Members of Lane-Armistead Camp 1772 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans are upset over the recent removal and discarding of Confederate battle flags from the graves of Confederate soldiers in Mathews.

Small stick flags were removed at three sites, according to Chris White, lieutenant commander of the Mathews SCV camp. They were Providence, Pear Tree and Kingston Parish’s Christ Church cemeteries.

White said he was driving past Providence Cemetery in Cardinal, where his own Confederate ancestors are buried, when he noticed that the flags were gone. Thinking they must have been blown by the wind, he stopped and found that the flags had been pulled up and “thrown everywhere,” with some of the flag sticks broken. He said that his camp had placed over two dozen flags on the graves, and that only those flags had been removed. American flags were left untouched, he said.

Another SCV member, Kevin Rowe, told White that he had discovered a similar situation in Pear Tree Cem...