When I think about the ultimate sacrifices given by so many brave Americans through the short history of our nation, I am literally in awe. The bravery, the commitment, the honor all those men and women provided for us is overwhelming to me. These were men and women in the prime of their lives.
I do not want to forget the sacrifice my dad made for his country. He fought against the Nazis in both the North African and Italian theaters. He led a group of men whose sole job was to clear fields of land mines before the main forces would come through behind them. So naturally, his unit took heavy casualties.
So he and his men faced many dangers including stepping on a land mine, enemy snipers, and enemy shelling.
One day his best friend was blown literally to bits from enemy shelling. At the same time, his other friend lost both of his legs. My dad was the fortunate one as he only sustained shrapnel wounds to his right wrist and his abdomen. He recovered and was quickly sent back to the front. Luckily he eventually made it home and that is why I am here.
I think of what my dad and so many other brave men and women who served in combat had to deal with day after day. These were basically ordinary Americans who rose to the challenges facing them and by doing so became extraordinary.
I then, unfortunately, have to turn my thoughts to the dishonor and deceit of our elected and appointed officials here in Fullerton. That they recently knowingly have allowed our City Attorney to provide false information about our former Ordinance 3149, the Child Sex Offender Residency Restriction Act, to justify its repeal. Our men and women in uniform gave so so much and we allow our elected and appointed officials in my humble opinion dishonor their sacrifices with their deceitful political games. Those brave men and women died for a cause, an ideal, for a great country with the experiment that democracy could not only work but flourish for the benefit of all Americans.
On this day more than any other, don’t we owe it to those who lost their lives to serve and protect this great nation the dignity of now honoring them by demanding that our elected and appointed officials show a modicum of honor and respect for them and for us the people they swore to serve.
I frequently think about my son when I am standing up against the forces of evil in our government. Yes when our government officials knowing lie to us, I consider that evil. But today I am standing up to those same forces for my dad and the many of his fellow soldiers who did not make it home alive!
Barry Levinson
#1 by Barry Levinson on June 4, 2017 - 2:43 pm
I failed to mention my father-in-law, Jack Arnold Pfeiffer, who lied about his age to voluntarily join the Navy to serve his country in WWII, in the Pacific.
Another ordinary man, who chose to be extraordinary.