Why World War II Vets?

For much of this last week, according to the spokespeople for the National Park Service, the NPS has asserted that the White House specifically ordered that they barricade the open air memorial commemorating the sacrifice and service of the veterans of World War II. In multiple statements to the press NPS spokespeople made it clear that they were directly instructed by the White House specifically to shut the memorial that had previously never been closed.

How do you close something that by design is intended to be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year?

National Park Service personnel were also quoted in multiple press reports this week confirming that the White House orders were, "To make life as difficult for people as possible." Adding their own commentary in this thought, "It is disgusting."

On the first day of the shutdown, the White House ordered the open air memorial barricaded. When World War II veterans who were on previously scheduled trips to D.C. to see the memorial in their honor, saw the barricades, the staffers of the House Of Representatives members helped open up the barricades so as to allow these heroes to see the memorial the nation established in their honor.

The next day--obviously displeased that the veterans were allowed to have access--the White House raised the stakes and chained the barricades. The next day they wired them shut and sand bagged them. They even ordered additional work hours for the NPS to send more people to "guard" the World War II memorial.

Commentators drew the ironic and sad comparison that the President was far more concerned about "guarding" this open air area, than he had been in sending guards to rescue Ambassador Stevens the night of the attacks in Benghazi. And only in an upside down universe like an Obama administration would anyone ever believe that the World War II memorial needed "guarding" from World War II veterans to begin with.

Among the topics I've broached in recent years of broadcasts, none have riled the irritation level of the listeners to my 900+ affiliates anywhere equal to the Obama administration's specific targeting of World War II veterans as payback in the debate over the shutdown.

The reasons for the blood-boiling outrage are simple. Here's a few that listeners have consistently written me about:

1. These are the last people in our society deserving of this type of treatment.

2. They paid for the memorial they wish to see with the blood of their own sacrifice, and that of their friends who never came home.

4. They will likely never have another chance to return to the nation's capital to view the memorial.

So on the third day of this scandal that was deliberately targeting the greatest Americans in our midst, I began to wonder aloud on air, "Why?"

The Weekly Standard had published pictures of some of the other war memorials in Washington. None of them had a "security presence" anywhere akin to the World War II site. It wasn't until late Saturday that police removed observers from the Vietnam memorial. And the World War I memorial is still wide open for visitors.

Add to that the late hour closing of the Iowa Jima memorial, and the decision on Thursday to close the Normandy and D-day Memorials and the pattern continued.

What was it about World War II that this administration felt the need to censor?

President Obama's grandfather, on his mother's side, served in WWII--enlisting in the hours following the attacks of Pearl Harbor. One of his great uncles served in the 89th Infantry and helped liberate a labor camp. (A story the president campaigned on (by error) in referring to later as liberation of the camp at Auschwitz.) And President Obama's great uncle and brother to his grandfather landed at Normandy on Dday plus 4 and fought his way through France, Italy and Germany before the war's end.

President Obama's grandfather Stanley Armour Dunham is also biologically related to World War II figures President Harry S. Truman, and George H.W. Bush.

On his father's side, his paternal father was too young to serve in World War II as he was just a boy when the fighting broke out. But his paternal grandfather had fought in World War I, he became bitterly anti-British and converted to Islam following World War II and associated with banned organizations. He was tried for sedition and imprisoned. He refused to give information about the growing insurgency to the colonial westerners, and adopted the name Hussein.

How any of this family history plays into the rather explicit anti-colonial views of President Obama we are left to guess at. But one thing is clear. This president has taken great delight in targeting, hurting, and punishing veterans of World War II in ways this week few could have imagined under any circumstances.

The World War II memorial is my personal favorite memorial in Washington DC. Both of my grandfathers served the United States Navy during the war, and both would be disgusted at the pure manipulation of political power to punish the men they served alongside to keep the free world free.

In the days to come perhaps it would be fruitful for President Obama to negotiate with those he opposes, instead of punishing those he owes his liberty and life to.

And until that day arrives, we must do all we can, to express our thankfulness to all of those who have been willing to give the last full measure of devotion for the freedom we sleep under tonight!

On his father's side, his paternal father was too young to serve in World War II as he was just a boy when the fighting broke out.

His "paternal father"? As opposed to the very unpaternal Barack Sr.?

But his paternal grandfather had fought in World War I, he became bitterly anti-British and converted to Islam following World War II and associated with banned organizations. He was tried for sedition and imprisoned. He refused to give information about the growing insurgency to the colonial westerners, and adopted the name Hussein.

So they say. How much is true and how much is family legend we don't know. When independence came a lot of people invented pasts for themselves to fit into the spirit of the time and benefit from association with rebellious movements.

Do you really think any of these NPS Police will do anything that will jeopardize their careers? Like you, I once thought they should and would, but life has taught me differently; let me explain.

I remember back to War Zone C in 1966 when I was assigned to a Special Forces A Camp on the Cambodian border. When the weather was clear and intelligence reports indicated the Viet Cong weren’t in the immediate area, VIPs would occasionally helicopter into our camp for a visit. After our Detachment Commander had briefed them, they would usually stroll around our camp and “inspire the troops” before they departed. One day a visiting Colonel asked me, in passing, “How’s the war going Sergeant?” I’m sure he didn’t expect an answer to his inane question, but I gave him an answer anyway, and it was an ear-full. After he wiped the shocked expression off his face, he smirked and replied, “You just don’t have the Big Picture, Sergeant.” Then, he strutted back to his waiting helicopter, flew back to his big city Headquarters, and left me standing there scratching my head and wondering what he meant by his “Big Picture” response.

It took me a while to determine exactly what the Colonel meant, and when I did figure it out, it was a paradigm-shift that brought the war and the world into focus for me for the first time. That Colonel, and many other officers I served with in Vietnam, only saw the war as a once in a lifetime career opportunity that had to be milked for everything they could possibly squeeze out of it during the brief time they could take credit for its prosecution. As for the Colonel and his entourage visiting our camp, along with other Special Forces Camps along the border, I learned their motive was only to earn Air Medals, as each time they landed in one of our A Camps, they logged it as a Combat Assault.

At first, it was hard for me to understand how these officers could fight a war and nowhere in their agenda would be a priority on closing with the enemy, destroying him and winning the war. History had taught these officers that when the war ended, the ride was over, promotions stopped, the Army downsized, and they would be out of a job. So their priority was to keep the war going until they received their stars and could retire as General Officers. As medals were a sort of insurance against losing their jobs after the war, there were large division sized operations run for no apparent reason other than to justify medals for their senior leadership. There’s no doubt in my mind some of these officers prayed to God every night and beseeched God to “Please don’t end this war before I get my stars.”

I found many, but not all, officers in Vietnam to be career-oriented opportunists who only saw the war as an opportunity to enhance their careers, and they would only do or say whatever was good for their careers. When the war ended, I noticed that those officers who had protected their careers at every juncture managed to remain in the Army and those who had put the prosecution of the war ahead of their careers were caught up in the first Reduction in Force (RIF) and eliminated.

In my day to day interactions with these career conscious officers, I noticed that they considered us Special Forces NCOs to be feeble minded, and they didn’t trust us because we placed no importance at all on our careers. They couldn’t understand how we could be so irresponsible that we wouldn’t take care of ourselves above all else. If we didn’t protect our careers, we wouldn’t have one, and then how would we one day support our family, pay our mortgage, and send our children to college?

No, I don’t think there will be many, if any, NPS Policemen who will endanger their careers and threaten their family’s security over this.

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