MILLTOWN — Inside an American Legion post that has "Hanoi Jane" targets in urinals and war veterans who paid for their membership with blood, the ex-servicemen gathered around tables and looked at pictures of the new U.S. Olympic team uniforms.

They looked right, left, down, up. They squinted to find a sign, any sign, of the American flag.

"There’s the Ralph Lauren logo! What, are you kiddin’ me?" said Army veteran George Borgstede, 68, a member of American Legion Joyce Kilmer Post No. 25 in Milltown, Middlesex County.

On the left pocket of the uniform was the unmistakable polo player and horse insignia of Lauren, designer of the $795 blazers and $55 berets to be worn by U.S. Olympians during opening ceremonies in London in two weeks.

If they strained their eyes enough, the veterans gathered at Post 25 saw a minuscule American flag on the other breast pocket.

"When you say the Pledge of Allegiance, they’re covering the Ralph Lauren logo," said Borgstede, who served in the Vietnam War. "The flag’s always supposed to go over your heart. The company logo shouldn’t be larger than the American flag. It is the U.S. Olympic team, not the Ralph Lauren team,"

Inside the veterans hall adorned in red-white-and-blue and silhouettes of fallen comrades, the Olympic motto of "faster, higher, stronger" turned into angry, angrier, angriest.

Where were the uniforms for the U.S. Olympic team made?

China, of course.

"This here’s a slap in the face," said post Commander Ron Dixon, 66, an Air Force veteran of the Vietnam War. "We have veterans coming back that are giving their all over there. They’re coming back with no arms, no legs, and they can’t get any kind of job whatsoever. They keep outsourcing. For the amount of money (Lauren) is charging for these, you can’t find a place in the United States to put these together?"

Dixon has an Olympic connection of his own, volunteering as a police officer for the 2002 winter games in Salt Lake City, following the uncertainty in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He watched with pride as U.S. athletes marched in the opening ceremonies, wearing and holding American flags.

Summer Olympics: Iconic moments in history 45 Gallery: Summer Olympics: Iconic moments in history

Thursday, Dixon wore a shirt that read: "Heroes don’t wear capes — they wear dog tags."

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) also weighed in on the stars-and-gripes controversy Thursday, saying the U.S. Olympic Committee should "take all the uniforms, put them in a big pile and burn them."

On his Twitter page, Olympic Committee spokesman Patrick Sandusky tweeted: "All this talk about olympic uniforms made in China is non sense. Polo RL is an American company that supports American athletes."

Post 25, where veterans gather to discuss their charitable deeds in town and share brew and ale — buck-fifty for a beer, buck-seventy-five for a mixed drink — doesn’t exactly attract the Polo crowd. It sits in a neighborhood that has a Boulevard of Heroes — banners with the faces of war veterans from town or with ties to town.

Dixon and Borgstede were joined Thursday by Army veterans Walt Dallenbach, Bob Richards (who survived Vietnam and cancer) and John Majewski; Marine Corps veterans Ken Holman and Dick Farnham and Navy veterans John Visokay and Richard Craparotta.

The men here stand and salute American flags in parades, talk about God and country and bust the chops of one another, not necessarily in that order.

When Dixon started by announcing "Vietnam ... Korea" among the wars served by the nine veterans, someone chimed in: "Civil."

They made cracks about the Olympic uniforms, saying it looked like the athletes should be working for an airline. "I think the stewardesses look good," Dixon said.

At other times, the veterans seethed.

"It just so happens, last week I sent in a donation to the Olympic Committee," said Dallenbach, 72. "I’m going to check. If that check hasn’t cleared, it’s going to be stopped — because of the uniforms. That’s not right."

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