Jan 1941 — My Uncle (Hal Ascherin) and 4 other U.S. Sailors Tear Down Nazi Flag from German Consulate in San Francisco [2048×1579]

Transcript from an Article written about the "Flag Incident", unable to post a photo of that:

The Flag Incident
More on the Swastika Being Torn From Nazi Consulate

Continued from Page 1

…it toward him, at times slashing at it with the knife.

An attaché of the Consulate leaned out a window directly below him, grasped one end of the flag, and a full-throated tug-of-war followed.

It ended with the flag ripping, several pieces of cloth and rope fluttering down to the street.
There the crowd tore them up further as souvenirs. The balance of the flag was drawn into the window of the Consulate.

Now, Sturtevant found himself unable to get back into the third floor window.

Jack Joseph, Duke Rose, and Hal Ascherin, who had followed the sailors up the fire escape, held the leg while he leaned far out the window and grasped Sturtevant.
The flag carrier was pulled back to safety.

All five of the men were arrested, but Joseph, Rose and Ascherin were released. Sturtevant and Lackey were taken to police headquarters.

As officers brought them from the building, the crowd surged forward cheering, applauding and yelling approval of their deed.

For another hour, a throng lingered about the building, at times shouting for Captain Wiedemann to appear.

Wiedemann did not appear, but he issued a statement to newspapers saying he considered mutilation of the flag a violation of international law.

The swastika was flown, he said, on orders from the German Embassy at Washington to commemorate the re-establishment of the German empire in 1871.

ARRESTED SAILOR SMILES, IS PROUD

In Germany the day is known as Foundation Day, marking the unification of the German states under one emperor.

The Department said that “appropriate measures” would be taken to discipline two U.S. Navy seamen for tearing down the Nazi flag from the German Consulate in San Francisco.
The Department said that the German Embassy had not communicated any representation regarding the incident.

They had not known the swastika was flying from the German Consulate.
“We wouldn’t have bothered if we had known that,” said Lackey.

Shortly before noon George Q. Chase, president of Kohler & Chase, owners of the building, announced through a spokesman that his company is canceling the German Consulate’s lease.

“We are allowed to do so under a cancellation clause,” said Galviani, sales manager for Kohler & Chase. “That will be better for everybody concerned.”

Although most reports received by telephone asked that an American flag be flown alongside, army officials at the Presidio were emphatic that such action is not customary.

According to international law and protocol, Consulates and Embassies may fly the flags of their own buildings or offices.

At about 10 o’clock this morning, early in the morning, they replaced the red flag with the circled swastika as it was run up the staff extending from the third floor of the building.

Caption Below Photo: HAL ASCHERIN, “DUKE” ROSE, E. G. LACKEY, JACK JOSEPH, AND HAROLD STURTEVANT

“We thought we had to do something about it, and we did.”

[End of Transcript]