Veteran Gives Back His Medals

[struggle4progress]

Upset vet gives back his medals
By Michael Stetz
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
May 8, 2006

.. So in March, the mild-mannered Air Force veteran with graying hair sat down and wrote to the President of the United States of America:

“I am saddened to give up my hard earned medals. But the hate, torture and death you have instrumented in this world tarnish the symbolism they carry” ..

When he helps put up the crosses, Patterson hears mostly positive feedback. He said that's true even in Oceanside, near Camp Pendleton, where Marines often stop by to offer their support ..

http://www.wnymedia.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1401&Itemid=35

[Ringo84]

1. Re:

I'm impressed with the fact that he's standing on principles. Very good man.
Ringo

[DianaForRussFeingold]

2. man is very useful,But he has one defect: He can think.

:hi::dem: Thank you,'I am saddened to give up my hard earned medals. But the hate, torture and death you have instrumented in this world tarnish the symbolism they carry. man is very useful.
He can fly and he can kill.
But he has one defect: He can think. From the movie 'Sir No Sir' http://www.sirnosir.com/home_filmtrailer_dsl.html In the 1960’s an anti-war movement emerged that altered the course of history. This movement didn’t take place on college campuses, but in barracks and on aircraft carriers. It flourished in army stockades, navy brigs and in the dingy towns that surround military bases. It penetrated elite military colleges like West Point. And it spread throughout the battlefields of Vietnam. It was a movement no one expected, least of all those in it. Hundreds went to prison and thousands into exile. And by 1971 it had, in the words of one colonel, infested the entire armed services. Yet today few people know about the GI movement against the war in Vietnam.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x891657#891657
The Vietnam War has been the subject of hundreds of films, both fiction and non-fiction, but this story–the story of the rebellion of thousands of American soldiers against the war–has never been told in film.This is certainly not for lack of evidence. By the Pentagon’s own figures, 503,926 “incidents of desertion” occurred between 1966 and 1971; officers were being “fragged”(killed with fragmentation grenades by their own troops) at an alarming rate; and by 1971 entire units were refusing to go into battle in unprecedented numbers. In the course of a few short years, over 100 underground newspapers were published by soldiers around the world; local and national antiwar GI organizations were joined by thousands; thousands more demonstrated against the war at every major base in the world in 1970 and 1971, including in Vietnam itself; stockades and federal prisons were filling up with soldiers jailed for their opposition to the war and the military.

Yet few today know of these history-changing events.:patriot:

[AbsoluteArmorer]

3. Outstanding Gesture

Very honorable and courageous on Mr Patterson's behalf. Good post struggle4progress!

[AbsolutNickUSN76]

4. What about Dems that support the war?

I won't bash these veterans because I do not believe that to be proper. I honor their service regardless of whatever disagreement I might have wioth their statement. I know of Dems that do support the war effort in Iraq even if they feel concerns over how it has been run and the diplomatic repercussions. Where do we stand? For or against the war? Congressman Murtha and Congresswoman Pelosi have come out in favor of withdrawl, however Dems such as Senator Clinton and my home state Senator Mikulski seem to oppose withdrawl. Leaving the President out of the equation, between Democrats, who is right?