Americans have started to complain about yellow ribbons that have been put up to remember the troops overseas as if they are eyesores.

At least that is what is happening in the Massachusetts town of Pembroke, which is 30 miles south of Boston. The focus of the fracas is the Barker Square condominium development. Nine unit owners have tied yellow ribbons around columns that appear to be attached to their entryways, but the condominium association, citing condo rules that consider the columns a “common area,” has ordered the ribbons to be removed. If not, owners will have to pay a $25 monthly fine.

This is not a case of an anti-war agitator spitting on a returning soldier. Nor does the dispute appear to be ideological. Rather it reflects the insidious myopia and self-involvement of many Americans at a time when so few of us either serve in the military or know anybody who does.

The yellow ribbon campaign began several weeks ago. When Pembroke’s homegrown Military Support Group moved to put up new yellow ribbons adorning town streetlights, a group of property owners at Barker Square opted to put up ribbons of their own.

On Saturday, a Navy veteran, Ronald Dowd, sat around the dining room table of a fellow veteran, Francis Gaeta, and spoke about the trouble they have gotten into just trying to honor American service men and women. “I think every American knows what a yellow ribbon represents,” Mr. Dowd, a Democrat, says. “If it gives the parents of any hurt soldier or killed soldier any comfort, mission accomplished.”

“To us, it shows support for our troops overseas,” Mr. Gaeta says. “We intended to keep them up until they come home.”

The wish to support the families of soldiers has resonance in this town of almost 17,000. Two of Pembroke’s own have fallen in Iraq — First Lieutenant Brian McPhillips and Private First Class Matthew Bean. Barker Square residents stood out along the main street to watch Bean’s funeral procession last year.

Over the last three decades, yellow ribbons have emerged as a powerful patriotic symbol. During the Gulf War, soldiers’ families put them up to honor their loved ones. When Iranians occupied America’s embassy in Iran, they were used to mark the absence of the Americans held hostage.

The lyrics of a Tony Orlando and Dawn song “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree,” tells of a convict returning from prison looking to see if his girlfriend displayed a sign that she still loved him, a yellow ribbon.

Mr. Gaeta, at age 75, remembers seeing the John Ford western film starring John Wayne, “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon,” which depicts the American cavalry’s fights in the west, and includes a song of the same name. The song’s words reflect the importance of the yellow ribbon to remember troops at war: “Around her hair she wore a yellow ribbon … She wore it for her soldier who was far, far away.”

History aside, the condo association, whose rules govern life in Barker Square, wants the ribbons removed. “While ribbons may be fixed to doors or incorporated into door decorations, they are not permitted on the columns,” says the letter that was sent to Mr. Gaeta. A neighbor and member of the association, Mary Doller, maintains that the edict “is not anti-patriotic” and insists “if you live in a condo association, you have to follow the rules.” The yellow ribbon faction counters that proposed compromises render the ribbons invisible.

Anybody who’s ever had to deal with a condo association or, the even more onerous, co-op board knows how difficult those groups can be. At some point, however, remembering our troops has to carry more weight than the typical board concerns, such as determining the proper size of Christmas light displays.

“We understand the rules. But this is about something bigger — the freedom of the United States of America,” Mr. Gaeta’s wife, Mildred, said.

Right now Messrs. Gaeta and Dowd are keeping their ribbons up. They will take the matter to the small claims court if they have to. But it shouldn’t have to come to that.

Mr. Gitell (gitell.com) is a contributing editor of The New York Sun.