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When Trump was Afraid of the Weather...and Other Insults to Veterans

Los Angeles Sentinel - 12/7/2018

iting the mass graves for U.S. soldiers buried at the Aisne-Marne cemetery adjacent to Belleau Wood not far from Paris. Belleau Wood was the site of a major battle between U.S. Marines (long with their British and French allies) and the Germans in which there were more than 9,700 casualties. In U.S. Marine history, Belleau Wood holds iconic status.

President Trump chose not to visit the cemetery due to the weather. Instead he Tweeted a congratulations on the birthday of the U.S. Marine Corp.

I am not a militarist and generally find myself in opposition to US foreign policy. But there is something that I find absolutely obscene about Trump's attitude towards U.S. soldiers and veterans. U.S. soldiers should not have been engaged in World War I but the fact of the matter is that they were deployed and suffered horribly. They, along with soldiers on both sides of the endless "noman lands" separating trench systems occupied by opposing fighters, experienced a living hell. There were no hotels to which to retreat; no television or warm meals; no warm baths. There was the everpresent threat of poison gas and the zing of bullets flying by or into one's head. And there was the sound of the whistle being blown signaling for the troops to leap out of the trenches and march forward into the machine gun fire unleashed by those in the opposing trenches.

With this bit of history in mind, Trump could not find it in himself to get a little wet and honor the lives of men who would never return home? Instead his actions ring of contempt for those who were not rich enough or powerful enough to avoid the conflict.

Bill Fletcher, Jr. is the former president of TransAfrica Forum. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and www.billfletcherjr.com. Read his new novel The Man Who Fell From the Sky from Hardball Press.