Chuck Williams and I have been friends for years. As I came to
know him I learned that he led an escape of fellow Americans from a
prisoner-of-war camp in Korea after killing the guards and finally
made their way to their own lines.
Chuck Williams and I have been friends for years. As I came to know him I learned that he led an escape of fellow Americans from a prisoner-of-war camp in Korea after killing the guards and finally made their way to their own lines.
I also know John Buchanan but not as intimately. Buchanan was a combat soldier in Europe during World War II and saw many friends killed in bloody fighting. He had an honorable career as an Army officer before returning to civilian life.
Charlie Scott is also a friend. Scott was a career soldier and knows the sorrow of losing friends to enemy fire.
Each has said that he supports President Bush’s position in leading us into war with Iraq. I respect their opinion but disagree with it. Ironically, they helped establish my right to disagree.
My brother, Larry, who was a paratrooper in the Pacific during World War II and whose body bore scars from combat until the day of his death, probably would have agreed with them. I believe that my youngest brother, John, a paratrooper for more than 20 years who fought in Vietnam and who has since died, would most likely be on their side. My brother, Fred, whose 22 years in the Navy included service in Korea and Vietnam, also backs the president. His late twin, Edward, served one hitch in the Navy and might have been for Bush. My two-year service in the Army was during peacetime.
Three uncles were in the American Army in World War I and one uncle served in the Spanish-American War. Twenty-two of my relatives, including a great-grandfather, were Union soldiers in the Civil War, and another was in the Confederate Army. Another great-grandfather was wounded at Chapultepec. At least three ancestors served in the War of 1812, two soldiers and a sailor. Two of my great-great-great grandfathers fought in the Revolution; one was a prisoner-of-war for two months and lost his brother in the war. Three ancestors fought in the French and Indian War while we were still British colonists and two served in the Massachusetts militia during King Philip’s War the century before that.
Whatever one speculates they would have thought about today’s war, they helped establish our right to free speech.
But if all my ancestors had been born and raised elsewhere, had never served in American military forces, and I had arrived in the United States only this morning, I would still have the right to speak my opinion.
It dismays me to read letters from those who acknowledge the right to dissent but damn those who claim it. One who sees “anti-war” as “anti-American” wrote that it is the duty of Americans “to support our country, president and elected leadership no matter what.”
I do not trust George W. Bush’s integrity or intelligence. I respect the military forces who are in Iraq or who are likely to be sent there because their service demands it.
I uphold the rights of dissenters as long as they do not break laws protesting the war.
I have absolutely no respect for the administration’s so-called Patriot Act by which librarians may be compelled to turn over lists of books borrowed by patrons to the federal government. (Sieg heil!)
Those who take it upon themselves to determine that other Americans are unpatriotic remind me of the self-styled patriots of 60 years ago who painted swastikas on the sides of our house under cover of darkness because my father was from Germany, then our enemy.
Although I am tired of hearing those who want to curtail others’ rights, I acknowledge that they have the privilege to voice their opinions. However, I wish that they would not call themselves patriots while doing so. It cheapens the word.
