The holiday weekend is over and many have returned to work with sunburned faces and bellies full of barbeque and potato salad, fresh strawberries and corn on the cob. For me, the weekend was emotional as I continued to read and link all the wonderful tributes to our servicemen. I heard one of the Navy big wigs tell Fox News this morning that Fleet Week in New York was again a big success but that the best part was how everyone started their conversations with a big "thank you" to our service men and women. That is music to my ears.
But then I'm brought up short when I see that the New York Times decided that Memorial Day weekend, a time when we celebrate those who have given everything for their country, was the time to resurrect and try yet again to rehabilitate John Kerry. The absolute obtuseness of the NYT is mindboggling. Of all weekends to push this cowardly traitor in our face. It is so insulting, I have no adequate words to describe the visceral reactions engendered in the honorable Vietnam vets and their families.
Tom Maguire at Just One Minute had three separate posts running on the subject: Bring it On, Did the Band of Brothers Change their Tune?, and Enough with the Magic Hat. The comments sections were, and still are, flaming and posters I'd never heard of were contributing fast and furiously. Some were claiming first hand knowledge of actual events, such as Kerry's Silver Star incident and claims, some were parroting democratic and Kerry talking points and some, like myself, could care less what happened in Kerry's piddly 4 months in Vietnam and wanted to concentrate on the real crime, his 1971 testimony and "Winter Soldier" shameful actions. That I have zero respect for John Kerry and find him one of the most despicable persons in America is no secret. The fact that I have felt that way since April of 1971 is probably only well known among my own family and friends until this weekend.
I waited until the weekend of Honor was over before addressing this subject because I refused to allow John Kerry to intrude once again on the honor all our combat veterans deserve, despite how you might feel about the individual war involved in that service.
So let me make it crystal clear here as I made it in the comments sections of the above-referenced posts ... I despise John Kerry. I despise him for smearing an entire generation of soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, coast guarders and national guardsmen. When he denigrated his fellow comrades-in arms with these lying words:
they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country.
he not only smeared my son's Daddy, who had served 15 honorable months at the Mekong Delta attached to the Mobile Riverine Force at the same time that the cowardly Lt. John Kerry only had to serve 4 months, but he smeared every serviceman who served over the 10 years and the 58,000+ that did not come home in a War called Vietnam. Today it is John Murtha, in 1971 it was John Kerry. The same John Kerry who stood in front of the cameras at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and gave the finger, oops sorry, saluted and said "reporting for duty." I was so upset when he did that, I had to run to the bathroom to throw up. I felt like I'd just been hit in my gut by an 18-wheeler. I can only imagine how the veterans themselves felt at that moment in time. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth was born and finally we had a voice to counteract the lies of the leader of the great unwashed and rag tag army known as the "Winter Soldiers." After the election, the The Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation has taken up the gauntlet. Of course, at the same time, those who are so ignorant and blind they actually think John Kerry is a hero have also surfaced. This ignorant, uninformed and blinded second group is out in full force, making total fools of themselves. They just don't get it. They want to argue Kerry's service in 1968-1969 (arguably questionable) rather than argue the true crime of his disgusting testimony in 1971 and the subsequent change in public opinion as a result of his lying testimony. Public opinion that created an atmosphere that allowed landlords to refuse housing to those who wore the uniform of this country, public opinion that allowed employers to refuse employment to the spouses of those who wore the uniform proudly. Public opinion that allowed the media to cheer those who demonstrated against the war and allowed for acceptance and encouragement of scenes of raw sewage and other vile things to be thrown at those in uniform.
My son, a 7 year old in 1972, was told by his then 2nd grade teacher, "God doesn't listen to prayers for baby killers." His Daddy, at that time, was serving yet another combat tour in Vietnam. I will put every one of you John Kerry Winter Soldier supporters on notice ... this Mother has never gotten over that day when that teacher said that to my child. I will never forget what it did to my child and how the shame that teacher heaped on him and his Daddy in front of his classroom of peers affected him, I will never forgive. I am a Grandmother now, my son is now forty. I am no longer constrained by the fact that our Vet was still active duty and could not speak out. My son is no longer a scared 7 year old who could not respond, but a grown man with strong thoughts and feelings of his own that he can express openly and vehemently. We tried to forget that time, we thought it was all behind us as a distant memory consigned to the trash heap of memories. No we were not allowed to forget when Kerry "reported for duty," no, we do not forgive. I doubt we ever will.
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