I am very disappointed that it took some Veterans just two months to use the new Winneshiek County Veterans Memorial in the made-up culture wars that some people seem to be obsessed with now-a-days. I’m pretty sure they can’t speak for all 7500+ people listed on that memorial, especially as most of them are dead.
General, and President, Dwight Eisenhower made it clear that it takes about 90% of a modern military to keep the 10% who do the actual fighting in the field.
An argument about whether or how someone may or may not say the pledge of allegiance is a disguised accusation of not being a patriot, and ridiculous. As a former combat Marine, and a disabled Vietnam Veteran, I have not stood up for the national anthem, or recited the pledge, since I left Vietnam. Am I not a patriot?
History shows Vietnam was an illegal and immoral war and I don’t think it is something honor-worthy to have taken part in the killing of 3 million innocent Southeast Asians. My name is not on the new memorial.
I would have thought the Veterans who signed that letter, and the newspaper’s editor who originally brought this up, would be more concerned with the Supervisor’s attacks on conservation, roadside management, and libraries, and the loss of two longtime important county employees.
As a Veteran, a citizen, and a patriot, I have no problem voting for people whose freedom I fought for, and who are exercising that freedom.
Bob Watson
Rural Decorah