Veterans in a New Jersey town want to give a statue of Kate Smith a new home after it was booted by the Philadelphia Flyers, insisting that “Miss Patriotism” deserves to be honored.
The American Legion post in Wildwood is joining the town’s mayor, Ernie Troiano, in calling for the statue to be relocated after it was removed Sunday by the Flyers amid allegations of racism in several of her songs, including a 1939 tune called “That’s Why the Darkies Were Born,” which has been claimed to be satirical.
“The removal of the statue is an attack on veterans who fought for this country,” a petition posted by American Legion Post 184 reads. “Without the veterans of this country, the American people would not know the freedoms they have today. Kate Smith traveled over 500,000 miles in her lifetime to perform for the troops. To us, she is Miss Patriotism.”
The petition, which had more than 460 signatures as of early Thursday, said Smith’s rendition of “God Bless America” has been a staple at rallies and sporting events across the country since being introduced on her radio show during an Armistice Day broadcast from the World’s Fair in 1938.
The petition also praised the move by Troiano to keep playing Smith’s version of the song at 11 a.m. every day on the town’s beach and boardwalk, regardless of the controversy involving some of her songs.
“We’re playing [‘God Bless America’] because it’s a great song and a great rendition of that song,” Troiano told the Cherry Hill Courier-Post. “If protesters are coming in and calling me a racist, they’re welcome to do that.”
The removal of the statue and the move by the Flyers and the New York Yankees to stop broadcasting Smith’s version of the 1918 song written by Irving Berlin during World War I were overreactions to lyrics that matched the “sentiment of the day,” Troiano said.
Troiano took his defense of the statue even further, later telling WPVI that it’d be more than welcome in Wildwood.
“If it’s available, we would be interested in having it,” he told the station. “The outcry of the people has piqued by interest.”
Since the statue was taken down, “tens of thousands” of comments have flooded social media platforms in defiance of the move and the Flyers, according to the petition.
“Veterans in Wildwood support the Mayor’s plea to move the statue and have created this petition to show the statue’s owners just how much we care,” the petition reads.
A Flyers spokesman declined to comment when reached early Thursday by The Post.