America’s D-Day Role

How dare The Times print such un-American hogwash as that written by Alexander Cockburn, “A Smidgen of Perspective on D-Day” (Column Left, June 3).

It is a sad fact that many Americans with 70-pound packs were dumped in deep water and drowned at Omaha Beach. But this had nothing to do with them carrying cartons of cigarettes. The fact is, many of the coxswains on the landing crafts lost their nerve and, rather than go onto the beach, which was being sprayed with heavy cross-fire from the German defenders, lowered their ramps more than 300 yards out in deep water.

For Cockburn to refer to D-day as “a sideshow” and “a skirmish” is a slap in the face to every American who ever wore the uniform of the United States of America, not to mention the hundreds of brave, young men who lost their lives on the beaches of Normandy 50 years ago.

ROBERT L. WEST

Calabasas

Cockburn’s sneering references to the deaths of U.S. soldiers at Omaha Beach are incredibly mean-spirited, and his glowing accolades for the prowess of the Red Army are the pathetic utterances of an apologist for the Soviet Union’s amoral conduct prior to its becoming a fervent member of the war against fascism.

The Soviet Union became the victim of Nazi aggression in June, 1941, which caused it to insistently ask the British and then the Americans to open a second front, precisely because it had collaborated in Hitler’s aggression in 1939. Has Cockburn forgotten the Soviet-German nonaggression pact, under which the same Red Army that later “liberated” Eastern Europe from the Nazis had invaded Poland from the east shortly after the Germans stormed in from the west? If Stalin had instead joined with Britain and France (which belatedly but genuinely sought an alliance with him), Germany would not have been able to quickly overrun Poland, vanquish France and isolate Britain, leaving Hitler free to pursue his genocidal plans for the inhabitants of Eastern Europe.

Hitler cleverly avoided direct provocation of the U.S. and did not declare war against the U.S. until Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. It was not a foregone conclusion that the U.S. would follow a “Germany first” approach; it could have become U.S. policy to let the Nazis and the Soviets destroy each other while Pearl Harbor and Bataan were avenged. While it may have been Churchill’s fear of Soviet domination of Europe that finally caused him to agree to the opening of the second front, it should also be remembered that he was so wary of large casualties that he desired to attack through Europe’s “soft underbelly,” while it was the Americans who insisted upon a head-on attack on Fortress Europe. Furthermore, even if the invasion of France might itself have been insufficient to win the war, it kept enough German divisions tied down to enable the Red Army to overwhelm the Germans. As late as December, 1944, Hitler still squandered his troops in the Battle of the Bulge at the same time that the Russians were relentlessly closing on Berlin.

STEVEN L. STERN

Newport Beach

I watched TV and listened to the honored veterans tell the stories of their valiant fight to save Europe from Adolf Hitler’s tyranny. I, too, am a survivor. Unlike them, I could not fight, for I was in a concentration camp. The only fight we had was to survive the horrors of Hitler. But to the surviving heroes, I and the free nations thank you for helping us breathe free.

ROSE FUTTER

Los Angeles

In response to Michael Kinsley’s apologistic Column Left regarding President Clinton’s avoidance of military service in Vietnam (June 2), the fact remains that many Americans, from the inner-city youth to the rural farmer, the sons and daughters of working-class America, fought and died in that conflict, and, whether too naive or too proud, they did not seek out exemptions from military service. For these individuals, Woodstock and protest marches were not a high-water mark for their generation.

A quarter of a century later, a hypothetical justification that the war was “morally wrong” and “the country ultimately decided that Bill Clinton was right” stated as some type of moral high ground for Bill Clinton’s evasion of the draft is fallacy.

A reading of names engraved on the Vietnam Memorial reflects the regional and ethnic diversity of Americans who died in that conflict. Having known and served in Vietnam with some of these individuals, I know that their military service came from a sense of duty and a personal code that would not permit another of their generation to stand in harm’s way in their stead.

It will take more than rhetorical courage during a D-day speech for Bill Clinton to show that his avoidance of military service was more than self-serving elitism.

CHARLES L. TEEVAN

Thousand Oaks

The main issue is not being addressed--either by President Clinton or the media. There is no comparison between the Vietnam War and World War II.

Clinton was not alone in protesting against the Vietnam War. But he needs to “stand and deliver” now and stop feeling ashamed of those beliefs, which makes us feel ashamed. I, too, was against U.S. involvement in Vietnam but I have great compassion for those who served there and for those who lost their loved ones.

MARJORIE C. SPARKS

Palm Springs