Memorial Day 2004

Memorial Day 2004


Like 2,600,000 others, I served in Viet Nam. Our effort to save the Vietnamese people from what ultimately became their fate, an existence under totalitarianism, was belittled and described as a “police action,” an “interdiction in a civil war” or as a mere “conflict.” 58,000 Americans died for the right of the Vietnamese to individual liberty and freedom. We, the living, can attest that those, who died, knew the horror of war.

During my tour, I learned how much I loved freedom. I thought that when war was over, and there was peace, the United States could and would help the Vietnamese. We stood for the good in mankind. Our engineering and technology could help harness rivers and create hydroelectric power. We could triple their rice production. We could build schools and housing and help create a society that believed in individual freedom and the right to own land just as we do. This is only possible where freedom exists; where people have individual rights and only if they have the right to own property.

Since September 11, 2001 our safety, liberty and freedom have been ensured by the effort of our armed forces. Concurrently, fifty million people have been liberated and now experience freedom, many for the first time, in a very troubled area of our world. This is not the fate of the North or South Vietnamese. They do not have the same future. For our security and for those who cherish life, we must continue this initiative. We must protect America from the evil we experienced on 911. In my opinion, it is worse than what we fought in Viet Nam. It is anti-mind. It wants to kill and destroy. Death, not life is their goal. It has no other purpose. There is no reasoning with those whose purpose is anti-life and anti-mind.

During this time of peril, Americans and non-Americans must realize that man has individual rights that cannot be conquered or enslaved by any enemy, foreign or domestic. This peril does not originate in America. It comes from without, not from within. It must be met. It is for our freedom that we fight terrorism. I do not believe this can be stated often enough. It must be declared unequivocally so every living soul comprehends we fight for individual freedom and the joy life offers.

I believe most people understand the use of military force but I do not believe everyone understands that there is no “knight in shining armor” to lift this peril from us because he doesn’t exist. We choose to use force because force has been used against us. We did not initiate the use of force against radical Islamic fundamentalists. Their state funded attack is against civilized society and morality.

We are at a point wherein we need to define the end game, that is, a life of confidence not fear, individual liberty and not nihilism. General Douglas MacArthur is quoted as saying, “There is no substitute for victory.” There is no alternative in war if we cherish liberty, individual freedom and what they offer - achievement, value, grandeur, goodness and joy as the morality of life.