Is He a Traitor?

     On the one hundredth anniversary of the end of World War I, I recall this veteran marching quietly in a parade. He received scant applause, while uniformed war re-enactors drew cheers and whistles. Why the difference? Because some Americans view veterans who demonstrate for peace as traitors.
     But are they? These vets have tasted more in war than re-enactors ever will. They understand the words of Dwight D. Eisenhower, commander of the World War II Allied Forces. “I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its stupidity.”     
     I’m grateful for those who have served, including my dad who skippered a submarine chaser in the Pacific in World War II. He’s no longer living, but I’ve studied letters he wrote to my mom during his military service. He didn’t glorify war. He was just doing what needed to be done. And he realized that whatever good that a warship accomplishes, it also leaves a wake of destruction.
    That’s patriotism with humility.

​My parents, Grace and LeRoy Huether,
who married during World War II
​before he shipped off to the Pacific Fleet.