GAFFNEY, S.C. -- Some residents in Gaffney said that a Bank of America removed flags that were placed on the property to honor a fallen Marine.

Lance Cpl. Christopher Fowlkes died on Sept. 10 at a military hospital in Germany after an attack in Afghanistan. His body returned to the Upstate on Wednesday.

American flags were placed along the route the procession for Fowlkes would take through Gaffney, including Floyd Baker Boulevard.

Brenda Earls said that when she went to check on the flags she had placed, she found that the ones on the property of Bank of America had been removed. She said that she was told by a bank employee told her that she could not put the flags there because of bank policy.

“I just couldn’t believe in this small town that we would encounter something like this,” Earls said. “This is unconscionable to me. To know that we are such a united country and to have somebody say we couldn’t put flags on their property because it was a policy of a bank. I’m shocked.”

Bank of America released a statement to FOX Carolina on Thursday calling the issue a “misunderstanding” about the policy. It reads:

“We want to ensure the community knows how deeply proud we are of the men and women who have sacrificed so much in service to our country. The bank does fly the American flag at our locations throughout the country, and flags were displayed in front of our banking center in Gaffney the evening prior to our dedicated Marine returning home.”

When FOX Carolina visited the Bank of America location at the center of the controversy, American flags were found on the lawn and hanging from a bank entrance sign.

Earls admitted that she did not ask permission to place the flags on the property, but said she did not think it would be a problem. She said that she has since closed her accounts with the bank because she was so upset by the ordeal.