Here's the question -- were they fighting for the flag (which is, after all, just a pretty piece of cloth) ... or were they fighting for the freedoms that it represents, such as those outlined in the Bill of Rights? For the record, BTW, there's an American flag flying from my front porch on every holiday and I always observe proper flag etiquette to the best of my knowledge. However, I also realize that this country is about more than that. We shouldn't treat the flag like some sort of bizarre religious icon. Rather, we should love and cherish the liberties that it is supposed to stand for. I would never deface an American flag as a form of protest, for instance, but I firmly believe that it would be unconstitutional and un-American for the government to punish someone who did.
What's really ironic, though, is that some of the politicians who are most likely to drape themselves in the red, white, and blue are also the ones who seem to be doing the most to limit certain of our freedoms.
"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."