- Reaction score
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- Points
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Review gives soldier the honor he earned
Evidence indicates that Sgt. Donald Walters fought valiantly in Iraq.
March 21, 2004 (StatesmanJournal.com, Salem - Oregon)
Tens of thousands of U.S. troops â †regular military, reserves, National Guard â †are on duty in Iraq. Most will come home alive. Sgt. Donald Walters is among the nearly 600 who did not.
No medal, no belated honor, can ever make up for a soldier's death, but there is a measure of satisfaction in seeing Walters finally gain the recognition he deserved. On Friday, U.S. Rep. Darlene Hooley, D-Ore., announced that the Army would posthumously award a Silver Star to the former Salem resident.
Walters never will have the chance to write a book; he likely will never be the subject of a movie. His colleague Pvt. Jessica Lynch did both. But it long has appeared â †especially to his fellow soldiers and his parents, Norman and Arlene Walters of Salem â †that he was the gallant fighter originally described as Lynch.
Their 507th Army Ordinance Maintenance Co. was ambushed March 23, 2003. Eleven soldiers died; six were captured. A lone soldier held out until the end; he ultimately was fatally shot and stabbed by Iraqi troops. When American forces later retrieved Lynch from an Iraq hospital, the Pentagon immediately created the myths of a daring raid to rescue her and of her heroic resistance to the Iraqis.
U.S. soldiers don't need myths to bolster their reputation. This isn't like the Vietnam conflict, when some troops found themselves reviled by folks back home. Americans have come to their senses. Irrespective of their views about the ongoing war in Iraq, Americans are unified in their support and concern for U.S. servicemen and women.
These troops are enduring in a job of almost inconceivable difficulty, trying to create the foundation for democracy in a nation riven by ethnic and religious rivalries and overrun by opportunistic criminals and determined terrorists.
The coalition forces are too small to quell militants' attacks, let alone to make the streets safe from looters, carjackers and kidnappers. Military and civilian forces can't move fast enough to restore a nation with high unemployment, massive underemployment and a shattered infrastructure.
More troops and civilian contractors are desperately needed; more training and equipment are essential for the overwhelmed Iraqi police. More members of the U.S. military will be taking up duty in Iraq.
Those of us back home cannot make the streets and roads of Iraq safer for these family members and friends serving there.
We can see to it that the U.S. government respects our troops by telling the truth about their actions.
Jessica Lynch served honorably, but she never fired a shot in that ambush. Walters likely was the heroic fighter, a worthy recipient of the third-highest honor awarded by the Army, the Silver Star.
Evidence indicates that Sgt. Donald Walters fought valiantly in Iraq.
March 21, 2004 (StatesmanJournal.com, Salem - Oregon)
Tens of thousands of U.S. troops â †regular military, reserves, National Guard â †are on duty in Iraq. Most will come home alive. Sgt. Donald Walters is among the nearly 600 who did not.
No medal, no belated honor, can ever make up for a soldier's death, but there is a measure of satisfaction in seeing Walters finally gain the recognition he deserved. On Friday, U.S. Rep. Darlene Hooley, D-Ore., announced that the Army would posthumously award a Silver Star to the former Salem resident.
Walters never will have the chance to write a book; he likely will never be the subject of a movie. His colleague Pvt. Jessica Lynch did both. But it long has appeared â †especially to his fellow soldiers and his parents, Norman and Arlene Walters of Salem â †that he was the gallant fighter originally described as Lynch.
Their 507th Army Ordinance Maintenance Co. was ambushed March 23, 2003. Eleven soldiers died; six were captured. A lone soldier held out until the end; he ultimately was fatally shot and stabbed by Iraqi troops. When American forces later retrieved Lynch from an Iraq hospital, the Pentagon immediately created the myths of a daring raid to rescue her and of her heroic resistance to the Iraqis.
U.S. soldiers don't need myths to bolster their reputation. This isn't like the Vietnam conflict, when some troops found themselves reviled by folks back home. Americans have come to their senses. Irrespective of their views about the ongoing war in Iraq, Americans are unified in their support and concern for U.S. servicemen and women.
These troops are enduring in a job of almost inconceivable difficulty, trying to create the foundation for democracy in a nation riven by ethnic and religious rivalries and overrun by opportunistic criminals and determined terrorists.
The coalition forces are too small to quell militants' attacks, let alone to make the streets safe from looters, carjackers and kidnappers. Military and civilian forces can't move fast enough to restore a nation with high unemployment, massive underemployment and a shattered infrastructure.
More troops and civilian contractors are desperately needed; more training and equipment are essential for the overwhelmed Iraqi police. More members of the U.S. military will be taking up duty in Iraq.
Those of us back home cannot make the streets and roads of Iraq safer for these family members and friends serving there.
We can see to it that the U.S. government respects our troops by telling the truth about their actions.
Jessica Lynch served honorably, but she never fired a shot in that ambush. Walters likely was the heroic fighter, a worthy recipient of the third-highest honor awarded by the Army, the Silver Star.
