Martinez on War Memorial

Reading Al Martinez’s column on Aug. 1, evoked in me many thoughts and emotions. Martinez’s writing is like that though, it grabs you.

Feelings about war are a subject we hear a lot about lately. About how we, as a nation, are finally recognizing those who served and died for their country. Now it’s politically correct to feel guilt over returning Korean or Vietnam War veterans’ treatment. Maybe, as someone who never had to experience battle, I will really never understand the horror and anguish of those men and women. For that I will be eternally grateful. Although I served in the U.S. Navy from 1963 to 1965 I saw no war, only the war-scarred and broken jetsam of returning humanity.

I can understand the disbelief of the returning veterans finding, instead of bands and parades, scorn and indifference. Still, I can’t help but wonder if the celebrating, eulogizing and medal-giving, rather than honoring the fallen, just serve to perpetuate war. Why must this country celebrate war? Why is it so important? How can we profess to loathe war and simultaneously exalt it? Maybe it’s right that people return from war without fanfare, ceremony or monument. If the concept of war really was revolting and loathsome, maybe the next time someone gave one nobody would come.

I feel deeply for all the people who have died in all wars. I can’t help but feel that these human beings don’t need monuments; they cry out for investigation. With all of the hoopla and calls to glory, God and country, the fact remains that those who send us to wars seldom fight and die in them. To Martinez’s immense credit he lamented the death of all 5 million human beings killed in the Korean War. That is far more than most war veterans do. The thing that is most inescapable to me is the incredible waste of it all. For a brief moment, in the 1960s, the youth of this country had the right idea about war, all war . . . Hell no, we won’t go!

DAVE FLETCHER

Solana Beach

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* Martinez deserves a Pulitzer Prize. His lucid, heartbreaking description of his visit to the Korean War Memorial brought understanding to me of this and all other futile wars. It should be printed in many languages.

HELEN POSTHUMA

Pasadena