The Peace Newsletter editorial committee thanks these members of a local veterans’ writing group for sharing their thoughts with us this July 4.
Jennifer Jeffrey, US Coast Guard
I think about the people that we call revolutionaries. Most of them were undisciplined, everyday people who banded together to fight against injustice. They also wanted the right to create their lives in the new world and to keep some of the products of their labors for themselves and their families. We call the 4th of July “Independence Day” and it was surely about that, but just as much it was about interdependence and what we can all accomplish if we stick together.
Certainly this is not the whole story of the revolutionary war and the formation of our country, but the ideals that they struggled for are great ones. It is important to be vigilant so those principles do not get corrupted. They are what I strive to live my life in service of.
Bill Cross, US Army, Vietnam veteran
Four Memories: Fourth of July.
Three wounded revolutionary War vets. Drumming. Carrying a flag, playing a fife. Like the fife I played in a boy scouts drum & bugle corps.
Second, July 4, 1958, getting to eat all that I wanted at the cadet mess during beast barracks.
Number three, hearing well-meaning pols extol the sacrifice of service, leaving me nearly flat.
Number four, a friend of mine being murdered in Cazenovia, July 4, at the July 4 celebration. My romance with July 4 stopped there.
Doug Van Delia, US Army
The Fourth of July reminds me of the movie, Born on the Fourth of July, and story of Ron Kovic and the hypocrisy, really, of the parades, the flag-waving. And then him going off to war, being a paraplegic, his return, lack of support, and becoming an ex-patriot.
Ralph Willsey, US Army, Iraq veteran
Fireworks aren’t fun anymore. A jarring system shock if I don’t know they’re coming. Not nearly as much fun to watch as they are to set off yourself.
