Dear Editor,
Once upon a time when Americans in high political office did not bend to apologize for our country’s actions, the following are examples of what real patriots did instead.
JFK’s Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, was in France in the early 60’s when De Gaulle decided to pull out of NATO. De Gaulle said that he wanted all American military personnel out of France as soon as possible. Rusk replied, “Does that include all those buried at Normandy?” De Gaulle did not reply; you could hear a pin drop.
Much later, when in England at a fairly large conference, U.S. general Colin Powell, was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if American plans for Iraq were just “an example of empire-building” by George Bush. The general answered by saying that over the years America has sent many of our finest men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders, The only amount of land we have ever asked for was just enough to bury those who could not return. You could hear a pin drop.
There was another conference in France where a number of international engineers were taking part. During a break one of the French engineers mentioned (his words) “Have you heard the latest dumb thing President Bush has done? He’s sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims; does he intend to bomb them.?” A Boeing engineer stood and quietly said, “Our carriers carry three hospitals on board that can treat hundreds of patients; they are nuclear-powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias capable of feeding three thousand people three meals a day; they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water every day; they carry half a dozen helicopters for carrying injured/sick patients to/from their flight deck. We have 11 such aircraft carriers. How many does France have?” You could hear a pin drop.
In the 1990’s an elderly American tourist, Robert Whiting, arrived in Paris by plane. At French customs he took a few minutes to locate his passport. The customs officer asked sarcastically, “Have you been to France before, Monsieur?” Mr. Whiting admitted that he had. “Then you should know to have your passport ready for inspection.”
“The last time I was here, I didn’t have to show it.” “Impossible, said the customs agent. All foreigners must present their passports!” The American gave the agent a long hard look and said,” When I came ashore at Omaha beach in 1944, I never saw any Frenchman to show my passport.” You could hear a pin drop.
These individuals are genuine patriots, unashamed to love their country and to show it. I wish every flag-burning, America-hating individual in our country would read these accounts!
God bless America.
El Sellers
Fairfield, Texas
