Ralph Saxton
06-19-2005, 10:40 AM
What I Remember
December 7th 1941. I remember my father saying “Germany is next”, my mother sorting food rationing stamps. dad riding a bicycle to work in the shipyard. victory gardens, victory stamps to buy war bonds, and my schools scrap metal drive. It was war.
I remember my grandmother’s face when the first telegram came. “We regret to inform you”, and ended, “killed in action”. Her son died at Tarawa. The second son was killed at Okinawa. There were two gold stars in our window.
Then, Korea. I was seventeen and communism was a “World Threat”. I enlisted. I spent sixteen months on the line before it ended. Generals at the peace talks couldn’t decide what shape the table should be. They agreed on round so no one sat at the head of the table. It cost 50,000 American boys.
When my enlistment was up I was asked to re-enlist. The French lost the struggle to control Indo China (Vietnam). We were there to help out as military advisors. I passed, I had had enough. 10 years later 50,000 more boys had died. One skirmish after another followed. More fathers and sons sent home in body bags and wheel chairs.
We have invaded a country, destroying its infrastructure, killing its people, alienating our allies, spending millions. Did they ask us for our help? The actions of a tyrant like Sadam needed to be stopped, but by the Iraqis themselves. Let’s concentrate on more of our needs at home. Is it our mission to fix the world?
Osama is still loose. Terrorism needs to be addressed here, not in Afghanistan. Where are we headed? when does it stop? Are we going to loose another 50,000 soldiers before we’ve had enough? Face it, Iraq is another no win situation. Of course if we win, we'll have a lot more oil.
A dissalusioned republican
December 7th 1941. I remember my father saying “Germany is next”, my mother sorting food rationing stamps. dad riding a bicycle to work in the shipyard. victory gardens, victory stamps to buy war bonds, and my schools scrap metal drive. It was war.
I remember my grandmother’s face when the first telegram came. “We regret to inform you”, and ended, “killed in action”. Her son died at Tarawa. The second son was killed at Okinawa. There were two gold stars in our window.
Then, Korea. I was seventeen and communism was a “World Threat”. I enlisted. I spent sixteen months on the line before it ended. Generals at the peace talks couldn’t decide what shape the table should be. They agreed on round so no one sat at the head of the table. It cost 50,000 American boys.
When my enlistment was up I was asked to re-enlist. The French lost the struggle to control Indo China (Vietnam). We were there to help out as military advisors. I passed, I had had enough. 10 years later 50,000 more boys had died. One skirmish after another followed. More fathers and sons sent home in body bags and wheel chairs.
We have invaded a country, destroying its infrastructure, killing its people, alienating our allies, spending millions. Did they ask us for our help? The actions of a tyrant like Sadam needed to be stopped, but by the Iraqis themselves. Let’s concentrate on more of our needs at home. Is it our mission to fix the world?
Osama is still loose. Terrorism needs to be addressed here, not in Afghanistan. Where are we headed? when does it stop? Are we going to loose another 50,000 soldiers before we’ve had enough? Face it, Iraq is another no win situation. Of course if we win, we'll have a lot more oil.
A dissalusioned republican