Good on ya Bill!

Walt
AirBoss
Veterans Airlift Command

Your video, “Warmongers or peacemakers: Who will be responsible for scorching the earth?”

http://www.pjtv.com/v/2591

This should be available on you tube. It’s the kind of message that everyone needs to hear for free. You really hit the nail on the head and its a great add for PJ.

How can I contact you in the future?

Keep up the good work.

Brad

Thank you for the incredible essay and long live the memory of William Joseph Whittle! My grandfather passed this spring, he also served the same years as your Father as a volunteer member of the 101st Airborne and he never spoke about it once in light of my relentless inquisition throughout my lifetime. When my Grandmother passed in 2005 he asked to come and live with me, and as we passed through the gates of the Roseburg Oregon VA Hospital following his long awaited classification of PTSD after a half century of test and psyche evals, he said softly…”I am going to talk for a while kiddo, and I will never speak of this again.” The eight hours we spent driving north to my home in Washington State were filled will tales of castles, mortar fire, bloodshed, and mayhem, the likes of which I had never imagined. Now that my Grandfather has passed, I reflect often on that day and his willingness to share those memories with me…

Some argue, that the men and women of that time are very different from you or I, but I say the time those men and women are from is what forged them, and I feel there are many parallels from that time and now…we need to remember what it means to be American…

Thank you again for sharing your story…

Cheers!

Here in Australia, we are more reserved about our patriotism, yet I would say that there is just as much respect here for men who do military service for this country as there is in yours.

I just read the article about your father’s funeral at ANC. Although I never went here until I was out of the army, friends of mine, to include my best friend, were in the Old Guard at Ft. Meyer which does the ceremonies. One was even the commander of the relief at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. [You can see his as such in the movie "Gardens of Stone" with D.B. Sweeny, James Caan and James Earl Jones (the SSG inspecting the oncomming guard, a real ceremony)]. He has since finished college, gone to OCS and is now a Lt.Col.

I went through that to tell you this. Although the personification of the “parade ground soldiers” the men and women of the Old Guard consider themselves elite. They are dedicated professionals who, despite it being routine for them, are always mindful of the fact that to the families and friends of the deceased, this is a solemn and one time event.

I have been behind the scenes and seen the G.I.s being the usual jockular[sp?] young men, smoking and joking while pressing shirts and insulting each others family trees;

but when they go outside in their dress blues, keenly aware of what they represent, they become steely-eyed, mission oriented professionals.

When my father, an Korean War era Air Force veteran, was buried in our hometown, he had a flag on his coffin my older brother in the uniform of an Air Force Officer. he also had me in the uniform of an Army PFC and my best friend (later to serve on the Old Guard) in the uniform of an Army Corporal. For us it was all the honor guard we needed.

With respects,
Max

Dave

But there is a frightening, even loathsome corallary: that one day long from now, in the natural course of events, your father’s funeral might be the funeral of the current President of the United States. We can hope that he and his may stay true to type and decide that it’s somehow beneath them. After all, Arlington was Robert E. Lee’s estate once. Which would just go to show that some people will never understand. But in this case, it might be a good thing.

I’m sorry to drop such bitter rain on the grounds of honor, but the time will come when we must face the issue.