Statue Of General Lee Vandalized In North Carolina. It Was The Wrong General Lee.
http://www.dailywire.com/news/43767/statue-general-lee-vandalized-north-carolina-it-ashe-schow
By Ashe Schow
The Daily Wire
February 21, 2019
Vandals targeted a statute of General Lee outside a North Carolina museum in what the museum curator believes was an act of mistaken identity.
The statue defaced was that of General William C. Lee - who fought during World War II - not of General Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general during the Civil War whose monuments are now being vandalized.
Mark Johnson, curator of the General William C. Lee Airborne Museum in Dunn, North Carolina, told WNCN that he never thought the outrage surrounding Confederate monuments would ever affect his museum.
"This is a hometown grown boy here that turned out to be an international hero of World War II so to come and try to destroy his statue is just an insult to everybody," Johnson told the local affiliate.
Johnson also said he believes the vandals, who poured flammable liquid on the statue and then set it on fire, mistook the statue for the other General Lee.
"I think it was a big mistake," Johnson told WNCN. "Why would you do something like this? It really just irritates people."
The General William C. Lee statue is clearly wearing a military uniform more modern than what was worn during the Civil War. Johnson also told WNCN that his General Lee was not a racist.
Indeed, General William Lee is referred to as the father of the U.S. airborne and commanded the 101st Airborne Division, whose nickname was the "Screaming Eagles." He helped plan the Airborne's role in D-Day, and even planned to jump with his troops, but was pulled due to a health problem.
On the museum's Facebook page, the vandalism was said to have started around 10 p.m. on Valentine's Day. The perpetrators were described as "some jerk punk (s)" and the museum said local "security cameras will be reviewed" and that the "jerk" who committed the vandalism left the fuel container used to ignite the flame.
Johnson told the Daily Record that no one has found any relation between General William C. Lee and General Robert E. Lee.
"Complete different generation, complete different war, complete different everything," Johnson told the Record.
He also told the paper he believed the vandals were trying to follow in the footsteps of Confederate monument protesters but simply got the wrong man.
"So just an alert to people who may be thinking about such things," he told the Record, "this is the wrong general."
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