5.30.2005
Thank You, Mr. Buckles!
The soldiers' long goodbye
From The Washington Times
Joyce H. Price
May 30 2005
Frank W. Buckles was a 16-year-old Missouri farm boy when he joined the Army in July 1917 as one of more than 4.7 million Americans enlisted during what was known then as the Great War.
Today, the 104-year-old Mr. Buckles, a retired West Virginia cattle farmer, is among at least 50 American World War I veterans still living, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
Those few dozen are among the nearly 25 million surviving U.S. veterans, which includes about 18.4 million war veterans. The rest served during peacetime.
As one of the oldest surviving veterans, Mr. Buckles may attend ceremonies today marking Memorial Day. He recalls one such commemoration that took place six years ago when French President Jacques Chirac presented him and three other World War I veterans with the French Legion of Honor.
"The French Embassy even sent a stretch limo to my farm to pick me up. That was a surprise," says Mr. Buckles, who was interviewed for the Veterans History Project of the Library of Congress five years ago.
Regardless, if he attends any events this year, his mind easily can go back to the time of World War I to recall names, places and dates.
His job was to drive ambulances and motorcycles on rescue and scout missions in England and France.
He says his time overseas in the Army made him value the freedom of being an American and that he and his war buddies really thought the Great War was the "war to end all wars."
It did not take long, however, for them to realize how wrong they were.
Dying out
Mr. Buckles is part of a dwindling legion. The number of surviving American veterans is falling sharply; about 1,640 die each day, or 600,000 each year.
In September 2000, the total number of survivors was nearly 26.5 million. In 2003, the figure was down to 25.2 million.
By September 2010, the projected number of surviving veterans is expected to be 22 million. That total will drop to 18 million by 2020 and to 15 million in 2030, according to VA projections.
The oldest of those survivors, Emiliano Mercado Del Toro of Puerto Rico, is 113 years old. Drafted near the end of World War I, he never faced combat. He never left Puerto Rico.
Phil Budahn, VA spokesman, says the government's projections for a continuing decline in the numbers of surviving military veterans "would include new generations of veterans" who qualify for benefits.
No one expects the number of new veterans to approach the numbers dying. "This year, we're expecting the deaths of 662,000 vets ... and we're expecting 633,000 deaths 10 years from now," Mr. Budahn says.
Although the annual death toll is expected to dip to 512,000 veterans in 2025, Mr. Budahn says it's anticipated the military will discharge about 200,000 active-duty or reservists or National Guardsmen yearly. They then will be added to the VA rolls.
Providing for veterans
The decline in living veterans, however, has little effect on the VA.
"We are providing survivors' benefits to about 340,000 people, who most typically are surviving spouses of veterans," Mr. Budahn says.
For example, he says, the VA has five children of Civil War veterans on its rolls, as well as about 45,000 children and 12,000 spouses of World War I vets, plus 16,000 children and 247,000 spouses of World War II vets.
Even with the tighter eligibility restrictions, the number of patients in the VA medical system has grown from 2.9 million to 5.2 million since 1998, Mr. Budahn says.
A key reason for the growth, he says, is the VA's "generous" prescription-drug program. Medicines are free for those with illnesses or injuries related to military service and cost $7 for a one-month supply for veterans whose pharmacy needs are not related to military service.
"We're able to provide high-quality medical care that allows our vets to live longer," Mr. Budahn says. "But as a person ages, he has greater health demands"
The spokesman holds that the VA's "immediate, most important" priority is to "have enough money committed to older vets, as we take care of a new generation of combat veterans."
With the fiscal 2006 VA budgets, Mr. Budahn says, "We're confident we can meet all our responsibilities."
Mr. Buckles, the World War I veteran, has used VA medical benefits and "has great respect for the VA." It has been nearly a decade since such assistance enabled him to acquire electronic devices that improved his hearing.
"Since 1998, we've had a system that has assigned the highest priority to vets with service-connected illnesses or injuries, to vets who are poor and to vets with catastrophic medical problems," Mr. Budahn says.
The VA "can and does treat other veterans, but they have to make co-payments." Many older veterans fail to find out whether they are eligible for benefits.
Others choose not to use them.
Among those is Maudie Hopkins, 89, of Lexa, Ark., who emerged last year as a surviving Confederate widow, the last, and surely the last such link to the War Between the States that ended nearly a century and a half ago. In 1934, when she was 19, she married William M. Cantrell, then 86. Mr. Cantrell served in a Kentucky regiment and was captured in April 1863.
The VA does not provide benefits to Mrs. Hopkins because she doesn't want government assistance.
Lloyd Brown, a 105-year-old World War I veteran who lives in Charlotte Hall, Md., in St. Mary's County, does not receive VA benefits, either.
"He has never used [VA] benefits," says his daughter, Nancy Espino. "We looked into it and were told he has too much income to qualify."
Mr. Brown was a teenager in Missouri when he enlisted in the Navy in 1915. For most of World War I, he was part of a gunnery crew on the USS New Hampshire, based in Norfolk. The New Hampshire was assigned to search for German U-boats, as submarines were called, keeping the shipping lanes open between the United States and Europe.
Mr. Brown spent hours at a time in the crow's-nest of the coal-powered battleship.
"We saw a German sub, captured it and brought it into the Philadelphia Navy Yard," where the crew was imprisoned, Mr. Brown says.
He uses a golf cart to get around his yard, Mrs. Espino says, and "sometimes he goes out in it on the road." Mr. Brown says that isn't necessarily so, but concedes he does "ride around the neighborhood."
He's included in a study of centenarians, and how they spend their time, conducted by Boston University.
Place to call home
Two veterans -- both of whom were career soldiers and served in at least two war theaters -- were interviewed at the Armed Forces Retirement Home in the District.
The wooded 276-acre property, in the 3700 block of North Capitol Street Northwest, is an independent agency administered by the executive branch of government.
Once the home of George W. Riggs, founder of the Riggs National Bank, it became a "military asylum" or "safe haven" for veterans in 1851, when purchased by the government.
During the 49 months of his presidency, Abraham Lincoln spent 13 months at the home as a getaway during the hot summer. He is thought to have worked on the Emancipation Proclamation there. The home currently has 976 residents -- nearly 90 percent of them men, officials from the home say.
"It's ironic that a lot of people don't even know we exist," says spokeswoman Sheila Motley. Of the residents, 828 are classified as independent, meaning they can care for themselves. They must be in that condition when they arrive.
William D. Woods, 74, of Cambridge, Mass., who was a platoon sergeant, has been at the home since 1993. "I came here to use Walter Reed [Army Medical Center]," he says.
He recalls how he dropped out of high school at age 17 to join the Army.
"It was the thing to do. It was the Cold War, and all the girls liked men in uniforms at that time [1947]. We were all knights in shining armor."
Mr. Woods served with the 6th Infantry Division and was in the demilitarized zone at the 38th parallel, which divided North and South Korea. He worked as a radio operator to direct artillery fire.
"I went from private to sergeant because I could read a map and use a compass."
He remained in the Army for 22 years. He says the disabilities he acquired, which brought him to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in the early 1990s, resulted from his exposure to Agent Orange, a defoliant that includes dioxin, in Vietnam.
"We used it to kill weeds, and it was killing us, too."
Mr. Woods says exposure to Agent Orange seriously impaired his circulation, and doctors at a hospital in Cambridge, Mass., wanted to amputate his right foot. He checked into Walter Reed for a second opinion, and his foot was saved.
Another resident, Allen N. Frazier, often is told he looks fit for being 78. The retired Marine Corps master gunnery sergeant offers his own reason: "I drink good scotch."
Mr. Frazier, who grew up in Montclair, N.J., served in three wars: World War II, Korea and Vietnam. He dropped out of high school toward the end of World War II and joined the Merchant Marines as a seaman.
He had several close calls, both on and off duty, in that cargo-hauling capacity. "In 1945, I was on one of the first ships that took relief to Poland under the Marshall Plan."
Another one of the cargo vessels he served on carried "1,500 war brides and their babies" from England to the United States.
"I still communicate with two of those war brides who live in Michigan and Florida," Mr. Frazier says.
He found the women after reading a book they had written about war brides from World War II, which mentioned his ship.
"I volunteered for the Marine Corps to avoid the draft," he says. He finished high school, married and remained for 23 years and two more wars.
Then (l.) and now (r.) Frank W. Buckles
A matter of respect
Veterans of World War I lack something vets of other decades-old conflicts lack -- a major memorial.
In addition to their remarkably good health and lucidity, World War I survivors Mr. Buckles and Mr. Brown think there should be a memorial on the national Mall for those who served in that war, just as there are memorials for veterans of World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
"They should have done that a long time ago," Mr. Buckles says.
What exists today in the shadow of the grand World War II memorial is a small circle of columns covered by a dome that was erected in 1931. The memorial was paid for by the District and honors the local sacrifices made during World War I. "They also should have [a memorial] for Gen. John J. Pershing," he says.
Among Mr. Buckles' fondest memories was meeting and talking at length with Gen. Pershing, who led troops in World War I, at a tribute for the Allied commander in Oklahoma City in January 1920.
"I was 18 and only a corporal, but the general asked to speak to me," Mr. Buckles says. "It turned out he was born just 43 miles from my home in Charles Town."
Mr. Buckles describes Gen. Pershing as a "wonderful man" and says: "He was really tough. He didn't take any guff."
Researcher John Sopko contributed to this report.
Thank you, Mr. Buckles!
From The Washington Times
Joyce H. Price
May 30 2005
Frank W. Buckles was a 16-year-old Missouri farm boy when he joined the Army in July 1917 as one of more than 4.7 million Americans enlisted during what was known then as the Great War.
Today, the 104-year-old Mr. Buckles, a retired West Virginia cattle farmer, is among at least 50 American World War I veterans still living, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
Those few dozen are among the nearly 25 million surviving U.S. veterans, which includes about 18.4 million war veterans. The rest served during peacetime.
As one of the oldest surviving veterans, Mr. Buckles may attend ceremonies today marking Memorial Day. He recalls one such commemoration that took place six years ago when French President Jacques Chirac presented him and three other World War I veterans with the French Legion of Honor.
"The French Embassy even sent a stretch limo to my farm to pick me up. That was a surprise," says Mr. Buckles, who was interviewed for the Veterans History Project of the Library of Congress five years ago.
Regardless, if he attends any events this year, his mind easily can go back to the time of World War I to recall names, places and dates.
His job was to drive ambulances and motorcycles on rescue and scout missions in England and France.
He says his time overseas in the Army made him value the freedom of being an American and that he and his war buddies really thought the Great War was the "war to end all wars."
It did not take long, however, for them to realize how wrong they were.
Dying out
Mr. Buckles is part of a dwindling legion. The number of surviving American veterans is falling sharply; about 1,640 die each day, or 600,000 each year.
In September 2000, the total number of survivors was nearly 26.5 million. In 2003, the figure was down to 25.2 million.
By September 2010, the projected number of surviving veterans is expected to be 22 million. That total will drop to 18 million by 2020 and to 15 million in 2030, according to VA projections.
The oldest of those survivors, Emiliano Mercado Del Toro of Puerto Rico, is 113 years old. Drafted near the end of World War I, he never faced combat. He never left Puerto Rico.
Phil Budahn, VA spokesman, says the government's projections for a continuing decline in the numbers of surviving military veterans "would include new generations of veterans" who qualify for benefits.
No one expects the number of new veterans to approach the numbers dying. "This year, we're expecting the deaths of 662,000 vets ... and we're expecting 633,000 deaths 10 years from now," Mr. Budahn says.
Although the annual death toll is expected to dip to 512,000 veterans in 2025, Mr. Budahn says it's anticipated the military will discharge about 200,000 active-duty or reservists or National Guardsmen yearly. They then will be added to the VA rolls.
Providing for veterans
The decline in living veterans, however, has little effect on the VA.
"We are providing survivors' benefits to about 340,000 people, who most typically are surviving spouses of veterans," Mr. Budahn says.
For example, he says, the VA has five children of Civil War veterans on its rolls, as well as about 45,000 children and 12,000 spouses of World War I vets, plus 16,000 children and 247,000 spouses of World War II vets.
Even with the tighter eligibility restrictions, the number of patients in the VA medical system has grown from 2.9 million to 5.2 million since 1998, Mr. Budahn says.
A key reason for the growth, he says, is the VA's "generous" prescription-drug program. Medicines are free for those with illnesses or injuries related to military service and cost $7 for a one-month supply for veterans whose pharmacy needs are not related to military service.
"We're able to provide high-quality medical care that allows our vets to live longer," Mr. Budahn says. "But as a person ages, he has greater health demands"
The spokesman holds that the VA's "immediate, most important" priority is to "have enough money committed to older vets, as we take care of a new generation of combat veterans."
With the fiscal 2006 VA budgets, Mr. Budahn says, "We're confident we can meet all our responsibilities."
Mr. Buckles, the World War I veteran, has used VA medical benefits and "has great respect for the VA." It has been nearly a decade since such assistance enabled him to acquire electronic devices that improved his hearing.
"Since 1998, we've had a system that has assigned the highest priority to vets with service-connected illnesses or injuries, to vets who are poor and to vets with catastrophic medical problems," Mr. Budahn says.
The VA "can and does treat other veterans, but they have to make co-payments." Many older veterans fail to find out whether they are eligible for benefits.
Others choose not to use them.
Among those is Maudie Hopkins, 89, of Lexa, Ark., who emerged last year as a surviving Confederate widow, the last, and surely the last such link to the War Between the States that ended nearly a century and a half ago. In 1934, when she was 19, she married William M. Cantrell, then 86. Mr. Cantrell served in a Kentucky regiment and was captured in April 1863.
The VA does not provide benefits to Mrs. Hopkins because she doesn't want government assistance.
Lloyd Brown, a 105-year-old World War I veteran who lives in Charlotte Hall, Md., in St. Mary's County, does not receive VA benefits, either.
"He has never used [VA] benefits," says his daughter, Nancy Espino. "We looked into it and were told he has too much income to qualify."
Mr. Brown was a teenager in Missouri when he enlisted in the Navy in 1915. For most of World War I, he was part of a gunnery crew on the USS New Hampshire, based in Norfolk. The New Hampshire was assigned to search for German U-boats, as submarines were called, keeping the shipping lanes open between the United States and Europe.
Mr. Brown spent hours at a time in the crow's-nest of the coal-powered battleship.
"We saw a German sub, captured it and brought it into the Philadelphia Navy Yard," where the crew was imprisoned, Mr. Brown says.
He uses a golf cart to get around his yard, Mrs. Espino says, and "sometimes he goes out in it on the road." Mr. Brown says that isn't necessarily so, but concedes he does "ride around the neighborhood."
He's included in a study of centenarians, and how they spend their time, conducted by Boston University.
Place to call home
Two veterans -- both of whom were career soldiers and served in at least two war theaters -- were interviewed at the Armed Forces Retirement Home in the District.
The wooded 276-acre property, in the 3700 block of North Capitol Street Northwest, is an independent agency administered by the executive branch of government.
Once the home of George W. Riggs, founder of the Riggs National Bank, it became a "military asylum" or "safe haven" for veterans in 1851, when purchased by the government.
During the 49 months of his presidency, Abraham Lincoln spent 13 months at the home as a getaway during the hot summer. He is thought to have worked on the Emancipation Proclamation there. The home currently has 976 residents -- nearly 90 percent of them men, officials from the home say.
"It's ironic that a lot of people don't even know we exist," says spokeswoman Sheila Motley. Of the residents, 828 are classified as independent, meaning they can care for themselves. They must be in that condition when they arrive.
William D. Woods, 74, of Cambridge, Mass., who was a platoon sergeant, has been at the home since 1993. "I came here to use Walter Reed [Army Medical Center]," he says.
He recalls how he dropped out of high school at age 17 to join the Army.
"It was the thing to do. It was the Cold War, and all the girls liked men in uniforms at that time [1947]. We were all knights in shining armor."
Mr. Woods served with the 6th Infantry Division and was in the demilitarized zone at the 38th parallel, which divided North and South Korea. He worked as a radio operator to direct artillery fire.
"I went from private to sergeant because I could read a map and use a compass."
He remained in the Army for 22 years. He says the disabilities he acquired, which brought him to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in the early 1990s, resulted from his exposure to Agent Orange, a defoliant that includes dioxin, in Vietnam.
"We used it to kill weeds, and it was killing us, too."
Mr. Woods says exposure to Agent Orange seriously impaired his circulation, and doctors at a hospital in Cambridge, Mass., wanted to amputate his right foot. He checked into Walter Reed for a second opinion, and his foot was saved.
Another resident, Allen N. Frazier, often is told he looks fit for being 78. The retired Marine Corps master gunnery sergeant offers his own reason: "I drink good scotch."
Mr. Frazier, who grew up in Montclair, N.J., served in three wars: World War II, Korea and Vietnam. He dropped out of high school toward the end of World War II and joined the Merchant Marines as a seaman.
He had several close calls, both on and off duty, in that cargo-hauling capacity. "In 1945, I was on one of the first ships that took relief to Poland under the Marshall Plan."
Another one of the cargo vessels he served on carried "1,500 war brides and their babies" from England to the United States.
"I still communicate with two of those war brides who live in Michigan and Florida," Mr. Frazier says.
He found the women after reading a book they had written about war brides from World War II, which mentioned his ship.
"I volunteered for the Marine Corps to avoid the draft," he says. He finished high school, married and remained for 23 years and two more wars.
Then (l.) and now (r.) Frank W. Buckles
A matter of respect
Veterans of World War I lack something vets of other decades-old conflicts lack -- a major memorial.
In addition to their remarkably good health and lucidity, World War I survivors Mr. Buckles and Mr. Brown think there should be a memorial on the national Mall for those who served in that war, just as there are memorials for veterans of World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
"They should have done that a long time ago," Mr. Buckles says.
What exists today in the shadow of the grand World War II memorial is a small circle of columns covered by a dome that was erected in 1931. The memorial was paid for by the District and honors the local sacrifices made during World War I. "They also should have [a memorial] for Gen. John J. Pershing," he says.
Among Mr. Buckles' fondest memories was meeting and talking at length with Gen. Pershing, who led troops in World War I, at a tribute for the Allied commander in Oklahoma City in January 1920.
"I was 18 and only a corporal, but the general asked to speak to me," Mr. Buckles says. "It turned out he was born just 43 miles from my home in Charles Town."
Mr. Buckles describes Gen. Pershing as a "wonderful man" and says: "He was really tough. He didn't take any guff."
Researcher John Sopko contributed to this report.
Thank you, Mr. Buckles!
5.29.2005
From the Library of Congress' Today in History: May 30
"Soldier's Memorial Day,"
words by Mary B.C. Slade and music by W.O. Perkins, 1870.
Historic American Sheet Music,1850-1920
Maj. Gen. John A. Logan,
Brady National Photographic Art Gallery, between 1860 and 1865.
Civil War Photographs, 1860-1865
In 1868, Commander in Chief John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic issued General Order Number 11 designating May 30 as a memorial day "for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land."
The first national celebration of the holiday took place May 30, 1868 at Arlington National Cemetery, where both Confederate and Union soldiers were buried. Originally known as Decoration Day, at the turn of the century it was designated as Memorial Day. In many American towns, the day is celebrated with a parade.
Southern women decorated the graves of soldiers even before the Civil War's end. Records show that by 1865, Mississippi, Virginia, and South Carolina all had precedents for Memorial Day. Songs in the Duke University collection Historic American Sheet Music, 1850-1920 include hymns published in the South such as these two from 1867: "Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping," dedicated to "The Ladies of the South Who are Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead " and "Memorial Flowers," dedicated "To the Memory of Our Dead Heroes."
Decoration Day Parade (detail), Brownsville, Texas,
Robert Runyon, photographer, 1916.
The South Texas Border, 1900-1920
When a women's memorial association in Columbus, Mississippi, decorated the graves of both Confederate and Union soldiers on April 25, 1866, this act of generosity and reconciliation prompted an editorial piece, published by Horace Greeley's New York Tribune, and a poem by Francis Miles Finch, "The Blue and the Grey," published in the Atlantic Monthly. The practice of strewing flowers on soldiers' graves soon became popular throughout the reunited nation.
Waterloo, New York was proclaimed by President Lyndon Johnson as the "Birthplace of Memorial Day," because it began a formal observance on May 5, 1866. However, Boalsburg, Pennsylvania also claims to be the first, based on an observance dating back to October 1864. Indeed, many other towns also lay claim to being the first.
In 1971, federal law changed the observance of the holiday to the last Monday in May and extended it to honor all soldiers who died in American wars. A few states continue to celebrate Memorial Day on May 30.
Today, national observance of the holiday still takes place at Arlington National Cemetery with the placing of a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the decoration of each grave with a small American flag.
Many veterans of the Vietnam War, and relatives and friends of those who fought in that conflict, make a pilgrimage over Memorial Day weekend to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., where they pay their respects to another generation of fallen soldiers.
Gravestone of Gerard St. George Walker, Lieutenant U.S.N.R.,
Theodor Horydczak, photographer, circa 1920-1950.
Washington as It Was, 1923-1959
- View Maya Lin's proposal for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in the Memory section of the exhibition, American Treasures of the Library of Congress
- For more songs, hymns, and marches associated with this holiday, search on the term Memorial Day or Decoration Day in the collections Historic American Sheet Music, 1850-1920 and Music for the Nation, 1870-1885.
- There are many photographs of Memorial Day celebrations in the American Memory Collections. Search the following collections on Memorial Day or Decoration Day for images of:
- Decoration Day, 1916 in Brownsville, Texas in The South Texas Border, 1900-1920
- Memorial Day, 1920 in an American cemetery in France, captioned Cérémonie du "Memorial Day" au Cimetière Américain de Suresnes, le 30 Mai 1920, in Taking the Long View, 1851-1991
- Memorial Day, 1942 in both Southington, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C., in the color photographs of the FSA/OWI Photographs, 1935-1945
- Search the following collections on the phrase Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, cemetery, or soldier's monument for more photographs:
Sailor and Girl at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia,
John Collier, photographer, May 1943.
FSA/OWI Photographs, 1935-1945
When flow'ry Summer is at hand,
And Spring has gemm'd the earth with bloom,
We hither bring, with loving hand,
Bright flow'rs to deck our soldier's tomb.
Gentle birds above are sweetly singing
O'er the graves of heroes brave and true;
While the sweetest flow'rs we are bringing,
Wreath'd in garlands of red, white and blue.
With snowy hawthorn, clusters white,
Fair violets of heav'nly blue,
And early roses, fresh and bright,
We wreathe the red, and white, and blue."Soldier's Memorial Day," words by Mary B.C. Slade and music by W.O. Perkins, 1870.
Historic American Sheet Music,1850-1920
5.21.2005
| Armed Forces Day "America Supports You" Saturday, May 21, 2005 | |
 High Resolution Version | President Harry S. Truman led the effort to establish a single holiday for citizens to come together and thank our military members for their patriotic service in support of our country. On August 31, 1949, Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson announced the creation of an Armed Forces Day to replace separate Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force Days. The single-day celebration stemmed from the unification of the Armed Forces under one department -- the Department of Defense. Read more statements by Presidents and military leaders here=> |
In a speech announcing the formation of the day, President Truman "praised the work of the military services at home and across the seas" and said, "it is vital to the security of the nation and to the establishment of a desirable peace." In an excerpt from the Presidential Proclamation of Feb. 27, 1950, Mr. Truman stated:
Armed Forces Day, Saturday, May 20, 1950, marks the first combined demonstration by America's defense team of its progress, under the National Security Act, towards the goal of readiness for any eventuality. It is the first parade of preparedness by the unified forces of our land, sea, and air defense
The theme of the first Armed Forces Day was "Teamed for Defense." It was chosen as a means of expressing the unification of all the military forces under a single department of the government. Although this was the theme for the day, there were several other purposes for holding Armed Forces Day. It was a type of "educational program for civilians," one in which there would be an increased awareness of the Armed Forces. It was designed to expand public understanding of what type of job is performed and the role of the military in civilian life. It was a day for the military to show "state-of-the-art" equipment to the civilian population they were protecting. And it was a day to honor and acknowledge the people of the Armed Forces of the United States.
I visited Fort Slocum on Armed Forces Day as a child for about 10 years, until the Post was closed by LBJ (cursed be his name!) in 1965. My Father worked there as a civilian employee. Thus, the Fort, and the military were always a significan part of my childhood.
Kiss a veteran today -- it might be me!
"My" Armed Forces Day Fort
5.14.2005
Marines advised to drop charges against 2Lt Panatano
From The Washington Times
Marines advised to drop charges
Rowan Scarborough
14 May 2005
An investigating officer has recommended that the Marine Corps drop murder charges against 2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano, who fatally shot two Iraqi insurgents a year ago during a raid on a hideout in the "Triangle of Death." The 16-page report from Lt. Col. Mark E. Winn labels as "extremely suspect" the prosecution's chief witness, Sgt. Daniel L. Coburn, whom Lt. Pantano had removed as a squad leader weeks before the April 15, 2004, shooting. "The government was not able to produce credible evidence or testimony that the killings were premeditated," Col. Winn wrote in his report, a copy of which was obtained yesterday by The Washington Times.
Sgt. Coburn Gets Reamed a New One
"I think now [Sgt. Coburn] is in a position where he has told his story so many times, in so many versions that he cannot keep his facts straight anymore," Col. Winn wrote of the chief witness.
"There is only one eyewitness to events that precipitated the shooting, and that is 2nd Lt. Pantano," he wrote in the report, dated Thursday.
Col. Winn's decision follows a five-day pretrial hearing last month at Camp Lejeune, N.C., Lt. Pantano's home base. The role of Col. Winn, like Lt. Pantano an infantry officer, was to conduct the hearing and decide whether a court-martial is warranted.
Defense attorney Charles Gittins argued during the Article 32 hearing that Lt. Pantano fired in self-defense after the two captured Iraqis moved toward him and ignored his warning, in Arabic, to stop. The two were unarmed.
Col. Winn recommended to Maj. Gen. Richard Huck, 2nd Marine Division commander, that all criminal charges be dropped, including murder and destruction of the Iraqis' vehicle. The colonel also proposed that Lt. Pantano face administrative punishment for firing too many rounds at the two men.
2Lt Pantano
"Throughout this case, 2nd Lt. Pantano has been consistent with his account of what happened at the vehicle," Col. Winn wrote. "There has been no eyewitness produced that can refute 2nd Lt. Pantano's version of what transpired at the vehicle."
The case drew national attention because the Marine Corps charged Lt. Pantano, 33, with offenses that could bring the death penalty. Critics said the Corps was, in effect, second-guessing the officer at a time of heightened violence in the Triangle of Death south of Baghdad, where Iraqi insurgents were killing Marines with regularity.
Lt. Pantano also boasts a storybook life: After serving in the Marines as an enlisted man and graduating from New York University, he embarked on careers on Wall Street and then as a TV producer. But he gave up a comfortable Manhattan lifestyle and talked his way back into the Marine Corps at 31 to fight terrorists after the September 11 attacks by al Qaeda.
Gen. Huck, who is now leading troops in Operation Matador in northwestern Iraq, can accept Col. Winn's recommendations or overrule them and order a court-martial of Lt. Pantano.
"Based on the thoroughness and degree of detail that the investigating officer has offered," Mr. Gittins said in an interview yesterday, "the convening authority [Gen. Huck] should accept that recommendation to withdraw and dismiss all charges."
Lt. Pantano, the married father of two, declined to comment. He did not testify at the hearing, but had submitted a sworn statement to investigators.
In an exclusive interview with The Times earlier this year, Lt. Pantano said that he fired at the two insurgents only because he thought his life was in danger.
"Units were getting ambushed all over the place, including my own," he said. "I was in fear of my life."
On that April evening a year ago, Lt. Pantano led part of his Easy Company platoon to a house in the town of Mahmudiyah. Recently captured Iraqis had indicated it could be an insurgent hide-out.
Two Iraqis saw the Marines approach on foot, got in a car and took off. They stopped when the Marines fired warning shots. Inside the house Marines found AK-47s, mortar-sighting equipment, bomb-making ingredients and literature praising Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden.
Lt. Pantano had the two Iraqis search their own car, as one of his men had done earlier. At this point, the officer said, the two turned and rushed toward him and he emptied two magazines of from his M-16 rifle.
Neither of the other two Americans present, Sgt. Coburn and Navy corpsman George Gobles, saw the initial shots fired. Sgt. Coburn did not immediately file a complaint, but later told a number of other Marines he thought the shooting was unjustified. Based on his complaints, an investigation ensued.
Sgt. Coburn testified the two men were shot in the back. There was no autopsy. Col. Winn's report said the prosecution never established the two insurgents' identities.
Mr. Gittins argued that back wounds seen in photographs of the two were exit wounds. Col. Winn wrote, "There was no credible evidence presented by the government that proved these men were not shot in the front."
Col. Winn had some harsh language for Sgt. Coburn, labeling him "extremely suspect" and saying the enlisted man had a motive to harm Lt. Pantano. The officer had removed him as a squad leader and written potentially career-ending fitness reports.
"It is my opinion that Sgt. Coburn never really understood what had transpired during the shooting, and as time went by, he invented details to corroborate what he had built in his mind as what had happened," Col. Winn wrote. "Sgt. Coburn does not tell one consistent story throughout this whole case."
Another win for the good guys!
Marines advised to drop charges
Rowan Scarborough
14 May 2005
An investigating officer has recommended that the Marine Corps drop murder charges against 2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano, who fatally shot two Iraqi insurgents a year ago during a raid on a hideout in the "Triangle of Death." The 16-page report from Lt. Col. Mark E. Winn labels as "extremely suspect" the prosecution's chief witness, Sgt. Daniel L. Coburn, whom Lt. Pantano had removed as a squad leader weeks before the April 15, 2004, shooting. "The government was not able to produce credible evidence or testimony that the killings were premeditated," Col. Winn wrote in his report, a copy of which was obtained yesterday by The Washington Times.
Sgt. Coburn Gets Reamed a New One
"I think now [Sgt. Coburn] is in a position where he has told his story so many times, in so many versions that he cannot keep his facts straight anymore," Col. Winn wrote of the chief witness.
"There is only one eyewitness to events that precipitated the shooting, and that is 2nd Lt. Pantano," he wrote in the report, dated Thursday.
Col. Winn's decision follows a five-day pretrial hearing last month at Camp Lejeune, N.C., Lt. Pantano's home base. The role of Col. Winn, like Lt. Pantano an infantry officer, was to conduct the hearing and decide whether a court-martial is warranted.
Defense attorney Charles Gittins argued during the Article 32 hearing that Lt. Pantano fired in self-defense after the two captured Iraqis moved toward him and ignored his warning, in Arabic, to stop. The two were unarmed.
Col. Winn recommended to Maj. Gen. Richard Huck, 2nd Marine Division commander, that all criminal charges be dropped, including murder and destruction of the Iraqis' vehicle. The colonel also proposed that Lt. Pantano face administrative punishment for firing too many rounds at the two men.
2Lt Pantano
"Throughout this case, 2nd Lt. Pantano has been consistent with his account of what happened at the vehicle," Col. Winn wrote. "There has been no eyewitness produced that can refute 2nd Lt. Pantano's version of what transpired at the vehicle."
The case drew national attention because the Marine Corps charged Lt. Pantano, 33, with offenses that could bring the death penalty. Critics said the Corps was, in effect, second-guessing the officer at a time of heightened violence in the Triangle of Death south of Baghdad, where Iraqi insurgents were killing Marines with regularity.
Lt. Pantano also boasts a storybook life: After serving in the Marines as an enlisted man and graduating from New York University, he embarked on careers on Wall Street and then as a TV producer. But he gave up a comfortable Manhattan lifestyle and talked his way back into the Marine Corps at 31 to fight terrorists after the September 11 attacks by al Qaeda.
Gen. Huck, who is now leading troops in Operation Matador in northwestern Iraq, can accept Col. Winn's recommendations or overrule them and order a court-martial of Lt. Pantano.
"Based on the thoroughness and degree of detail that the investigating officer has offered," Mr. Gittins said in an interview yesterday, "the convening authority [Gen. Huck] should accept that recommendation to withdraw and dismiss all charges."
Lt. Pantano, the married father of two, declined to comment. He did not testify at the hearing, but had submitted a sworn statement to investigators.
In an exclusive interview with The Times earlier this year, Lt. Pantano said that he fired at the two insurgents only because he thought his life was in danger.
"Units were getting ambushed all over the place, including my own," he said. "I was in fear of my life."
On that April evening a year ago, Lt. Pantano led part of his Easy Company platoon to a house in the town of Mahmudiyah. Recently captured Iraqis had indicated it could be an insurgent hide-out.
Two Iraqis saw the Marines approach on foot, got in a car and took off. They stopped when the Marines fired warning shots. Inside the house Marines found AK-47s, mortar-sighting equipment, bomb-making ingredients and literature praising Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden.
Lt. Pantano had the two Iraqis search their own car, as one of his men had done earlier. At this point, the officer said, the two turned and rushed toward him and he emptied two magazines of from his M-16 rifle.
Neither of the other two Americans present, Sgt. Coburn and Navy corpsman George Gobles, saw the initial shots fired. Sgt. Coburn did not immediately file a complaint, but later told a number of other Marines he thought the shooting was unjustified. Based on his complaints, an investigation ensued.
Sgt. Coburn testified the two men were shot in the back. There was no autopsy. Col. Winn's report said the prosecution never established the two insurgents' identities.
Mr. Gittins argued that back wounds seen in photographs of the two were exit wounds. Col. Winn wrote, "There was no credible evidence presented by the government that proved these men were not shot in the front."
Col. Winn had some harsh language for Sgt. Coburn, labeling him "extremely suspect" and saying the enlisted man had a motive to harm Lt. Pantano. The officer had removed him as a squad leader and written potentially career-ending fitness reports.
"It is my opinion that Sgt. Coburn never really understood what had transpired during the shooting, and as time went by, he invented details to corroborate what he had built in his mind as what had happened," Col. Winn wrote. "Sgt. Coburn does not tell one consistent story throughout this whole case."
Another win for the good guys!
5.08.2005
A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words
From the Conservative Voice
A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS
Oliver North
Posted by Senior Editor
6 May 2005
EN ROUTE TO IRAQ -- My bosses at FOX News have sent me on assignment to the "sandbox," as our troops have taken to calling Iraq. There, I will spend time with some of the most impressive young men and women this country has ever produced. These soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Guardsmen never cease to amaze me. Their dedication, enthusiasm and resilience, even in the unforgiving heat and atmosphere of an Iraqi summer, are second to none.
On the day before my departure, The Washington Times carried a front-page photo of an unidentified American soldier cradling a young Iraqi child in his arms. The child was severely wounded by terrorists in Mosul, who used a car bomb to plow through a group of neighborhood children to attack an American patrol. The blast killed two children and injured 15 other Iraqis. Some might say the photo is an example of the horrors of war. It would more accurately be described as portraying the horrors of terrorism.
There is something else striking about this photo. The soldier portrayed, though donned with the accoutrements of battle, is cradling the child in his arms with love and care, affection and tenderness. He has wrapped the young Iraqi child in a blanket to keep her warm; to give her comfort; to protect her dignity. The soldier is holding the child close to him, with his head nestled in close to her small body. It looks as though the soldier is either weeping or praying over her. In fact, it's likely he's doing both. You get the sense from the emotion displayed in the photo that, when not just a soldier, this man is a father, the kind of dad that probably takes the whole Little League team out for ice cream after a game.
The love and respect this stranger in an American uniform shows for the wounded Iraqi child is evident. It is yet another example of the many profound acts of kindness, charity and bravery that have been displayed throughout the war by young Americans in uniform. We've heard the stories or seen the photos of a Marine sharing his last drop of water with a thirsty Iraqi child. The Internet -- unlike many of our major newspapers -- is abuzz with pictures of American warriors sharing laughs with Iraqi youth and weeping over the shattered victims of terrorists. I've had the great fortune to witness many of these acts of kindness firsthand.
Not just a soldier, this man is a father
Unfortunately, if you are a college student or a law school student in America today, you are unlikely to know just how remarkable your peers who serve in the military are. Worse yet, your college administrators deny you the opportunity to decide for yourself whether or not you'd like to join their ranks. The Ivory Tower academic elitists in many of America's most "prestigious" colleges and universities today are waging war against the military and working to keep recruiters off of their campuses.
This week, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take up a case in which "elite" universities are suing the Pentagon to keep military recruiters off their campuses so they don't "corrupt" the academic environment. Their beef is a federal statute known as the Solomon Amendment, originally passed in 1994, which provides that federal funding may be withheld from institutions of higher education that refuse military recruiters the same opportunities afforded to recruiters from other companies.
Thirty law schools have joined under the banner of the Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights, claiming that they are being forced by the Solomon Amendment to "actively support military recruiters" who engage in "discriminatory hiring practices." The target of their protest, they claim, is the Clinton administration's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy toward open homosexual service in the military.
In fact, colleges and universities have been trying to keep military recruiters and ROTC programs off campus for decades. Harvard, the school leading the charge against the Solomon Amendment, banished ROTC in 1969, forcing cadets to walk across town to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the past 36 years. Yale, Stanford, Columbia and Brown are among many other institutions that have shunned ROTC for decades.
Today's military relies on educated individuals joining the ranks as surgeons, JAG lawyers, chaplains and engineers. These vital roles could more easily and efficiently be filled but for the bitter opposition on campuses by elitist professors, students and administrators.
Ironically, their freedom to protest is defended by the very people they are protesting. And, in so doing, they are spreading ill will toward people like Mark Bieger. Mark Bieger is a father of three, and according to his wife, Amy, "is very compassionate and has a huge heart." Bieger is also a graduate of West Point, a major in the United States Army and, it was revealed a few days later, the soldier shown in the photograph described above.
Michael Yon, a freelance journalist embedded with Bieger's unit, told FOX News that after the terrorist attack in the Mosul neighborhood, "there were so many wounded children around. Maj. Bieger found that little girl, and he and the medic worked the best they could" to save her life. Yon reported that Bieger made a command decision to use some of the helicopter firepower that might have been needed against the terrorists to transfer the wounded girl to a medical unit. Unfortunately, to Bieger's distress, the young girl died.
But, Yon said, the unit later returned to the same neighborhood and "the people welcomed (the American military) into their homes. The children came out on the streets, waving, smiling. We were very welcomed in that neighborhood," he said.
It's more than a shame that honorable, decent, caring, compassionate and heroic people like Maj. Mark Bieger and his fellow soldiers aren't welcomed on America's college campuses.
A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS
Oliver North
Posted by Senior Editor
6 May 2005
EN ROUTE TO IRAQ -- My bosses at FOX News have sent me on assignment to the "sandbox," as our troops have taken to calling Iraq. There, I will spend time with some of the most impressive young men and women this country has ever produced. These soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Guardsmen never cease to amaze me. Their dedication, enthusiasm and resilience, even in the unforgiving heat and atmosphere of an Iraqi summer, are second to none.
On the day before my departure, The Washington Times carried a front-page photo of an unidentified American soldier cradling a young Iraqi child in his arms. The child was severely wounded by terrorists in Mosul, who used a car bomb to plow through a group of neighborhood children to attack an American patrol. The blast killed two children and injured 15 other Iraqis. Some might say the photo is an example of the horrors of war. It would more accurately be described as portraying the horrors of terrorism.
There is something else striking about this photo. The soldier portrayed, though donned with the accoutrements of battle, is cradling the child in his arms with love and care, affection and tenderness. He has wrapped the young Iraqi child in a blanket to keep her warm; to give her comfort; to protect her dignity. The soldier is holding the child close to him, with his head nestled in close to her small body. It looks as though the soldier is either weeping or praying over her. In fact, it's likely he's doing both. You get the sense from the emotion displayed in the photo that, when not just a soldier, this man is a father, the kind of dad that probably takes the whole Little League team out for ice cream after a game.
The love and respect this stranger in an American uniform shows for the wounded Iraqi child is evident. It is yet another example of the many profound acts of kindness, charity and bravery that have been displayed throughout the war by young Americans in uniform. We've heard the stories or seen the photos of a Marine sharing his last drop of water with a thirsty Iraqi child. The Internet -- unlike many of our major newspapers -- is abuzz with pictures of American warriors sharing laughs with Iraqi youth and weeping over the shattered victims of terrorists. I've had the great fortune to witness many of these acts of kindness firsthand.
Not just a soldier, this man is a father
Unfortunately, if you are a college student or a law school student in America today, you are unlikely to know just how remarkable your peers who serve in the military are. Worse yet, your college administrators deny you the opportunity to decide for yourself whether or not you'd like to join their ranks. The Ivory Tower academic elitists in many of America's most "prestigious" colleges and universities today are waging war against the military and working to keep recruiters off of their campuses.
This week, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take up a case in which "elite" universities are suing the Pentagon to keep military recruiters off their campuses so they don't "corrupt" the academic environment. Their beef is a federal statute known as the Solomon Amendment, originally passed in 1994, which provides that federal funding may be withheld from institutions of higher education that refuse military recruiters the same opportunities afforded to recruiters from other companies.
Thirty law schools have joined under the banner of the Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights, claiming that they are being forced by the Solomon Amendment to "actively support military recruiters" who engage in "discriminatory hiring practices." The target of their protest, they claim, is the Clinton administration's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy toward open homosexual service in the military.
In fact, colleges and universities have been trying to keep military recruiters and ROTC programs off campus for decades. Harvard, the school leading the charge against the Solomon Amendment, banished ROTC in 1969, forcing cadets to walk across town to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the past 36 years. Yale, Stanford, Columbia and Brown are among many other institutions that have shunned ROTC for decades.
Today's military relies on educated individuals joining the ranks as surgeons, JAG lawyers, chaplains and engineers. These vital roles could more easily and efficiently be filled but for the bitter opposition on campuses by elitist professors, students and administrators.
Ironically, their freedom to protest is defended by the very people they are protesting. And, in so doing, they are spreading ill will toward people like Mark Bieger. Mark Bieger is a father of three, and according to his wife, Amy, "is very compassionate and has a huge heart." Bieger is also a graduate of West Point, a major in the United States Army and, it was revealed a few days later, the soldier shown in the photograph described above.
Michael Yon, a freelance journalist embedded with Bieger's unit, told FOX News that after the terrorist attack in the Mosul neighborhood, "there were so many wounded children around. Maj. Bieger found that little girl, and he and the medic worked the best they could" to save her life. Yon reported that Bieger made a command decision to use some of the helicopter firepower that might have been needed against the terrorists to transfer the wounded girl to a medical unit. Unfortunately, to Bieger's distress, the young girl died.
But, Yon said, the unit later returned to the same neighborhood and "the people welcomed (the American military) into their homes. The children came out on the streets, waving, smiling. We were very welcomed in that neighborhood," he said.
It's more than a shame that honorable, decent, caring, compassionate and heroic people like Maj. Mark Bieger and his fellow soldiers aren't welcomed on America's college campuses.
