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Archiver > QUAKER-ROOTS > 1997-11 > 0879283435


From: Alan Crosman <>
Subject: Re: QUAKER-ROOTS-D Digest V97 #214
Date: Tue, 11 Nov 1997 16:23:55 -0500


What a strange posting for a Quaker list.

While I respect the choices made by my classmates to serve and go to
Vietnam during that era, as a Quaker and a consiencious objector during
that era, from a long line of Quaker CO's (father in WWII, grandfather in
WWI among others), I don't share the perspective that service in the
military equates directly with preserving democracy and freedom, especially
not during the Vietnam era. The travesty of that foreign policy debacle
continues to haunt us. I don't see my friends who fought and died there as
any more defenders of our values as my friends who wound up in prison and
suffered terribly because of their decisions of conscience.

Do the veterans of that or any other era deserve respect? Yes, of course.
But so do many of those who made other choices. Especially on a list of
Quaker interest it seems strange to highlight the military answer.

At 12:29 PM -0800 11/11/97, wrote:

> #8 from Roots-L Mailing List ["Sally Pavia" <]

>X-Message: #8
>Date: Tue, 11 Nov 1997 06:33:06 -0700
>From: "Sally Pavia" <>
>To: "Tina Lee Hilz" <>, "Terri Tosh" <>,
> "Sarah Shaw Tatounova" <>,
> "Sande Maxim Parker" <>,
> "LucyGrace Garceau" <>,
> "Larose Wynne" <>,
> "Joanne Hilz" <>, "Fay Sanders" <>,
> "Bill Fox" <>, "Betty L Block" <>,
> "Betty Swisher" <>,
> "Frank Bouley" <>,
> "Gary Presson" <>
>Message-ID: <01bceea6$58354840$>
>Subject: from Roots-L Mailing List
>Content-Type: text/plain
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
>Thought you might all find this appropriate for Veterans Day.
>
>The following letter is from a Marine in Viet Nam to his parents.
>
>THEY'RE REAL CHAMPIONS
>"...Just imagine, most of the guys over here are 18 and fighting to make it
>to 19.
>
>The average age of the combat soldier in many units here is 18 1/2. And what
>a man he is. A pink cheeked, tousled haired, tight muscled fellow who, under
>normal circumstances, would be considered by society as half man, half boy,
>not yet dry behind the ears and a pain in the unemployment chart.
>"But here and now he is the beardless hope of free men. His, for the most
>part, unmarried and without material possessions except possibly for an
>old car
>at home and a transistor radio here. He listens to rock n roll and 105
>millimeter
>howitzers.
>
>"He just got out of high school, received so so grades, played a little
>football and had a girl who promised to be true.
>
>"He has learned to drink beer because it is cold and 'is the thing to do'.
>He is a private first class, a one year military veteran with one or
>possible three
>years to go.
>
>"He has never cared for work, preferred waxing his own car to washing his
>father's but he is now working or fighting from dawn to dark, and often
>longer.
>"He still has trouble spelling and writing letters home is a painful process.
>But he can break down his rifle in 30 seconds and put it back together in 29.
>He can describe the nomenclature of a fragmentation grenade, explain how a
>machine gun operates and use either if the need arises.
>
>"He can dig a foxhole, apply first aid to a wounded companion, march until
>he is told to stop, or stop until he is told to march. He has seen more
>suffering
>than
>he should in his short life. He has stood among hills of bodies, and he
>has helped
>to build
>those hills.
>
>He has wept in private and in public and has not been ashamed at doing
>either, because his pals have fallen in battle and he has come close to
>joining them.
>"He has become self sufficient. He has two pair of fatigues, washes one
>and wears the other.
>
>He sometimes forgets to brush his teeth, but not his rifle.
>
>He keeps his socks dry and his canteen full.
>
>"He can cook his own meals, fix his own hurts and mend his own rips -
>material or mental.
>He will share his water with you if you thirst, break his rations in half
>if you hunger and split his ammunition if you are fighting for your life.
>
>"He can do the work of two civilians, draw half the pay of one and find
>ironic humor in it all.
>
>He has learned to use his hands as a weapon and his weapon as his hands.
>
>He can save a life or most assuredly take one.
>
>"He is now 19, a veteran and fighting to make 20 ..."
> ... Author Unknown
>
>I saw a copy of this letter in April 1968 and it has stuck with me ever since.
>>From a 50 year old Canadian who remembers.
>
>
>There may be no connection here at all but one never knows till he tries.
>Dan Dobson
>British Columbia, Canada
>
>
>Sally Rolls Pavia
>Sun City, AZ 85351
>(602) 974-0195
>"No one has ever become poor by giving."
> .. Anne Frank
>

Alan Crosman

Haverford College

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