The Believer 2

So I came to Crawford on the twelfth. There were all these lesbians and gays; there was a rainbow flag flying with “We the people” on it, but I didn’t see an American flag. The Bible says don’t associate with people like that. There were also all of these unruly people, shoddy-looking, the kind of people I don’t associate with. Along a ditch, they had all these crosses up with the names of our fallen heroes on them. That ditch was unmowed, and I thought, “How disrespectful and dishonorable.”

I walked among the crosses, looking for Louis’s. I asked some of the protesters, “You don’t have my son’s cross out here, do you?” They asked who my son was. I said, “Lance Corporal Louis Wayne Qualls.” They said, “How do you spell the first name?” I told them, and two of them disappeared. A few minutes later, they came back, pulled a cross out of the ground that didn’t have a name, and stuck a cross in the ground with Louis’s name. Right then I thought to myself, “How disrespectful. You never asked me to do that.” Military tactics went off in my head; I was surrounded by Cindy Sheehan’s people, and I knew if I yanked it out, I’d have a hell of a fight. I said to myself, “I’m going to repossess it. Time is on my side, and I’ll do it when they least expect it.”

The next day I brought a big picture of my son with the words “Fallen Hero” on the top. Representatives of Cindy Sheehan saw that and asked if I wanted to have a meeting with her. I said sure. So we met and talked for about 45 minutes, mostly about what our sons had done. It was pretty civil. Then a photographer came over to take a picture. Cindy loomed over me, giving me a sad look, and then put her arms around my neck. He took the picture. I was not hugging her, but afterward I gave her a hug. Then I pulled out my camera and said, “Can we have a picture with my camera?” In that she’s smiling real big. I figured out that everything about her is cameras and the media. She gave the sad face for the news photographer, but right after, she was smiling. She’s a fake. The very last thing I said to her was “Please leave our fallen heroes out of this.” All of a sudden the hate came out of her heart. She said, “I can use my son and anybody else I want to anytime. ” I looked at her with disgust.

Two days later, the media was all over the place, and I knew it was the best opportunity to get Louis’s cross without getting assaulted. I said, “I’m going to repossess my son’s cross,” and some cameramen asked, “Can we film it?” and I said yes. I waited for them to get their gear, then walked across the street. I said, “I’m taking my cross from these unholy people.” I found the cross and pulled it out of the ground, and I was almost attacked. One man said, “That’s our property.” I said, “That’s got my son’s name on it. It’s mine.”

I drove into downtown Crawford and told some people I had repossessed my son’s cross from Cindy Sheehan’s unholy people. They set microphones up, and I bore my testimony. I said I’ll never stand for this again. Bill Johnson, who owns the Yellow Rose, in downtown Crawford, heard my testimony and said, “We’ve decided to build a place to make a stand against these people, and we’ve all agreed to call it Fort Qualls—a fort, to make a permanent stand. A camp is temporary. A fort is permanent.” I was honored. People began calling from all over the country, asking us to repossess their sons’ crosses. “Can my son’s cross stand with yours?” they asked. We repossessed about 75 over the next couple of weeks.

I have no idea why God put me in a position like this. He’s always chosen me for special missions. I kept asking God for the strength to make the right decisions, and slowly but surely I saw the rest of the U.S. stand up too. I said, “All you’ve done is wake a sleeping giant”: the silent majority of Middle America. Now I’m a spokesperson for all the gold star families. I just got back from Fort Benning. I also spoke in New York, Atlanta, and in D.C., where I met with members of Congress.

The other side has tried to label me a “war supporter.” Nobody wants to go to war, least of all the leader of our country. But a decision has to be made. President Bush made the right decision. Sometimes it hurts to make the right decision. You never want to discipline your son, but you do it. It’s the same principle. The immoral thing would have been sitting around and doing nothing. And if you do nothing, you support what’s wrong. Yet most of those protesting don’t have the conviction to fight if they don’t have to. If we answer to Cindy Sheehan’s whim and pull our troops out, who will be held responsible for the atrocities?

The death of my son brought me to a more defined, deeper appreciation—to be able to understand what others can’t. All I can do is what I’ve told my sons: Keep going, no matter what. If someone’s down, help him up. When you get too tired, ask Jesus Christ for help. Sometimes we don’t want to do things, but we have to do them. You have to learn to know the difference between your wants and your needs. That’s responsibility.