Posted on 07/25/2003 12:10:49 PM PDT by freepatriot32
Donna West studied the area of her Indiana map between her daughter's home in Bristol and some of her grandkids' town of Merrillville.
"And Mishawaka sort of jumped out at me," says the 63-year-old former government worker now on disability.
"I am part Cherokee, and so the name really appealed to me," Donna admits. "Have you ever said Mishawaka real quick three times?
"Mishawaka, Mishawaka, Mishawaka. I love it."
So for not much more reason than that, she moved to the Princess City from Pontiac, Ill., in 1997.
She is glad she did.
"I tried a few senior living places, but I'm in a motel now and the owners treat me like family," she says.
A former Army WAC (one who served in the Women's Army Corps), Donna is a tough bird despite suffering from diabetes, glaucoma, asthma, a hearing loss, poor knees, a surgically repaired neck along with a handful of other maladies.
Those health problems also don't keep her from taking her post at the northeast corner of McKinley Highway and Fir Road every day with her American flags ... her yellow ribbon ... her pictures of her two grandkids in the armed services ... and her big sign that reads, "God Bless America. Thank You for Supporting and Praying for Our Troops."
Donna, who lives close by, started her vigil on March 28. "I just got mad," she says. "I wasn't seeing the flags and the ribbons and the patriotism that we should have had with so many of our troops overseas."
So there she is, sitting in her walker's fold-down seat and holding up her sign every day -- from 9 to 11 in the morning and then back after lunch from noon until about 2, "or until my back end gets too sore to sit any longer."
"I'm usually a little later on Sundays because I watch Mass on TV first," Donna adds.
People often think she is taking donations.
"For goodness sakes, no," she says. "I'm just reminding them. I'm not collecting money. And I have to tell people 'no' when they want to buy me food. I don't need that. I have my own money. That's not why I'm out here."
She did finally accept an umbrella from a passer-by on a sunny day when the woman insisted she use it so she wouldn't get sunstroke.
People do keep an eye out for her.
And Donna doesn't mind if drivers wave or honk. She just can't promise that she will respond. "I just don't see or hear all that well, but I don't want anyone thinking I'm ignoring them."
Yet she usually can spot a young man named Zach who once stopped with his dad so they could meet her. "Zach always gives me the thumbs up from his parents' car and, just recently, I wrote a poem about him."
Besides her poetry, Donna keeps a war journal and is a zealous letter writer on issues that stir her passions.
She admits that sometimes she is treated like an eyesore. "I've been spit at and had some things thrown at me and I've seen the famous finger from time to time, but mostly the response is positive.
"I don't care what your politics are," she continues, "you should at least support our troops in Iraq and elsewhere."
Donna is from a military family. Her father was a Purple Heart recipient from World War II, and three of her uncles were career military men. One of her sons was in the Gulf War, and a daughter also was in the Air Force. Granddaughter Vicky is in the Army military police, and grandson Alex is in the Navy's nuclear submarine school.
"I pray for them and so many others each and every day," she says.
She also recently added two more young people to her prayer list. A few days ago, a couple of young soldiers stopped by and thanked her for what she was doing.
"They had their buzz cuts and fresh faces and it hurt me to think that they could die at some point defending our country," she says.
She is out there on her corner, reminding people of that every day.
In sweet-sounding Mishawaka -- and in an area where most people do seem to care.
Bill Moor's column appears on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Contact him at bmoor@sbtinfo.com or write him at the South Bend Tribune, 225 W. Colfax Ave., South Bend, IN 46626; (574) 235-6555.
"I just got mad," she says. "I wasn't seeing the flags and the ribbons and the patriotism that we should have had with so many of our troops overseas."
You know, there were way more support the troops rallies with more people attending than the so called peace rallies, but the media kept a lid on that fact. Just like when there is an ambush on our soldiers in Iraq, they mention our boys killed, but leave out how many of the enemy are killed.
5.56mm
Sometimes it just seem like such a shame that you can't deploy military snipers domestically. Think of what great training it would be, shooting the fingertips off those flippin' the bird at patriotic litte old ladies. Occassionaly we'd get lucky and they'd miss (the figer tip).
. . .what am I missing here?
Genuine 'heart'land of America. . .
. . .shame on those who will not even put a Flag/sticker on their car to show support.
Surely a story here for Fox News. . .
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