Trego's Mountain Ear

I see that Finland’s Air Force is removing the Swastika from it’s flag:

They put the swastika on the flag in 1918 (long before Hitler got an audience for National Socialism) and it was officially ended in 1920 – but not all units have been issued new flags. Apparently not everyone who sees the flag knows the history.

I recall my surprise at seeing the swastika set up in a brick building in Raton, New Mexico when I taught just over the pass in Trinidad, Co.

As with the Finnish Air Force, Raton’s swastika’s preceded the Nazi use of the symbol. There had actually been a Swastika post office for a coal mining town 6 miles out of Raton – named for what was then accepted as a ‘good luck’ symbol of some of the Southwest Indian tribes. The Swastika Fuel Company dated back to 1908 – it didn’t precede Hitler, but he was just 19 years old at the time.

It was a surprise 40 years ago.