Honor the Veterans, or Be Doomed to Repeat the Insanity

Not often does one have the privilege of reading something as eloquent as James Ricci’s “Passing Heroes” (Nov. 8), about our local survivors of World War I. His admiring portrayal, of those beautiful, frail men, “adamant in their manliness [who] evoke a powerful sense of something definitive in our past that can never be remembered in the same way once they’ve departed,” moved me to tears--not of sorrow but of respect. And tears stream down my face now as I write.

Joan Jobe Smith

Long Beach

A wave of emotion came over me as I read Ricci’s article. My father, John Thomas Murphy, the son of Irish immigrants, served in the Army in World War I as a sergeant first class. He lost a lung in France from exposure to mustard gas but lived to the age of 81 after providing for his family.

I remember going to Armistice Day parades and watching him hold his head high and his hat over his heart.

Marjorie Sbicca

San Marino

On Sept. 26, 1918, my great-uncle died at the age of 24 when his plane was shot down over France--just 46 days before the armistice. Instead of his war stories, our family has a small suitcase filled with my great-grandmother’s mementos of the biggest event in her life. When her son died, she was declared a Gold Star Mother by the government and offered a trip to his grave.

In the suitcase are his medals, ribbons and commendations (U.S. and French); squadron photos, a letter to the family from his squadron leader and another signed by Gen. John J. “Black Jack” Pershing. She also saved everything from her trip, including her journal, dinner menus and the small flag that had flown over her son’s grave.

Her country showed great respect to her on her loss, and she wanted to remember every detail. But of his missions, his thoughts, there’s nothing--just the image of a brave young man fighting with a primitive piece of 20th century technology.

If he had lived to 100, what would he have thought of the modern weapons of air warfare? If she had lived to witness the Vietnam War, what would she have thought about the attitudes toward its veterans and its casualties?

Anita Kelty Nitta

Manhattan Beach

So many have forgotten the doughboys who went to France with the American Expeditionary Force to defeat the armies of imperial Germany. Sadly, there are several World War I commemorative ceremonies in France and Belgium, and only a few visitors attend.

Cliff Dektar

North Hollywood

As memories fade and the remaining doughboys succumb to creeping eventuality, it’s every subsequent generation’s responsibility to honor these men, lest we become doomed once again to repeat the insanity of a world war.

John R. Grush

Mission Viejo

As a 32-year-old, I don’t know much about World War I, but Ricci’s touching article opened my eyes to these incredible men and what they went through to preserve our freedoms.

Susanne Holmes

Newbury Park