After serving tours in Iraq, a veteran is now fighting to fly his American and Marine Corps flags at home

Twitter/KPRC 2 Houston‏

A Texas veteran and his wife are challenging their home owner’s association after the group ordered them to take down the American and Marine Corps flags they had been flying in their yard.

Videos by Rare

Corporal Michael Pereira served three tours in Iraq with the United States Marine Corps from 2002 to 2009 and moved to his new neighborhood about two months ago. After move-in, he and his wife proudly displayed the two flags outside of their home.

RELATED: School officials banned all flags on cars, and some patriotic students didn’t listen

“They represent this county. They represent a brotherhood I was a part of,” Pereira said of the flags. “[They] show respect for all the people I went to war with and the ones that didn’t come back.”

The veteran added that he typically raised the flags every morning and lowered them every night as a means to honor the fallen soldiers he fought alongside, never expecting the homeowner’s association to have a problem with them.

“I’m guessing somebody didn’t like it or someone reported it or something, because I got a call from the property manager who works for the homeowners association asking me to take them down,” he said.

RELATED: A reporter noticed an American flag in the hurricane debris and refused to leave it there

Pereira immediately requested an exemption from the property management liaison to rules regarding flags, but was simply told to fill out a construction modification request. While he’s still waiting to hear back, he’s prepared to put up a fight should the homeowner’s association deny his request.

“If they’re going to take them down, it’s going to be a fight to take them down, and no one fights harder than a veteran combat Marine,” he said. “If they don’t get those rules changed, I’m going to start a petition to get the rules changed.”

What do you think?

City of Houston issues $1B in pension bonds

If you’ve never been to NASA’s building 9, here’s what you’re missing