Letter to the Editor

Bothered by article

Dear Editor:

The Winthrop Sun Transcript is typically very supportive of our men and women serving in the the United States military, along with supporting our military veterans organizations such as our local VFW, the American Legion and my own, Supporting the Troops Care Package Program, but an article on the front page of the May 5th issue of the Transcript bothered me very much.

On Saturday April 30th, members of American Legion Post 146 gathered on Winthrop Beach to install a new American Flag atop the granite breakwater. Due to the difficulty maintaining the flag during the winter months, the flag had been absent from the breakwater off of Winthrop Beach. The reappearance of the American flag was welcomed back by Winthrop residents with resounding flood of patriotic pride. For some, the flag represented the resiliency of the United States after 9-11, for others, it was a symbol of patriotism at it’s best.

The following Thursday (May 5th), the Transcript posts a story on the front page about the flag raising. Instead of celebrating the return of the American Flag on the Winthrop Breakwater, the writer highlights the fact that the Veterans were cited for driving an old Army Jeep out to the breakwater. No mention is made of the swell of patriotic pride that this American flag brought to everyone that sees her fly. Why was this article written? Was it written to ridicule and shame the men and women of the local American Legion? Why not write about the men who helped raise this American flag, men who fought in places like Vietnam, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq or Afghanistan. Men, who, to this day would fight and die for this flag. No, we have a story that portrays a bunch of Military Veterans as a bunch of law breakers who endangered some nesting piping plovers. As a Vietnam Veteran, it brought back bad memories of the way military personnel were treated upon their return from Vietnam.

I thought it was pretty sad when a local newspaper story focuses on a bunch of piping plovers instead of the patriotic good will of our Military Veterans. My wife joked to me, next time they have a war to fight, why don’t they just call some piping plovers.

Sincerely,

American Legion Post 146

Richard Honan,

 Richard Gay,

Mike Hammerman,

Bill Brown,

Keith Manning

Richard Duval,

Al Bell,

Andrew Guilfoyle,

 Rose Mazzuchelli,

 Jeff Hammerman

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