FOR some, it may be just a flag but for Brian Fairfield, it symbolises his love for his country.
When he put up a flagpole in his back garden, the ex-serviceman and pensioner raised the Union Flag with pride and admired it from the ground.
But just a few days after first raising the flag, he had a phone call asking him to take it down.
He was told by his landlords at Sanctuary Housing other residents had complained it was an eyesore that made too much noise.
"Maybe I am more patriotic than the average person," said Mr Fairfield, 80.
"When I watch the military parades on television, I have a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes.
"I love my garden and if there is anything I can put in it to make it look nicer, I will."
Mr Fairfield, a former British Army sergeant who also served in the parachute regiment, first put up the flagpole in his back garden on Tuesday last week.
The 18ft white pole had a 5ft by 3ft Union Flag hoisted to the top of it each morning.
But on Friday, Mr Fairfield received a phone call telling him to take the flag down.
Mr Fairfield, who lives with his wife Shirley, 68, in west Hull, said: "Before I put it up, I checked to see if I needed planning permission.
"But apparently in our great country, as long as it is a national flag, you don't need it and no one can tell you to remove it.
"I paid £70 for the pole and another £30 for the concrete."
Mr Fairfield, who has lived in Impala Way for a year and a half, joined the medical corps in 1949 and was later posted to a field ambulance in Germany.
He then joined the parachute regiment and left active service in 1951.
He later worked in the entertainment business and was an acquaintance of David Whitfield.
He was inspired to buy a flag and pole after seeing one in his son's neighbour's garden.
He said: "We had some trouble with our neighbours in our previous property and we'd often have the police round at all hours.
"When we moved to this house, it was our little piece of heaven.
"But all this has really taken the shine off things."
Mr Fairfield says he was told Sanctuary had received five complaints about the flag, relating to it being an eyesore.
But he was more surprised to hear that some residents considered it to be "noisy".
He said: "I couldn't believe it when I got the phone call.
"The complaints included that when the flag is flying in the wind it makes too much noise.
"But if that is the case, then surely washing hanging on the line could make 'too much noise'?"
The Mail contacted Sanctuary Housing about the issue.
John Hanson, local head of housing operations for Sanctuary, said: "We understand Mr and Mrs Fairfield had the best of intentions.
"However, having received a number of complaints about the size of the flag and the noise it created, we asked that they take the flag down as a courtesy to their neighbours and Mr Fairfield kindly agreed."
But Mr Fairfield said he would rather come to some compromise so everyone can enjoy living in the street.
He said: "I even put it in the middle of the garden so the flag didn't fly over anyone else's land.
"I used to put it up in the mornings and take it down for the evening.
"I would rather have come to some agreement so I only had the flag up during the day.
"I think it looks good in the garden."
