Jim Goldsworthy, Columnist
Here is an edited-for-length version of my Veterans Day address in Keyser.
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We older folks tend to think that the younger ones don’t know much about our history and our traditions, or don’t care, but that’s not entirely true. And the sad truth is that a lot of adults don’t know and don’t care.
However, two of my friends and I go to Gettysburg a few times a year to stand at Little Round Top, to do what we call living history.
We spend hours each day talking to people, and many are young people. Boy Scouts ask the best questions; they already know some things and want to learn more.
Another friend and I went to Bedford for a Vietnam re-enactment. He’s a Vietnam veteran and said he’d pass on going to the firefight. I went, just to see what it was like; my buddy already knows.
Except for a couple of leaders who were in their late 30s or early 40s, the others were young men and women in their late teens and early 20s. Those kids didn’t do many of the things you’d expect experienced infantrymen to do, and in real life they’d all have been killed in a few minutes. But the older guys went over it with them, and it was a learning experience.
My buddy and I thanked them for keeping an important part of American history alive. They will help others remember the more than 2 million men and women who went halfway around the world to Southeast Asia to stand up for America.
I have other friends who work with the Mountain State Young Marines and the Naval Sea Cadets, and they’re some good, squared-away youngsters whose parents should be proud of them.
A friend who’s in his 20s told me it bothers him that some Americans have little respect for our veterans. His brother served in Iraq and is having trouble dealing with what happened to him there. He’s also getting the runaround from the Veterans Administration and having difficulty arranging his G.I. Bill benefits.
I’ve heard these stories before and told him his brother needs to let them know he’s not going to give up and go away. It took a friend of mine four tries to get hearing aids from the VA, but now they pay attention to him.
Many people do remember and honor our veterans. They gather in airports to greet troops coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan, to shake their hands and say, “Welcome Home! Thanks for what you did!” Many are young people.
But too many of our veterans are ignored. Vietnam veterans are now getting the recognition they deserve, but Korean War veterans are not. South Korea remains a free nation because of what American troops did more than half a century ago and still are doing today.
Three of my friends served in the Merchant Marine during World War II. One was on a ship that was torpedoed, but he and his ship survived. More than 8,600 of the 215,000 men who served in the Merchant Marine were killed, but 43 years passed before they gained veteran’s status.
The U.S. Coast Guard is far more than a maritime rescue service. Several hundred of its members have been killed in action during our wars. The only ship still afloat that fought back during the Pearl Harbor attack is the Coast Guard Cutter Roger B. Taney.
The men we call Buffalo Soldiers were regiments of African-Americans formed in 1866 to serve in the Indian Wars. Previous black regiments demonstrated great bravery and determination during the Civil War. It was a later generation of Buffalo Soldiers that took San Juan Hill during the Spanish-American War — not Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders.
My Aunt Lucy Jackson was a truck driver in the Marine Corps. Other women like her once ferried fighter planes and bombers to military bases.
A man who received the Medal of Honor in Vietnam told me one of the hardest things he ever had to watch was the stripping of a Bronze Star from a nurse ... because she was a woman. Several of my friends have been nurses. Some served in combat areas, and one became the chief of the nursing staff at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Those who went there to have their lives pieced back together would tell you that nurses are some of their greatest heroes.
Keyser High’s Ed Kelley received the Medal of Honor for an unimaginable act of bravery and devotion to his men that took two days to unfold. It cost him his life, but he may have helped shorten the war in Europe.
Our school’s honor roll contains many names. Sam Umstot, a physician’s assistant, was killed in action while treating a wounded soldier in Vietnam. Jim Bosley was a helicopter pilot who died when his aircraft came under fire and crashed during a storm. Craig Haines was a radarman on a gunboat when he was shot, fell overboard and drowned. Tommy Amtower died when a catastrophic equipment failure sent the submarine USS Scorpion to the bottom of the sea in 1968.
One of my relatives died when his bomber was shot down over Germany. Another has been Missing In Action since the second day of the Battle of the Bulge. A third was wounded in action in Korea, then was killed the same day he returned to the front line.
A friend of mine doesn’t talk about Vietnam, but he has told me about the day his unit lost 41 men. Another said he lost the coin toss to see who got off the plane first, so it was his buddy the sniper killed.
Was the sacrifice of any of those men any less than that of any other American who has died in our service? Does any of them deserve to be remembered and respected any less? In my eyes, they’re all heroes. I owe each one a debt that I can never repay.
My friends and I have met people from all over the world at Little Round Top. Most are civilians, some are American veterans or active service members, and many are soldiers from other countries.
No matter who they are or where they’re from, all of them have one thing in common with each other, and with every American: Each one owes his freedom to American soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen — and Coast Guardsmen and Merchant Mariners.
What they tell us convinces me that there are millions of people on this planet who love America and respect its traditions ... and many are young Americans.
