My LTTE - Washington Post

[DancingBear]

(waiting to see if this will be published - sent it this evening)


My Father Does Not Understand

In a small case, safe in a drawer of memories, sits my father’s Purple Heart. Earned on a cold day in December, at The Battle Of The Bulge, it reminds his oldest son of the hell his father lived through. I never asked how it was earned, for I knew if that medal was given it was earned, as my dad and thousands of others put their bodies in the line of fire.

Since that war, thousands if not millions of men and women have earned that heart. Yet this week, in a spectacle that should sicken every person in America, the Republican delegates at the RNC played “let’s pretend” with the lives of my father, his brethren, and every soldier’s family in this country. By mocking the service of a true American patriot with a inked-in purple heart on a common Band-Aid, they spit in the face of my father, John Kerry and every veteran who said “I will” when their time came to give back what their country had so willingly provided them. The man who said, “send me” when it was his turn is mocked by the man who said, “find me” when it was his. My father, almost ten years dead, wipes away the anger and tries to understand why.

The words that need to be said were uttered years ago, by an Army attorney. The words ring as true today as they did when they were said at another dark time in our history – a time that looks all too familiar now. All of us, politics be damned, must look at what happened this week and with tears in our eyes say ‘Mr. Bush – have you no decency, sir. Have you no shame?”

xxxx
xxxxx

[spooky3]

1. thanks for sharing your heartfelt views

[IdaBriggs]

2. Well said! n/t

[Booster]

3. Very nice and well written. Just know that your Dad

is beaming with pride right now. Ya done good.

[joanne]

4. Beautiful letter

I nominated it for the DU home page as well.

[hlthe2b]

5. EXCELLENT, Dancing Bear, Simply Excellent!

[pacalo]

6. I love it! Good job!

[virgdem]

7. That was a great letter..

I hope that it gets published. You have made many salient points in your letter. My Dad was a WWII vet and prisoner of war. He parachuted out of a B-17 over Germany and spent 22 months as a POW (or as he put it - "a guest of the Germans.") He rarely speaks of that time, but just recently, he showed me his journal from that time. He earned a purple heart when he parachuted out of that plane. He jammed his right knee upon landing. No, he didn't bleed, but was awarded a purple heart non the less. Those who would denigrate the service of all veterans, especially those who suffered wounds, are completely despicable, even beyond despicable.

[Spazito]

8. Excellent letter!

*

[BillZBubb]

9. Wonderful!!!

I hope it gets published.