Letters to the Editor
Remembering family members who served their country
Liberty is the breath of life to all nations. Memorial Day (first called Decoration Day) was established by widows after the Civil War who put flowers on the graves of fallen soldiers. It continues today in American cemeteries across the world. Memorial Day is a time for all of us to come together to honor those who took part in every war.
Many families, including mine, have taken part in conflict. An ancestor took part in the War of 1812. Several took part in the Civil War including my great-great-grandfather who defended his home town in Missouri and then was sent to a prison camp. Another aunt was an army nurse. In 1918 two of my great uncles were drafted. One was a sharpshooter and one ran a machine gun nest. Both came home changed. One became Brother Alexis in his church; the other never picked up a gun again.
World War II had an array of family. My dad enlisted in the Army Air Corp and spent the war as a plane mechanic stationed in Bakersfield, Calif. Aunt Polly was one of the first Navy Waves, females who helped staff the Navy in America so every able-bodied seaman could be sent to sea. Both came home changed. My husband served in the Army in Germany during the Vietnam War.
Memorial Day here in Pahrump is celebrated by all of us. I see the Veterans Parade and the service in Chief Tecopa Cemetery. Flags fly proudly and families get together to celebrate this special day. One thing that is special about Pahrump is the way we honor veterans. We have veterans from every branch of service and they wear their hats proudly. “Thank you for your service” is a standard hello.
The Department of Veterans Affairs offers many services to veterans. My aunt Polly got excellent care at both the local clinic and the Veterans Hospital in North Las Vegas. She received a small pension and reimbursement for medical expenses. Ken, my husband, was so thankful for the service and help he got when he lost a leg to MRSA. Veterans from across the West can go for specialized treatments at the Veterans Hospital in Las Vegas. There is a national veterans cemetery in Boulder City.
Americans in every generation have stepped up to serve. May we long have this special day to take time to remember them.
Betty Cotner
Reader says that bashing our president is ‘very bad form’
About Nicole Cannizzaro: She must need a history lesson: So here it is. History Lesson: “The United States of America” is not a Social Democracy. The founders chose rule by the people, constrained by constitutional limits and expressed through democratic institutions.
We The People are therefore a Constitutional Republic! And to bash the President of the United States the way you are doing is very bad form!
William Spencer Gray
