Veterans React To Wounded Soldier’s Beating
September 26, 2004
by Thomas D. Segel
“This is outrageous!” yelled John Collick, a retired Marine First Sergeant from Yorktown, Virginia. He had just read an article about an unprovoked attack on a wounded soldier home on medical leave from Iraq. The Marine continued saying, “A young man who was wounded in Iraq is beaten by some of the very people that he has sworn to defend. Whether you agree with the war on not, attacking our servicemen, or watching them be physically assaulted, is anything less than cowardice.”
The terrorist roadside bomb, which exploded under an Army Humvee on August 10 seriously, wounded Pfc Foster Barton. The deep wound required two surgeries to repair. Following his hospitalization, the Army sent this 5 foot 6 inch, 130-pound soldier home on a recuperation leave. Today he is back in the hospital, not because of combat action in Iraq, but because a 6-foot 200-pound protester savagely beat him, following a Toby Keith concert in Columbus, Ohio. With a concussion, a broken nose and six stitches, it has been estimated it will take the wounded soldier 4 to 6 weeks to recover from his beating.
Jeb Phillips of the Columbus Dispatch first reported the story. Phillips told about Barton’s mother surprising her son with tickets to the Toby Keith concert. He had spoken about how much he loved Keith’s patriotic songs and how he regretted missing the country singer’s Baghdad concert because he had been out on patrol.
The Purple Heart winning soldier had worn a T-shirt to the concert that contained the words “Operation Iraqi Freedom”. As he was leaving Germain Amphitheater, Foster Barton was greeted several times by other people from the audience. He was asked if he was a soldier and was thanked for his service.
Then he heard some obscene references to the Army and as he turned, the soldier was struck repeatedly in the head. After he had fallen to the ground, his assailant continued the attack by kicking his unconscious body.
Though several people observed the beating, the only person coming to the aid of the wounded soldier was a young woman reported to be the companion of the attacker. She tried to pull him off of Barton. He then stopped his attack and ran off. Later the woman denied knowing the attacker, who has still not been apprehended.
Dozens upon dozens of veterans have reacted to the attack on Foster Barton. Some, such as retired navy Captain Len Kaine have sent the soldier expressions of their concern and gifts. Kaine sent an interactive computer game, while Korean War Army veteran Pete Quinlan mailed his note of encouragement along with an Outback Steakhouse gift certificate.
From Hawaii, a retired Army First Sergeant wrote in comradeship and told how he too was denigrated upon his return from Vietnam. His only regret was he had not been present to inflict some retribution on the attacker.
Ray Boyden, a retired Air Force Master Sergeant from Savannah, Georgia recalls the repeated confrontations he and others in his unit had with anti-war radicals during the years of the Vietnam War. “It got so bad we had to go to work in civvies and then change into our uniforms. There were many run-ins with the great unwashed from Oberlin College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. I remember the great divide between factions in our country. The actions on poor PFC Barton are just like those of the Vietnam years. And those standing around and not coming to his defense are just like those from that time. God save us from idiots and traitors.”
Army Colonel James Bond Johnson of Long Beach, California served in three wars and in three different branches of the armed forces. He says, "Some of us vets have long memories. I recall well the varied variety of “welcome home” greetings we received. We must persevere in educating the public, which today is again confused by a plethora of babble and outright lying. If we fail the results can be very, very tragic.”
W. P. “Pete” Haight, a retired Marine Lieutenant Colonel from Round Rock, Texas warns in a letter to the young man… “Behavior such as theirs cannot and must not reflect the attitude of the vast majority of our American youth. I fervently pray that is so. Rather, their despicable behavior toward you (Pfc Barton) as you expressed your support of our Armed forces, is indicative of radical and misguided attitudes toward our country being fostered, wittingly or unwittingly, by a man who would be our Commander in Chief, but whose voting record in the Senate belies his professions of loyalty and support of our Armed Forces.”
John Clayton is a retired Air Force Master Sergeant living in Airway Heights, Washington. He reflected, “When I read the article on PFC Barton, my blood boiled. My son was in Iraq with the 4 th ID and I wouldn’t want anyone to treat him like that. Who do these idiots think they are? These anti war types get more publicity from the liberal news media than our fighting forces. Something is badly wrong with those values and that picture.”
Retired Army Colonel Harry Riley of Crestview, Florida is also a past victim of the anti-war crowd. “I received the ‘spit and rotten egg’ treatment when returning from Vietnam…sounds like a similar song is being played for our current warriors. Kerry and others are engaged in a despicable, unconscionable act of aid and comfort to the enemy with troops on the battlefield. Senator Kerry is abandoning our troops. The colonel and many others feel what happened to Foster Barton is a direct result of the hate filled rhetoric of the current political campaigns.
Former Marine Terry Brady of Anchorage, Alaska echoes this. “The Kerry rhetoric during the Vietnam era contributed to the lack of respect for our service people. His rhetoric during this presidential campaign is likewise hurtful because it feeds the negative rather than enforcing the positive.”
From Peyton, Colorado author and retired Marine Chief Warrant Officer Charles W. “Bill” Henderson writes, “Pfc Foster Barton’s beating was a direct result of sentiment stirred and elevated by not just Kerry and Edwards, but the entire Democrat machine that stoops at nothing too low or unethical to achieve their goal of electing Kerry and Edwards. Kerry is the same anti-war activist that he’s been since Vietnam, now directly appealing to a rabidly left-wing sector of potential voters. Pfc Barton’s beating is a direct result of this elevated rhetoric also openly endorsed by the Communist Party USA, and is part of the price good people seem to always pay for that sort of short-sighted recklessness.”
Senator Kerry’s insistence that the Vietnam War should be the cornerstone of his presidential bid has impacted America in a variety of ways. It has brought back the sad memories of a painful past. It has riled Vietnam veterans by the thousands who still feel Kerry is traitorous. It has stirred the Swift Boat veterans to activism and it has helped form Veterans4Bush. This Vietnam style rhetoric has also brought back to life the bottom feeders of our society who wage attacks on recuperating wounded
