I HANG MY HEAD AND WEEP

I have been sitting in my family room for two nights watching "The History Channel's" new program WWII in HD. Gary Sinise is the narrator. He is a true patriot by the way. Anyway.......as I watch the footage in color now, not black and white anymore, as I listen to the words of the soldiers on the ground in Europe and Japan, Guam, Burma, and the Phillipines. I think of my father, Army Air Corp, fighting from 1941-1945, and all the other fathers of my friends. And I weep. I weep not only because this raw, colorized footage is so assaulting on my senses.....but because our fathers seem to have fought these wars in vain.

Because the countries that owe them, owe all of us so much gratitude and loyalty, are no longer loyal at all. I weep because my father has been gone now for many years and never knew that what he left behind, our beautiful, shining beacon in the night. Our country has been left to fend for itself, and is being destroyed from within. This is not the country my father would recognize. This is not the reason my father fought in WWII. This is not the reason my father suffered from war injuries for the rest of his short life......No....This is not the country my father almost gave his life for.

What we have done with our country in the last 60 years, does not make me proud, nor does it repay our national debt of gratitude for the toll that was taken on our fathers and uncles and aunts. I hang my head in shame for how terribly we have let them all down. It is tragic enough to know that the rest of the world has let them down, but that 'we' the people of this nation have let them down is almost more than I can bear.

I have missed my father terribly since his death in 1972. But there are many days now, when I am glad he is not here to see what we have done to the world. To our nation. And how terribly we have shamed these valiant, courageous, honorable soldiers of WWII. Those still alive would never say that of course. They are too humble, too stoic, too gentle to tell us what we already know. They do not point fingers, but I watch as my Father In Law (Tom) sits in his chair, in front of the TV, and tears well up in his eyes as he watches this footage. He says nothing. He is quiet and stoic and grand.

"The Greatest Generation" by God yes! We owe them everything. They ask for nothing.

I only hope that God can forgive us for what we have done. And forgive the world for allowing chaos to reign instead of freedom.

Forgive me, my friends. But I am extremely sad today. I expected more from our country, more from the world. I hang my head in shame. And I weep for all of us.

GOD Bless the USA.