Veteran gets rude welcome on Bainbridge [It's Baaaak!]

Seattle Post-Intelligencer ^ | July 9, 2004 | ROBERT L. JAMIESON Jr

[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

[yoe]

Be sure that Mike Company, 3rd Batallion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division gets this story ASAP! I would love to be a fly on the wall - I hope they will use this and get some ink doing it!

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Signed and e-mailed to my address book.

[Semaphore Heathcliffe]

That's what our whole problem is. We don't say anything.

bingo

[Taxman]

I'm tempted to say "Forgive them, for they know not what they do," but I know that is not true. These traitorous scum know exactly what they are doing!

As Harpseal used to say "Stay well -- Stay safe -- stay armed."

[Looking4Truth]

The left-leaning island hosted a group of people who support Bush's controversial war.

This is NOT Bush's war! It's a war against a fanatic satanistic death cult bent on spreading its cancer to all points on the globe. A war for civilization as we know it.

[Jon Alvarez]

link added...thx

never again will we see troops denigrated in the USA

[windchime]

Bump!

[JLO]

Maybe you haven't seen all the anti-Moore bashing that's been around FR for months and months.

Search/find is a good thing. Learn it.

[California Patriot]

"One day" isn't good enough.

"One day" has to be NOW. Fight these scum. Now,
not someday. We've bent over for them long enough.

[AmericanChef]

All I can say is - Yipes.

[Nowhere Man]

Thanks for your kind comments, I'm glad to see that we have people from places like Poland who seem to understand what is really important unlike some people we have here in the United States. As to Poland in the EU, I hope she fights the socialist beaucrats in Brussels but I think it was a mistake to join in the first place, I trust the EU just as much as I can lift a '68 Buick Wildcat (huge car) and toss it. I know someone else has explained the similar siutation we faced in Vietnam with the extreme liberals and them yelling "baby killers" but as I remarked on another thread, my mother made a good point where she "feels like she is reliving the 1960's again, and more."

I'm glad to see that Poland, Russia, and most of Eastern Europe understand a lot of this for being under communism so long, but I think a lot of people over here forget what all of this is about because to them, the Nazis and to the younger set, the Cold War is ancient history. I'm 38 and I do remember the Cold War. Still though, we do have a lot of bright young people who do understand it so even what I just said isn't all of it so there is an effort be the extreme left to force feed us their views as well.

[anonymoussierra]

Good afternoon America friend.

Thank you Great America friend.

[Colt .45]

Having served 20 years in the US Navy, and first enlisting during Vietnam, I was subjected to these same epithets many years ago. I would have to say from the serviceman's point of view that we tend to look very skeptically on anything where we feel its not genuine. Like a sudden rush of patriotism after a victory or during times when things are good. Its when the times get bad is when the true patriots get seperated from the "summer soldiers". I've always held the following poem by Rudyard Kipling as a good view on how veterans feel.

Tommy

By Rudyard Kipling

Born 1865

I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer,
The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no red-coats here."
The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I:
O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away";
But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play,
The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
O it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play.

I went into a theatre as sober as could be,
They gave a drunk civilian room, but 'adn't none for me;
They sent me to the gallery or round the music-'alls,
But when it comes to fightin', Lord! they'll shove me in the stalls!
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, wait outside";
But it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide,
The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide,
O it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide.

Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.
But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll,
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll.

We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints,
Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints;
While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, fall be'ind",
But it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind,
There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,
O it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind.

You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all:
We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!"
But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot;
An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool -- you bet that Tommy sees!

[GoLightly]

The idea is for you & your countrymen to speak out against the communism & if/when that doesn't cure the collective, work to get your countrymen to pull out of the union. Unlike the USSR, the EU doesn't have a big military to inflict it's will. In the US, this is what "state's rights" are all about. The voice of Poland should be heard, recognized within the federation. If it's not heard, the basic purpose of a particular "government" has become perverted.

By hooking up to the EU the trade advantages should help improve Poland's overall economy & the standard of living for the Polish people. I cannot say I like all of the policies of the EU, but the expanded free trade zone is worth giving the idea a chance, in my opinion.

[GoLightly]

Better to keep your mouth shut and have people suspect that your're a fool than open your mouth and confirm their suspicions.

One of my all time favorites.

[GoLightly]

anonymoussierra, Irak, Iraq, either way is fine. In truth, Arabic is the language spoken there, so it's spelling in the characters we use is a phonetic near hit. It's like a lot of Arabic names, where you see things like the last name of Libia's leader spelled with either a G or a K. Is Osama correct or is it Usama? I've seen both. The holy book of Islam starts with a K or a Q, depending on the writer's preference. Then we have the nation of Qatar. How is pronounced? I've noticed more people saying it as they would the word gutter, though it used to sound like katar or kutar.

[Cowboy Bob]

Jason heard words from the crowd that felt like a thousand daggers to the heart. "Baby killer!"

I thought that in the age of Abortion, "Baby Killer" would be considered to be a compliment by the Left.

[GoLightly]

No kidding. I'm told I butcher the few words I've learned & I haven't a clue how to spell any of them.

I'm itching to tell a story. Our company bought our first Polish engine lathe about 25 years ago. Over the years we bought several more & generally, they were great machines, but we had a small problem with one of them. Polamco had an American company handling warranties, but their repairmen were Polish nationals in the state's with short term worker's visas.

Anyway, we had a couple of hard working Polish machinists working to repair our machine for several days. The Polish men knew a bit of English, though it was a struggle. Anyway, as a thank you for the fine, dedicated work they had done for us, my ex-husband took the workers out for dinner. Faced with a menu in English, the workers politely ordered the same thing as their host, which was the largest porterhouse steak on the menu, cooked medium.

The plates arrived & there was a gigantic steak on each of the plates. One of the Polish guys got a good look at the cut of meat draped nearly off the edge of his large plate & his eyes got as big as saucers. "This is medium?" My ex had to resist the temptation to say, you should see a big one.

[GoLightly]

Thank you for your service on my behalf. Your inaction way back then... It was a crazy time. I'm old enough to remember, though I was too young to be involved back then. The pukes weren't worth your energy.

[Jon Alvarez]

yeah...written mostly by me, then told how wrong it is to give him attention, blah, blah, blah. I've been covering this story for over a year. Thank you.