Posted on 07/09/2004 3:24:18 AM PDT by johnny7
Think about the Seattle area -- Bainbridge Island to be exact -- and you think scenic views and liberal-minded tolerance. At least the killer views are still there.
The bucolic island's deep reputation for civility got a gut check this week during the annual Grand Old Fourth of July celebration. That's when Jason Gilson, a 23-year-old military veteran who served in Iraq, marched in the local event. He wore his medals with pride and carried a sign that said "Veterans for Bush." Walking the parade route with his mom, younger siblings and politically conservative friends, Jason heard words from the crowd that felt like a thousand daggers to the heart. "Baby killer!" "Murderer!" "Boooo!"
To understand why the reaction of strangers hurt so much, you must read what the young man had written in a letter from Iraq before he was disabled in an ambush: "I really miss being in the states. Some of the American public have no idea how much freedom costs and who the people are that pay that awful price. I think sometimes people just see us as nameless and faceless and not really as humans. ... A good portion of us are actually scared that when we come home, for those of us who make it back, that there will be protesters waiting for us and that is scary." On the Fourth, Jason faced his worst fear.
It was such a public humiliation -- home front insult after battlefield injury. It really shouldn't have happened for two principal reasons. Reason No. 1? History. The past informs us that the men and women who fight our wars are not just following orders. They are risking life and limb. When they return from the battlefield they should be embraced regardless of the public popularity about the conflict, regardless of the politics. Have we so quickly forgotten the painful lessons of Vietnam? Frederick Scheffler, whose daughter and son-in-law marched with Jason on Sunday, hasn't. Scheffler -- an Army veteran of two tours in Southeast Asia -- was shot in the leg during that long-ago conflict. He came home with a cane, only to discover the American public was either indifferent to his sacrifice or downright hostile. "I didn't think in this day and age combat veterans would be treated in this manner," Scheffler, 60, tells me, reflecting on Jason. "I saw it happen to veterans in Vietnam. I'm not going to let it happen today, not to these kids."
Reason No. 2? The rules. The Bainbridge Island Chamber of Commerce, which put on the community celebration, permits freedom of expression at the event but asks that parade announcers not act in a manner that is partisan or prejudicial. Jason's mother, Tamar, says a female parade announcer locked eyes on her son who was walking behind a pro-Republican group called Women in Red, White and Blue. The group supports President Bush and the troops in the fight against terrorism. According to Tamar, the female announcer sarcastically asked Jason: "And what exactly are you a veteran of?" The perceived mocking, the mother adds, set off some people in the crowd, loosing a flood of negative comments, "like a wave... a mob-style degrading." Kevin Dwyer, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce, spoke with the announcer after the allegations reached him this week. He says the woman denies using sarcasm; she just wanted to know which war Jason was a veteran of so that she could "honor him" in public. "It wasn't her intention to incite anything -- that's what she told me," Dwyer said. "But if she acted out of school, that's not what we're about." Dwyer added: "I believe (Jason's) mom when she said her son was called 'a murderer.' But I'm sure it wasn't so much directed at the kid as it was the president. A soldier with a sign represents that." The female announcer told Dwyer that some in the Bush-Cheney contingent in the parade seemed "militant."
And so, battle lines are drawn. From the outside looking in, the fuel for this conflict seems obvious. The left-leaning island hosted a group of people who support Bush's controversial war. (On the same parade route, people bearing pro-Kerry signs were cheered and applauded for, among other things, tooling around in an environmentally responsible car.) Against such a roiling backdrop, an unfortunate tone of voice or the wording on a sign can spark, well, something -- something unconscionable it appears.
But less obvious factors are undoubtedly at work here, too. The female announcer at the parade had a father who fought for America in a previous U.S. conflict. He never made it back home. Jason's mother -- unbeknownst to many observers along the parade route -- is a tireless activist behind the pro-troops movement in the Puget Sound region. Such a combo on a day of red, white and blue can only lead to fireworks -- snap, crackle and popping off during what locals call the "best small-town parade in America."
P-I columnist Robert L. Jamieson Jr. can be reached at 206-448-8125 or robertjamieson@seattlepi.com
good morning dear America friend.
I write to Polish. I write thing about Grom and America elite Marine. I tell Adam and Andrzej to translate and Grazyna. It call War in Irak sorry wrong word Irak is Iraq.
bad english Im sorry I like English lesson from America people here
im sorry that for you not me :}
BTTT!!!!!!!
good morning America friend what is sums
We will NOT TOLERATE this kind of treatment of America's HEROES!
We will NOT TOLERATE this kind of treatment of America's HEROES!
Thanks for the ping!
ping
What would you expect from such un-American people. Jason Gilson is the face of real America, so let this reporter hear from you! If you've the time to post here, you have the time to send him an e-mail about the rude treatment of one of OUR military.
robertjamieson@seattlepi.com
Young Jason Gilson, is the face of America! If you have the time to post about this, you have the time to e-mail the reporter and tell him what you think. Be nice – remember we are Proud Americans, not rude ones.
robertjamieson@seattlepi.com
Well said, Annie
I'd like to see that myself.
free dixie,sw
in the new & MUCH improved Southron Republic, VETS will be roundly HONORED!
this is one reason that many southerners are becoming SOUTHRONS!
we are sick to death of "progressives"/PC-idiots/"intellectuals"/damnyankess who mock every REAL HERO, our bloodspattered BATTLEflag,our war memorials, our churches,our family-centered morality AND our region.
you'll of course have by now noted that the CREEPS who "disrespected" this returning HERO were NOT southerners!
a group of our NG troops just returned to this county & they were DELIGHTED to be EMBRACED by the local lovelies as HEROES & WARRIORS! (that is how NEW warriors get born! it's NATURAL selection!)
free dixie,sw
free dixie,sw
YEP!
This is a sickening story...and it sure sounds like it has upset many of you...as it has me.
However,
Where the HELL was Free Republic when Michael Moore's traitorous film was released? Many of you said to ignore it, ignore Moore, etc. Do you see now WHY I called for protests at theatres? To show America that we won't allow Moore to misrepresnt fact and portray our troops as baby-killers?
God, i feel like Mel Gibson in Braveheart and FR is the Scottish nobles who sit around and belly-ache but refuse to get off the couch. Sorry, I feel better now.
Will you NOW join us vs Moore and his treachery? Moore is the symbol of this new movement, this reincarnation of the Vietnam-era spitters.
http://www.conservativepetitions.com/petitions.php?id=277
1100 american patriots have signed this petition so far...mailing copies this week to Ashcroft, DeLay, Hastert, etc. JOIN US vs the left! Stop ignoring the threat!
that's where WE come in...
Time for patriots to get off the couch.
I emailed the reporter to thank him for reporting this...and story is posted front page at PABAAH.com
We can no longer ignore Moore and his ilk. We must fight back. Otherwise, it will be Vietnam all over again.
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