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Upset vet gives back his medals (In Empty Gesture)
 EFL - pathetic spotlight on a loser and his medals protestAnd now what? He had protested. He had become president of the San Diego chapter of Veterans For Peace. He had helped put up thousands of white crosses around San Diego County to mark the dead in a solemn display called Arlington West. And still . . . . The war goes on. Three years, two months. With more than 2,300 U.S. soldiers and Marines dead. What more could David Patterson, an electronics technician from Ramona, do about it? get publicity and "fame" in the UT rag for basically doing a PR stunt? There was this: He could give up his military medals. Send them directly to President Bush, care of the White House. Patterson, 53, got the idea from a friend, who e-mailed him about a Navy veteran in Orlando, Fla., who had done just that. The action struck Patterson. What a powerful, personal statement. Here, take these back. I don't want them anymore. So in March, the mild-mannered Air Force veteran with graying hair sat down and wrote to the President of the United States of America: I am saddened to give up my hard earned medals. But the hate, torture and death you have instrumented in this world tarnish the symbolism they carry. Patterson doesn't know if his gesture will do any good. Nope... He hasn't heard back from the White House. And his action has received little media attention. Til now Still, he feels good about taking his anti-war crusade a step further. Patterson had to order the medals because he didn't have them at hand. The military doesn't award most medals when troops are discharged just ribbons, he said. It cost him $38 to get the actual ones. He didn't do anything John Wayne-like to earn the honors, he readily admits. Didn't take out an enemy machine-gun nest or rescue a wounded buddy. He jokes that he got the Good Conduct Medal simply because he stayed out of jail for the four years in the early 1970s when he served as a weapons systems technician. He also got the National Defense Service Medal and the Philippine Republic Presidential Unit Citation. But the medals do mean something to him. He served. And proudly so, he adds. But then came this war. A bunch of people are dying for no reason, Patterson said. Meaning he has no clue and shuts his eyes, ears to the facts Returning medals is no easy thing to do emotionally. People earn them for defending their country an honor that has few equals. But Joe DuRocher, for one, figured it had to be done. DuRocher is the Orlando law professor who sent back his aviator wings and shoulder boards and inspired Patterson to do the same. They don't hand Navy wings out of Cracker Jack boxes, DuRocher said in a recent telephone interview. Like Patterson, DuRocher is quick to say he did nothing particularly heroic in his military career. As a Navy helicopter pilot he took part in the blockade of Cuba. And he was part of the recovery team that retrieved John Glenn, the first American to orbit the globe, from the ocean. .....possibly one of the biggest pieces of crap story to be published in the SD UT. I let the Editors know the same. If you'd like to do the same: Letters@Uniontrib.com, include your name and complete address, tel phone number Posted by: Frank G 2006-05-08 |
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