IN MEMORIUM
DUNN - Retired 1st Sergeant James Blue,
82d Airborne Divison, of Dunn NC, died Friday, May 14, 2004, at his home.
Sergeant Blue was 84. Graveside services are Monday morning, May 17, 2004, at Veteran's Cemetery in Dunn, NC. Arrangements are being made by Skinner & Smith Funeral Home of Dunn.
For many years James Blue served admirably for the community as Curator and Historian of the General Lee Museum in Dunn. Sergeant Blue helped keep General Lee's legacy alive. If folks wanted to know information about the history of the Airborne and World War II or General Lee, they knew who to contact.
Sergeant Blue was instrumental in the compilation of material for the book, General William C. Lee: Father of the Airborne- Airborne Press could not have done it without him. Sergeant Blue, God Bless you and your family. You will be missed!!!--Geronimo and HUU-AHH!
HOME BEFORE MORNING. Reading that Lynda Van Devanter passed from this life into the next, unusually saddened me.
For a long time after Vietnam, I wouldn't read any Vietnam books or see movies. A friend gave me Home Before Morning by Ms. Van Devanter . I immediately felt this overwhelming rapport. Her account of her time in Vietnam was moving and so very real.
I already knew for a fact that nurses were the unsung heroes of Vietnam. But somehow never verbalized it. Most young nurses as well as soldiers didn't have a clue what they were getting into when they signed up. And, yet there they were at Phu Bai or Bien Hoa or wherever, caring for the wounded and dying in extraordinary ways daily.
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Trashing The Military
by Kelly Thomas
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Trashing the Military.This is what the prisoner abuse scandal has done. When I was in Vietnam, soldiers probably didn't go by the book on many things as related to the enemy.
I vividly remember one incident in Nam in which a young company commander was admonished because he put a 45 to a young soldier's head and threatened to kill him if he ever abused another prisoner. Now, this is extreme leadership, but a type of leadership that we're not seeing in Iraq as in the case of this awful debacle. This has to be the worse incident of prisoner abuse that I can honestly say I've seen. It is a breakdown at every level.
This is but another example of the mismanagement of the war and has to be put at the feet of the Rumsfeld. He has to go, but what has happened in this situation resonates at all levels. In reading the account in The New Yorker by Seymour Hersh, it is obvious to me that the military in Iraq must take much of the blame.
If I were the overall commander in Iraq, I'd resign as a view of personal failure. Could Rumsfeld have known of the abuse? Probably not; but when you are the top dog, you bite the bullet. This is that serious.
This abuse is kind of a corruption of the morals of youngsters whose lives are ruined forever. And, in a sense, it an example of the depravity of man. It really is not unlike, albeit, on a small scale, Nazi Germany. Young soldiers following orders that are illegal in every aspect.
MI (military intelligence) branch needs a total revamping. When we think of the MI Branch and the Civilian contractors operating in a vacuum, talk about scary!
In reading the New Yorker article, even with a few things I question like this female general, Karpinski, who said she served with the Special Forces. She may have been attached, but she was not a Special Forces Officer- you can count on that. Her leadership as the head of the prison was so shotty that she was relieved. She never even visited the prison.
Like a previous writer, I am personally heartsick. Irreparable damage has been done to the image of the military, to the highly effective soldiers that we have, and to the proud who have served. We may attempt to deny it and say that a few do not taint the many,but they do.
For those of us who have railed at the use of the National Guard and Reserves in this very extreme situation, we look slightly like prophets; however, we can take no great "shakes" in it. Their lack of training and lack of supervision still offers no excuse in the unthinkable acts they've committed. Heads have to roll from top to bottom and some major reform is in order.
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