Dear Editor,
Many of us are still asking: Since when are our fallen soldiers “suckers and losers,” and “POWs are not heroes?” Straight out of the mouth of a former American president. Unlike we’ve never seen or heard before. My father fought in WWII and Trump’s words shook me to my core. I have yet to forget. It was unthinkable and un-American.
But then Trump is the first of many things said and done but nonetheless should never be taken for what is normal and good and right. Trump’s understanding of what it takes to be a hero is grossly misconstrued with the vanities of his rich lifestyle. That which is adverse to everything that made my father the man and hero h was. He was orphaned when he was only three when his mother died and worked in the Jerome mines when just a boy during the Great Depression. When Pearl Harbor was attacked he was age 16; he lied about his age and joined the Navy and became a frogman, known today as our Navy Seals.
He, along with others were captured and put in a Japanese prison camp where all of the died but him. He was found wandering in the jungle half dead with his chest crushed in, holding a Japanese knife. He fought valiantly before and after his capture. He never saw himself as a hero other than he just did what he had to do.
But then it’s said real heroes don’t boast or brag. Unlike our ex-president. My father kept his purple heart along with his other medals tucked away in the back of one of his dressers and got on with his life. He helped build the Davis Dam and went on to raise a family of seven children.
Never once complained about the hardships of his past and was always grateful. Especially surviving his capture with the Japanese when so many didn’t and tried to make the best of his life because of it. I know this because he was a kind and loving husband and father and would give the shirt off his back to whomever needed it. And he often did.
At my father’s funeral cars filled up the cemetery with people I never knew but they knew my father and knew he was a good man. In my eyes my father was a hero in more ways than one but his greatest heroism was surviving being a prisoner of war. Keeping himself alive until he was rescued. But even then he didn’t take credit.
He said it was his mother’s voice that kept him alive until help came. Her voice he hadn’t heard since he was three but he knew it was her.
But someone like Trump could never comprehend the courage and tenderness of my father’s story and his life’s journey. He who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth that dodged the draft with a doctor’s note with the excuse he had a bone spur in his foot. Yet out dancing in nightclubs with other daddy’s rich boys evading the draft.
Whatever works for whomever. But this I know, if you haven’t done the time you don’t have the right to call the shots on who is a hero and who is not. When Trump said POWs aren’t heroes it shook me to my core. It was the most un-American, unpatriotic thing I had ever heard. No compassion or sensitivity or any degree of depth of imagination or understanding of what it would be like to be captured and tortured and beaten and starved, not knowing if you’ll live or die.
And he’s whining and crying about his legal problems. I’m not listening after what was said about our POWs and fallen soldiers. Trump wants us to believe he’s some kind of hero comparing himself to Nelson Mandela who he know nothing about other than he’s been admired by millions. Or Alexei Navalny who was beaten to death in a Russian penal colony while Trump was playing golf and eating cheeseburgers.
Trump is neither of the above nor patriotic other than to himself. You can physically hug an American flag as Trump has done in his rallies but its meaningless and all for show if you speak ill of American POWs and our fallen soldiers. Patriotism has never been a part of Trump’s “MO’. This is a man who cared more about getting his hair wet than visiting the cemetery of the fallen soldiers on the beaches of Normandy. And called them ‘suckers and losers.’
What a far cry from President Biden’s recent visit to honor the 80th anniversary of D-Day. He spoke with reverence and humility for these men’s bravery and courage and sacrifices they gave to their country and the common good of freedom and democracy.
But then these were the soldiers that fought against the soldiers of the men Trump has admired for years. Adolf Hitler. Some things you cannot forget. In the 80s Trump’s first wife openly talked about this admiration for Hitler. Although it wasn’t a threat then but it certainly should be today. And rightfully so for those of us who like our freedom and democracy.
As more of our WWII veterans are leaving us so does the wisdom and understanding of tyranny and fascism and how quickly it can spread like a wildfire. And what they’re seeing today in our country, as one veteran said, “It is disturbing.” Another said, “It’s not what we fought for.” And one who is 100 years old said it made him sick to his stomach when he watched the attack on our capitol.
I know if my father were still alive he would be saying the same. These are war heroes unlike we’ve ever known. The least we can do is honor them by standing up to those who don’t. I know my father is a hero. He always has been and he always will be. Regardless of what one un-American ex-president says and does.
J.M.
