Newspaper Page Text
Griffin Daily News
Concern for Viet vets late?
(Editor's Note: Tom Tiede
will be on special assign
ment for several weeks,
writing exclusively about
the problems, opinions
and future of Vietnam
veterans.)
♦ ♦ e
By TOM TIEDE
NEW YORK - (NEA) -
The United States attitude
toward its 2.8 million vet
erans of the Southeast Asian
war can be put quite briefly:
In the early 1960 s the nation
didn’t know its soldiers were
fighting; in the middle 1960 s
the nation knew but didn’t
care much—but it may be
time and neglect, the nation
is beginning to know and
care much—but it may be
too late.
Not since the final months
and immediate after-years
of the Civil War has America
treated its battle veterans so
shabbily as it has in recent
times. Then it was the losing
veterans, the Southern sol
diers, who were ignored and
waved off. As that war
neared end, rebel soldiers
were often denied aid and
assistance by confused and
bitter Southern citizens;
when the war was over, the
rebel veterans often had to
fight their way back into
good graces and decent jobs.
THE
SOLDIER
COMES
HOME
Now again, it might be
argued, our returning sol
diers are losers. Or at least
not winners. And this might
explain the reluctance of the
citizenry to honor them, the
business world to welcome
them, and the Congress to
protect them.
So now again our veterans
have to battle back into so
ciety.
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6
FORMER MARINE Bruce
Kessler now heads Viet
nam Veterans for a Just
Peace.
Todd, a onetime helicopter
pilot in Vietnam. “Before I
entered the service, I was a
good student, a very good
student. I had taken one na
tional college examination
and scored over 600 — good
enough for any school in the
nation. But when I got back
from Vietnam, I found that
hard as I tried, I could not
win acceptance to top
schools. I submitted applica
tion after application, but
could not do it. Finally,
somebody advised me
not to put my service
record on my applica
tions. They, said to put
down anything—that I was a
drug addict for two years—
anything. That way if my
forms were read by an anti
war administrator I’d have
a lot better chance.”
Todd says he doesn’t know
if many veterans are having
similar problems getting
back into college. “But I’ve
heard a lot of guys are.”
Todd, by the way, was shot
down in Vietnam, “serving
my country,” leaving him
almost totally blind.
It is, of course, presumptu
ous and unfair to draw a
conclusion here that many
college administrators are
purposely denying enroll
ment to men solely because
they were in Vietnam. Yet
there is no denying that it
has happened at least occa
sionallv — and that it can
happen at all is part of the
plight of today’s veterans.
Further, there is mounting
evidence that such things are
happening in other aspects
of the society as well. Bruce
Kessler, a Brooklyn-born
former Vietnam Marine
says: “The whole country is
full of examples where vet
erans have been and are
being discriminated against.
Take jobs. Today there are
more than 300,000 Vietnam
veterans out of work. Why is
this? Some of it is due to the
general economic situation,
of course. But also I am con
vinced that many employers
just don’t want Vietnam vet
erans on the job. The em
ployers aren’t always being
mean — just cautious. They
hear all these stories circu
lated about Vietnam Gls and
they simply don’t want a
bunch of dope addicts or
baby bayoneters on the pay
rolls.”
Baby bayoneters? Dope ad
dicts? Is this what American
businessmen, American edu
cators, American people
think about the Vietnam vet
eran? Sadly, it sometimes is.
Call it vogue stigma. It’s
the fashion to malign large
forces of Vietnam soldiers
for the actions of a few. Says
Navy Lt. John O’Neill, San
Antonio, Tex., who has
served several tours in the
war: “There have been
many thousands of platoon
leaders in Vietnam, but only
one Lt. Calley. I don’t know
why it is so many Americans
have come to believe that
there is a little Lt. Calley in
every returning GI.”
So it is that Vietnam vet
erans have returned to not
only an ungrateful nation,
but a suspicious one. “Even
my mother,” says a recent
returnee, “she kind of hedges
around but I know what she
wants to know: Is their blood
on my hands?”
Doubted they are then, as
well as unappreciated, or
criticized, or forgotten. And
the short- and long-range ef
fects of it all is overdue for
scrutiny.
On the individual basis,
probably such snubbery is
not likely to be traumatic. *
But on a national basis,
and in those individual
instances where a return to
normalcy is more difficult
(say, for a handicapped Ne-
.. V' BA, -a
igOßu Ml BFRtftwgy ■ I
HOME AT LAST, a group of servicemen arrives at Oakland, Calif., after leaving
the plane that flew them from Vietnam.
gro), public apathy tow
veterans may be of signifi
cant harm. So much so that
Bruce Kessler, the ex-Marine
mentioned herein, has formed
a counterforce: Vietnam
Veterans for a Just Peace.
The group has political over
tones, but never mind that.
Its primary worth is that it’s
trying to improve the now
shoddy image of the Johnnies
marching home.
Says Kessler: “The fellows
in my organization are wor
ried. Not only about the for
gotten veteran, but for the
nation which has forgotten
him. Now, we believe that
most Americans have no bad
feelings for the veterans,
that most people want to
help the veteran as much as
possible — but our point is
that the people in our nation
had better hurry up and do
something to show this, or
else . . .” He pauses. And
adds: “Or else it will be too
late to do anything but say
we’re sorry.”
CUT-RATE ROBBERY
ALBANY, N.Y. (UPI)-Two
men broke into Wayne Peters’
apartment Thursday night and
after taking $l2O in cash, a ring
and two wristwatches forced
Peters to write a check to “Mr.
Johnson” for SSO.
Peters said they first de
manded he write the check for
1100 but he told them he didn’t
have that much money in the
bank.
Rep. McCloskey
plans to enter
California primary
By RICHARD M. HARNETT
SAN FRANCISCO (UPI)-
Antiwar congressman Paul M.
McCloskey, hoping to draw 18-
year-old voters to the Republi
can Party, announced Friday
that he’ll challenge President
Nixon in next year’s California
primary.
McCloskey said his official
entry into the presidential race
includes entering the New
Hampshire primary and as
many other primaries as his
campaign funds would allow.
“I would like nothing better
than to see the President cut
Billboard
warnings
issued
ATLANTA (UPI )-In a crack
down on illegal billboards along
Georgia roads, the State High
way Department has given the
owners of some 200 billboards in
metropolitan Atlanta a one
month deadline to comply with
the law or take down the signs.
“We soon hope to have tough
er billboard permit standards,”
a highway department official
said. “But in the meantime, we
are going to enforce vigorously
the ones on the books now.”
The department said the inves
tigation, which turned up bill
board violations in Fulton, Cobb
and Clayton counties, was the
first phase of a statewide effort.
The federal government has
advised that Georgia could lose
up to $lO million in highway aid
because state laws regulating
billboards do not come up to
nationalstandards. Gov. Jimmy
Carter has indicated he may in
clude the problem in his call for
a special session of the General
Assembly.
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the ground out from all antiwar
candidates by ending the war
himself,” the 43-year-old San
Mateo County representative
told a news conference.
“But,” he added, “I don’t
think the President and vice
president can be re-elected
regardless of the war.”
McCloskey said if the Viet
nam situation should change, he
would reconsider his own
position, but emphasized that
he was basing his campaign on
more issues than just ending
the war.
The former Marine combat
officer first made his announce
ment in Los Angeles and then
flew to San Francisco where he
told reporters he hoped “in the
next several months to serve as
a rallying point” for 18-year
olds now registering to vote. He
said Republican candidates
would not stand a chance next
year “unless they get a
substantial number of the new,
young voters.”
“This will not be a single
issue campaign,” he announced
at his Los Angeles stop.
“We seek in addition to
ending the war, to restore truth
in government to achieve a
return to the historic Republi
can moral commitment on
social issues, rather than the
present ‘Southern Strategy’ and
a restoration of judicial excel
lence and independence.
“We seek to end CIA
hvolvement in the internal
affairs of other nations and to
limit that agency’s operations
to the field of intelligence
gathering.”
McCloskey said he respected
Nixon “as an individual, but I
disagree with his policies,
especially the truth in govern
ment issue.”
His entry into the primaries
will give voters “their first
chance to end this war,”
McCloskey said. “The debate
ought to take place inside the
Republican Party.”
Know your lawmen
39
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Don King
Don King has been a patrolman with the Griffin Police :•:■
Department for almost three years and says he really
enjoys the excitement of never knowing what will happen
from one minute to the next on the job. He likes people
and his work brings him in contact with many of them.
Don met his wife, the former Marianne Corbitt of •:•:
Douglas, while they were students at South Georgia §
Technical School in Americus. He is a native Griffinite
and was on the Griffin High football team. She is a $:
secretary in the city manager’s office. They have two £:
sons, John, three, and Scott, one.
Don worked as a printer before becoming a policeman.
He likes to hunt and fish and enjoys all sports, especially g
football and track. He is a graduate of the Georgia Police
Academy, attended Basic Police School and is a qualified S
intaximeter operator. He also is a member of the
Fraternal Order of Police. •:•:
The King’s live on Springview drive.
Astronauts to keep
on their spacesuits
By EDMUND GLEN JOHNSON
SPACE CENTER, Houston
(UPI) —An Apollo 15 safety
panel formed following the
death of the Soviet Soyuz 11
crew recommended Friday that
astronauts wear spacesuits as a
precautionary measure while
jettisoning their lunar lander.
David R. Scott, Alfred M.
Worden and James B. Irwin
blast off July 26 for the moon
cn the Apollo 15 mission. It will
be the first space mission since
the three Soviet cosmonauts
died June 30 after spending
nearly 24 days in orbit with the
Salyut Space Station.
“If you look at what we know
so far about the Soyuz incident,
it would appear to us that when
they separate in earth orbit to
return, then they have to
separate the same as we would
do from the LM (Lunar
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Module) with a docking-type
hatch,” said Scott Simkinson,
assistant program manager of
flight safety.
U.S. space officials say the
cosmonauts could have died of
“embolism” or bubbles of air in
their blood caused by a loss of
air pressure in their spacecraft.
The leak could have occurred
when the re-entry capsule
separated from the Soviet
support craft.
If such a leak occurred in the
Apollo 15 spacecraft, the
astronauts could continue their
return to earth safely if they
were wearing spacesuits.
“It doesn’t take anything
away from their safety to be
suited at that time, and it
may add a little Mt,”
Simkinson said.