Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader, when clicking through on a link on Rachel’s site, thought he was going to read about a battle flag captured during the Korean War. But it was not to be. Who knew (and if your Maximum Leader did know, he surely forgot) that US Marines captured a Korean fort on Kanghwa Island in 1871?

It seems that not only did the Marines take the fort (with minimal loss of life to US forces), they took the battle flag depicting the name of the fort’s commander. The flag, in accordance with US law, was taken to the US Naval Academy in Annapolis where it has been displayed ever since.

It also appears as though the Republic of Korea would like the flag back… Or at least one professor at a Korean university, Thomas Duvernay, wants the flag back. (Excursus: Your Maximum Leader will go ahead and speculate that professor Thomas Duvernay is not a native Korean. Just guessing.) This one professor is the only person in Korea who is quoted in the article.

At any rate, it is a fascinating little article that is worth your time to read if you are interested in such stuff. Here is the link to the Baltimore Sun article.

Frankly, your Maximum Leader’s opinion on such matters is well known amongst his friends. It can be summarized as: to the victor go the spoils. The Marines kicked butt, they get to keep the flag.

Although he believes the Marines should keep the flag, the prospect of trading the flag for the USS Pueblo is an interesting one. A more interesting prospect would be that we keep the flag and send a detachment of Marines to blow up the USS Pueblo at port in North Korea thereby depriving the Norks of their trophy.

Then again, your Maximum Leader is a hate-filled war monger.

Carry on.