Countywide : Veterans Cite Backing for Call-Up

With the massive military buildup and talk of war, Orange County veterans are hoping for peace in the Persian Gulf, but most say they will back President Bush should conflict come.

As Veterans Day approaches, leaders of half a dozen local veterans groups say they support the call-up of hundreds of thousands of troops this week, making the gulf deployment the largest commitment of U.S. forces in a foreign country since Vietnam.

And several veterans groups were mobilizing themselves Friday to provide support for the families of soldiers called to gulf duty.

The people in the United States are behind today’s servicemen, said World War II Navy veteran Julian A. Ramos, who survived the sinking of his ship.

“There is a different attitude now, like it was in World War II,” said Ramos, who heads the 90-member Veterans of Foreign Wars post in San Juan Capistrano. “There’s better togetherness now. Guess those guys from the Vietnam War are getting old and their attitudes are changing.”

“We belong there and we are doing what we are supposed to do,” said Mission Viejo VFW Post Cmdr. Edward J. Kearns, who served in both World War II and the Korean War. “If we let that madman (Saddam Hussein) go the way he wants, we’ll have a holocaust on our hands.”

Kearns said most of his fellow veterans agree, including the Vietnam veterans in his post.

“All veterans are veterans. There’s no difference. Everyone’s blood runs the same color,” Kearns said.

“The general consensus shows full support for the President and for the families left behind,” said Lelia Crandall, who served in the Women’s Army Corps in World War II.

The American Legion has set up an Emergency Action Line toll-free number to help servicemen’s relatives, Crandall said. The VFW has started a similar program.

“We’ll take them to the doctor, help with the children and even do yardwork,” the Santa Ana veteran said.

Vietnam Navy veteran Bill Siler, past commander of the Santa Ana American Legion Post and a past district commander in Orange County, said there is a split in whether the President is following the right course.

“Some of our people think (the President’s action) is OK and some don’t, but the majority of American Legion vets support the military no matter what they are ordered to do,” Siler said.

Most veterans contacted discounted the significance of those domestic critics who have dissented from U.S. policy in the Persian Gulf, including the massive military call-up this week.

“I don’t think we’re really radical about anything now,” Siler said. “That period of time is behind us and we have to do other things. We don’t need another Vietnam.”

At the Garden Grove VFW post there are no differences of opinion, according to Robert W. Hess, an Army sergeant in World War II..

“Everyone is favorable to the President in this situation, but if, if need be, get it over,” he said. “We are all waiting as long as we can.”