Dear Editor:
Regarding Pat Boots article about Memorial Day, I have to say, we all look forward to that day when we turn our swords into plowshares, but I honor those in our military, including your father and my own.
I, too, hate war, but will ask you place yourself for a moment in the shoes (or bare feet) of those who were liberated at Auschwitz, when they saw the soldiers coming to release them from their bonds. As long as there are despots and tyrants in the world who aim to annihilate another people, we will have wars, but if you ask one of our American military men or women why they are fighting, most will tell you it is to defend the weak and protect the defenseless;. They detest the horrors of war as much, or more than you do, but without their sacrifice, would you and I be able to carry on this discussion today?
I do not agree that all of what we have done recently is with exceptional wisdom, but our military deserves our respect. We are not glorifying war by honoring them. My dad served four years in Europe, received two purple hearts and suffered from battle fatigue, or in todays terms, PTSD. When I heard the sound of rifle volleys at his funeral in 1988, I didnt think of killing machines. We are educated as military families that the significance of salutes or rifle volleys at military funerals dates historically to a time when weapons were discharged in a sign of cessation of conflict. The battle was over, the weapons were emptied, as with the cannon you heard at Veterans Day ceremonies.
Boots piece left me with the same feeling many Vietnam-era veterans, like my husband, had when they returned home to a disgraceful reception. They deserve better.
Monica Noland
Cortez
Via e-mail
