WWII vet's U.S. flag burned outside his NYC home

NEW YORK - An 85-year-old veteran in New York City who says he still has traumatic dreams about World War II is extremely upset over the torching of his American flag.

Harold Bernstein says his neighbors on Staten Island first noticed the recent vandalism, which apparently occurred in the middle of the night.

Bernstein tells the Staten Island Advance that other flags on his block were untouched. He wonders: "Why did they pick on me?"

"They don't know how fortunate they are to live in a country like we live in where we got freedom of speech, freedom of everything," Bernstein told 1010 WINS' Glenn Schuck.

He said if he'd encountered the culprit, he would have "strung them up there along with the flag."

He vows to keep displaying it, even though it's scorched.

Says the former Marine: "I fought for that flag."

The former Marine, who fought in World War II and saw action in Okinawa, is the father of three, grandfather of 16, and the great-grandfather of 13, Schuck reports.

Last month, just days before July 4, several residents in Roselle Park, N.J. awoke to find their American flags burned.