It is a privilege to spend some time with you on this federal holiday. Sadly, Presidents’ Day
is a type of consolation prize for two of America’s greatest as judged by the long view of history: General
George Washington, our first president, who was actually born on February 22, 1732, and Abraham “Abe” Lincoln,
the 16th President, who was actually born on February 11, 1809. I have referred to this as a consolidation
holiday because these noted leaders men for generations had individual federal holidays, on their actual
birthdays, and are now honored jointly on a federal date that never coincides with their individual birthdates.
There is an expression developed for another context but good to describe this situation: damned by faint
praise.
General Washington led the Continental Army, and the Nation, during our birth and struggle for independence,
1775 (actually antedating the Republic by a year), through to the ratification of the Constitution and first
two terms of the American presidency, leaving office 1797. Both Lincoln and Washington suffered bitter and
continuing opposition in time of war. Washington and the revolutionaries were given little chance for victory,
the Army more often than not unfed, unpaid, and without food and supplies, with no leadership from the Continental
Congress which then met in Philadelphia and was more often than not concerned in saving their own necks,
fleeing at British advances and always arguing with Washington’s actions in the field.
Lincoln suffered from continual political and personal attacks as he sought to lead the Nation in a struggle
to preserve the Union. This is called by most historians as the Civil War and was the bloodiest in our history.
Lincoln was killed by an assassin as the war was ended.
It is said that many of the wartime presidents who followed these two, whom we commemorate today,
have been drawn to the lessons of these most notable presidents. Observing the political struggles of our
current wartime president, we can understand why this has been so.
Aside from the daily global war on terrorism which was forced upon us in 2001, the Nation has
been involved in the Korean War, 1950 through to this very day. That war never ended and we are often
called soldiers of the Forgotten War because we allowed the American public—and politicians and educators—to
assert again and again that the war had ended. As recently as two weeks ago a widely watched and acclaimed
Cable News show—the Fox News Special with Bret Hume—included the phrase “Ike went to Korea and ended the
war.” I wrote and faxed the network, objecting to their error. You may see my letter by clicking on this
link:
Letter to Bret Hume, Fox News (PDF File).
The Korean War is now our Nation’s longest war. It has been the responsibility of the Truman,
Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, GHW Bush, Clinton, and GW Bush Administrations. The ceasefire which
ended the widespread overt warfare—but not all of the fighting and deaths, or suffering (8,086 Americans
are still missing.) continues in effect. I attended a DOD conference on the Prisoners and Missing last week
in Washington. That ceasefire agreement, signed by the North Koreans, the UN Command, and the Chinese Communists,
provided that the parties would return to Panmunjom to complete a peace treaty within
a specified number of days after the last prisoners were repatriated or sent to lands of their choice. The
Chinese and North Koreans refused to do so and the Korean War continues.
The North Koreans began their drive to develop nuclear weapons in the early to mid ‘90s. Today they possess
nuclear bombs and have been adding to their arsenal as they produced nuclear fuel while our Nation and the
Republic of Korea provided economic, humanitarian, and nuclear generation assistance!
The time to pay the piper for our many, many years of avoiding the issues in Korea has been rapidly approaching.
I have termed all of the one, two, and six power talks on Korea, so promoted by the world press,
the UN and the parties, as nothing more than a return to Panmunjom and the actions, attitudes, strategies,
and tactics which we watched so carefully during the three years that the talks drug on, 1951-53. I suggested
to US Ambassador Alexander Vershbow at the Korean War Memorial in DC on September 13, 2006, as he accompanied
President Roh Moo-hyun to present a wreath, that we could not expect satisfactory results in dealing with
the North Koreans until we realized it was a return to their trick bag of Panmunjom and conduct ourselves
accordingly.
I discussed the same matter with the US/UN/Combined Commander General Bell on December 13 of 2006.
As a Nation we affixed our signature to yet another enemy ploy just days ago. I support the opinions
expressed in a recent Korean editorial which you may read by clicking on these links:
Those
who forget or ignore history are doomed to repeat their mistakes. In Korea we have returned to
Panmunjom without realizing that we were doing so. Hopefully we will do better this time and peace
will come to the Korean Peninsula. Meantime, by definition, and every other way, the Korean War continues.
In closing this message I want to recognize another very important historical event that attaches to
February 19th. On February 19th, 1945, the gallant US Marines and attached forces invaded the Japanese Island
of IWO JIMA, and another glorious chapter of that fighting Corps was written. The National USMC Monument
in our Nation’s Capitol was birthed in blood and sacrifice atop MOUNT SURIBACHI. The campaign officially
ended—not in a 50 year palaver of words or acts of Congress or the President but in victory by our
fighting forces—on March 16, 1945. Some 6,000 Marines and 800 other US forces, and 21,000 Japanese died
in the battle.
Semper Fi, comrades in arms and in our organization.
National President, KWVA/US
Chairman of the Board