REUNION OF COWARDS

We are, I'm sad to report, in the middle of the four day “Our Way Home National Reunion” at the Brilliant Cultural Center in Castlegar, British Columbia, Canada. In plain English, the event is a reunion of Vietnam draft dodgers who fled to Canada during the war. I shall be more explicit. It’s a “Reunion of Cowards.” These people ran away from their country, so others could die in their place.

During the Revolutionary War, the Tories deserted the Patriots and fled to Canada; during the Vietnam War, the draft dodgers likewise headed for Canada. Apparently, nothing is new.

More than 50,000 draft dodgers who skidadled to Canada during the Vietnam War. Several stayed and became Canadian citizens after the war ended in 1975 – and good riddance. The folks organizing the coward’s reunion in Canada allege they want to honor both the draft dodgers, and Canadians who helped them – and they also plan to offer "refuge" for Iraqi war deserters. This whole story makes me want to puke.

I’m a Vietnam veteran, and an Air force retiree. As a father of six, I certainly didn’t volunteer for Vietnam - but when my turn came in 1972 I made no attempt to avoid the assignment. I proudly served my country at Monkey Mountain near DaNang, and as commander of the radar site at Pleiku, Vietnam in the central highlands. I stood guard with my men at the perimeter fence on the last night of the war in 1973. I can tell that to my grandchildren. What cockamamie story will the draft dodgers tell their grandchildren?