A Veteran Given Recognition Years Later
America may advantage those who fight the war, but does not vote for them. Not for the highest office, anyway. Not for a long time.
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Times Onderwerpen: Veterans
On Veterans Day, it is noteworthy that for the fifth straight presidential elections, a candidate with no military background, or at most a small, defeated a man who had gone to war. The draft-ducking Bill Clinton prevailed over George HW Bush and Bob Dole, who both saw the World War II action. George W. Bush, who joined the Texas Air National Guard as a sure way to avoid war duty in Vietnam, hit two Vietnam veterans, Al Gore and John Kerry. Now Barack Obama has never in uniform, prevailed over John McCain, who for years as a prisoner of war.
Perhaps it is time to inject a dose of reality in the four annual debate on the resume for a politician who would prefer to be commander in chief. It is clear that, despite all the campaign blather to the contrary, a serious military record is not required.
But voting is one thing. Them is another. In another Veterans Day, America is a tribute to those who served, including some achievements were recognized far too long. Someone, such as Seymour Wittek. You can read about him in this column last May
During World War II, the Brooklyn born Mr. Wittek, now 87, was Seaman Second Class Wittek of the United States Coast Guard, assigned to an ammunition detail in Jersey City. He and his buddies loaded bombs and ammunition for the U.S. troops fighting in Europe. A ship filled with explosives that she was El Estero, a freighter of Panamanian registry linked to a New Jersey pier.
On April 24, 1943, the Estero fire below decks. It is impossible to overestimate how serious this was.
About 5,000 tons of bombs, depth charges and small arms ammunition was stored in the Estero and nearby ships and railroad cars. If the Estero exploded - and the possibility was fierce - a chain reaction could have swallowed all that spread to ammunition and fuel storage tanks in Bayonne, New Jersey, and Staten Island. The explosion would have been enormous. Later estimates of potential casualties on both sides of the Hudson reaches into the thousands, even tens of thousands.
Besides the massacre,"the course of history might have changed," said James J. McGranachan, a civilian spokesman for the coastguard."It would shut down the port. If you think of all supplies that came from New York, would have had to land at Normandy" - D-Day, June 6, 1944.
Without blinking, Seaman Wittek and dozens of his fellow volunteer sailors aboard the burning ship and try to extinguish the fire, which was later found to have been caused accidentally. On the deck, he reminded the heat from below was so intense that he could feel through the soles of his shoes.