Hiram, GA – Liberty Counsel is offering free legal defense to the city of Hiram, Georgia, for its Memorial Day display of 79 wooden white crosses, which were meant to honor 79 fallen local soldiers. The city originally displayed the crosses but, after one person complained, hastily took them down the same day. The city council met on May 24, 2016, and unanimously voted to return the cross display. The city did so the next morning.

White crosses are a well-known, international symbol that have been used in overseas cemeteries for Americans for decades. In many of the 50 or more cemeteries and memorials across the world, the U.S. government pays for and maintains similar white crosses. Numerous monument and Establishment Clause court cases have upheld displays with similar elements.

"For one person to demand that the city remove the crosses displays a lack of understanding of American history and honor for the lives and deaths of our soldiers. The cross is an international symbol of the graves of American soldiers," said Horatio "Harry" Mihet, Esq., Vice President of Legal Affairs & Chief Litigation Counsel of Liberty Counsel. "We fully support this constitutional display and other similar displays across the country," said Mihet.

Liberty Counsel’s letter in support of Hiram’s Memorial Day display states, "The Memorial Day display is not an 'establishment of religion,' but it is an appropriate Memorial Day tribute to fallen soldiers and is just as constitutional as the cross-shaped grave markers in any American military cemetery."

Liberty Counsel is an international nonprofit, litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989, by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and related topics.