FANCY GAP -- It was Veterans Day, but 82-year-old World War II vet Clyde Easter was not happy.

Easter, a member of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1115 in Hillsville, was among those attending Veterans Day observances at two Carroll County schools Nov. 10 as he had in past years. "And always in the past we have had prayers," he said.

But Carroll County Intermediate School Principal Kevin Harris checked with Superintendent Oliver McBride, who said prayer was not on the program.

"And I told him I was very unhappy, very disappointed to hear that decision," Easter said.

"I just got in my mind that God has blessed this nation for over 200 years," he said. "And to think that we were having a Veterans Day program there and we were not allowed to have a prayer. It just overwhelmed me. I couldn't cope with it."

He said he worried the entire night before the program. When it began, Easter walked to the microphone. He introduced himself and said that, because the prayer had been denied, he would be walking out and encouraged others to join him. Only a few did.

"I walked out representing me only," he said, although he was in his VFW uniform. He said his VFW commander has not endorsed his action.

Easter did the same thing at a second Veterans Day ceremony at the Saint Paul School in Cana, after Principal Nancy Wilmoth gave him the same answer about an opening prayer.

McBride, who recently retired as superintendent, said Veterans Day has been observed in Carroll County schools for more than 30 years. "We want it for our young people to be a time when they can both see and hear from our veterans," he said.

But a sectarian prayer can no longer be part of that program, he said, according to U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

"We feel like we had to uphold what we understand to be our responsibilities in a school setting," McBride said. "Particularly when we're giving leadership to a program in that setting."

The Carroll County School Board has invocations before its meetings, he acknowledged. But a public school program where students are required to attend is different, he said.

Easter did not let the matter drop. "I said, 'Something's got to be done.' "

So he drew up a petition "to put prayer back in our schools in America," he said.

The twice-wounded veteran of the Anzio Beach campaign in Italy put copies into letters to veterans groups. He got it printed in the magazine Military. And the signatures began coming in.

"I've got about 15,200 signatures now. One fellow down in Decatur, Ala., has mailed me over 2,000 signatures," he said in June. "My goal, to begin with, was to get a million signatures by the end of the year."

That might not happen, he conceded, because the mailings are starting to slow down. But he said he will keep trying.

It is Christian prayer he wants, he said. Asked for his reaction if a Muslim or someone from another religion came forward, "I would say, 'No, you are not welcome to have your prayer,' " he said. "You're in America. We don't worship Mohammed; we don't worship Buddha."

It would seem to be a losing fight because government cannot legally favor one religion over another. But Easter said he chooses God's law over man's law.

"The minority is sort of ruling things today, not the majority," he said. "Diversity's fine, but don't go overboard with it."