I was about to do the same that day, but an alert Atlanta cop, fearing an immediate death to said dirt bag, stepped in, slammed him against the wall, looked at me and said, "go ahead sarge, I'll take care of it, I saw what he did." As I walked away, I saw the cop being a little unkind with his "patting down" of said dirt bag against the wall. I felt the cop could get away with more than I could and I had to catch a plane to Germany. But, again that was way back then. Cops now days would get sued.
The @sshole on MSNBC claimed that no soldiers came home through civilian airports, only military air bases.
Said there was no documentation of anything like spitting ever happened.
Pop had just lost a friend and was not in a forgiving frame of mind. For future reference, an "assault" (or battery) is a harmful or *offensive* touching of one by another. Doesn't have to be a punch or shove. And out west, from the vigilante days I suppose, a man isn't required to retreat but can stand his ground. But the old man used unreasonable force, self-defense, lucky he didn't get canned.
You did the right thing, like you I'll probably let police handle any discourtesy I might see directed to vets. But I won't `let it go' like a lot of civilians did then.
Thanks for your service.