being alive for more than 8 decades, my opinion is that while it was nice I got to spend such a long time with them, they are finally no longer in pain and sickness. I feel it is selfish to continue to cling to elderly people who are still in pain and being kept in a half-life. Funerals are a celebration of the life of the individual and how that person touched us, not a time to commiserate about how sad WE are that so-and-so is no longer with us.

And I have no problem if anyone else says such things to me, and I politely ignore when people say otherwise.

And, how exactly is this different from many Christian sects who celebrate their loved ones deaths as homecomings to heaven?

As I stated - this story is about the flag. But, we actually have not gotten the flag's story, have we?

Where did the flag come from?

Was it given to the grandfather in a veteran's day celebration?

Was it the flag that draped his coffin?

If we had some of the exposition of the flag, we would have a story.

I think the story is missing half the story about the flag.

27% of Americans do not believe in God. Another, larger percent do not practice their professed religion. The vast majority of these people, including me, still respect our flag as the symbol of our united country, "one country, indivisible". A country that respects and represents everyone here regardless of his or her religion or lack thereof.

Yeah right! And what if she or your loved one's are not in pain or sick? People are taken from us all the time for all sorts of freak acts of life, accidents and mother nature. But you be glad for the time you have with them - even if you don't get to say goodbye.

Correction to you, it's not "One Country - it's One Nation". Just wanted you to get it correct.

And for me, it's . . ."one Nation, Under God, Indivisible with liberty and justice for all".

My comment about sickness was an example - although there are few hale 90 year olds. To me, it doesn't really matter. Death happens, just as birth happens. I don't get upset about either.

While I admit I used the wrong word, I think country fits much better. Perhaps that is why I typo-ed.

We certainly are not one nation, and that wonderful fact is what makes the U.S. the melting pot that it is.

I will choose to continue to say the pledge with the original wording, before McCarthy and his psychosis hijacked the pledge.

@ Cassivella

As someone from NC in the middle of all this, I can say that you must be one miserable human being. And, I am using the term human lightly. Even though I live in Raleigh (where we also sustained significant damage and loss of life) my family lives in that area and knew these families. Obviously, you must never be wrong and count yourself above everyone else. You sound educated but heartless. People from this area are extremely resilient and count on their friends and neighbours (your so-called microcosm) for support during a crisis such as this. It is a very rural area and most people are God-fearing, patriotic citizens. If that is not your thing, keep it to yourself. I'm sure the posters here are not interested. Apparently, you are never wrong either. So what, the writer mentioned the wrong number of stars. There is more to worry about here than that simple error. In addition, you have obviously never been through a tornado, hurricane or other natural disaster. This same area was hit by hurricane Isabel in 2003. I had never seen such damage. Local residents and media alike were astounded. But, that community rebuilt and continues to thrive. Thank goodness many of the good folk from Bertie Co. are not troubled by a stuffy erudite like you. If you had said those comments about the loss of an 90 year old grandmother to the family they probably would have slapped you silly. You probably deserve it.

So, take your arrogance and insincerity and go troll elsewhere. Those of us in NC don't want to hear it. We have too many other important things to occupy our attentions at present. Oh, and if you want more news, three boys were killed and a 6 month old baby was ripped from a man's arms. Happy now?

@MQS - you appear to have power, internet access, and time to post, so I am assuming you weren't affected very much by the recent storms.

To answer your insinuation, in my travels I have been through 3 tornadoes (VA), a hurricane (GA), a tsunami (HI), 2 wildfires (CA), an earthquake (CA), an avalanche (NM), and a chlorine gas explosion (the last being a not-so natural disaster, and I forget where it was). I was at ground level at the WTC the first time it got bombed in 1993. And, I am quite happy. And quite human, last I checked.

I've literally had to pick up the pieces, and have helped others, people known to me for only a few hours, pick up theirs. I just choose to not be a victim. I won't be the one complaining about how the government or mother nature has it in for me. I see no point in complaining about deaths or disasters - I am the type of person whose first thought is "hey, I'm physically okay, so let me go see where to help". If you want to call me heartless, that's fine.

And I believe you have misread my comment including the word "microcosm". In fact, my comment and your last paragraph have a lot in common.

My point was in calling this family a microcosm was that the disaster extends significantly beyond this one family. But, in times of disaster, instead of trying to show the full scope of the disaster, journalists are taught to report on "human interest" stories instead - stories that compress all of that misery into a poorly written article describing one family and a flag whose provenance we still don't know about. When a journalist is making a story about a historic flag, then the journalist should get the facts related to the flag straight.

I would rather hear a story about the affected areas in North Carolina. I would rather see a story that highlights to which aid organizations one should donate. I don't even mind the occasional fluff piece - I enjoyed the piece about the Lowe's employees (and, OMG, this heartless non-human CRIED with pride) But I will insist that the fluff pieces I read be factually accurate and not blur the facts into a sensationalist story.

Cassivella:

You are full of sh**!

And your typo goes much deeper than your lame excuse!

But have a nice day, and God bless.

Sorry - meant 50 star flag.

The article headline originally said "WWII-era flag." However it looks like they have since corrected it.

No, what we are talking about here are incredibly lax standards of emotional understanding.

Thank you PJ. I live here in NC in the midst of all this. Some posters on this link have been extremely callous. Don't judge it until you've been there.

Each and every Memorial Day, our local cemetary has a 'Flags of Honor' which lines the road through the cemetary (which is awash with the small flags posted on each grave by our local Scouts) - most of them donated by families. We made such a donation - the flag was presented to us at our Mother's service - she a WWII Army Nurse. I cannot think of a more fitting use for this flag and we donated it with the utmost honor and respect. Our Mother would have been so touched - so humbed!!

Freedom of Speech - we can burn it - spit on it - wear it - hurl it - drive over it. Please - not fly it from a tree under such circumstances as these?? Really - please.