Letters to the Editor of the Washington Post re Arlington Cemetery event

(No paywall but they will want your email. Sorry, didn't know that.)

Well-written comments, many from veterans or their relatives.

https://wapo.st/3T6hbkV

Edit: Trying to see if I can connect another way.

Opinion Even Trump should
know to keep Arlington
Cemetery a campaign-free
zone
Letters to the Editor August 28, 2024 at 8:18 p.m. EDT
A military officer carries a wreath during a ceremony on Monday honoring the American
service members who died in a bombing in Kabul in August 2021. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty
Images)
Regarding the Aug. 28 news article “Trump visit to Arlington
Cemetery sparks alleged altercation”:
Every Memorial Day, I make a point of visiting Arlington
National Cemetery, where eight of my fellow Iraq War
veteran friends rest — eight Americans who gave their lives
for our country. Each of them is a hero, and one even earned
the Medal of Honor, making the ultimate sacrifice to save
others.
Like so many veterans from my generation, I bear the scars
of service. Post-traumatic stress disorder and survivor’s guilt
are constant companions, but I live each day to honor the
sacrifice of my friends, my heroes, whether I knew them
personally or not. Section 60 is sacred to me. It is where my
generation of American heroes have found an honored place
of rest. I go there to pay my respects, and I am appalled that
anyone could walk these grounds with any other intention.
Donald Trump recently used Section 60 and Arlington
National Cemetery as a backdrop for a campaign ad. He and
his staff shamelessly walked these hallowed grounds, bone
spurs and all, in pursuit of something for themselves.
Reports even suggest that they assaulted an employee
whose job is to preserve the dignity and sanctuary of this
space. I cannot stand by and watch this happen. I will
oppose such disrespect with every breath I have left.
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If any other figure were to commit them, Mr. Trump’s actions
toward the men and women who have served this country
would be an automatic disqualifier from public service. Yet
once again, we see a man who behaves as though he is
above the very norms and values that define the United
States — the same values which the men and women at
Arlington made the ultimate sacrifice to protect.
The writer is the executive director of the AFL-CIO Union
Veterans Council and served with the 1-26th Infantry of the
U.S. Army.
My father, Col. Niklaus J.A. Keller, M.D., who served in the
Army during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam
War, is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. I believe that
he, and other service members interred there, would be
shocked seeing former president Donald Trump’s use of this
space to stage a political event.
Anyone who has buried a spouse, parent, brother or sister at
Arlington would be appalled, too, especially because Mr.
Trump set up the end of conflict in Afghanistan. Staged
political events do not belong at Arlington.
Susan Keller, Naples, Fla.
As a U.S. Marine Corps combat veteran of the wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan, I’m disgusted that the Trump campaign
desecrated Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery —
where many of my fellow fallen brothers and sisters are
buried — with its cheap political campaign stunt. I urge the
Justice Department to prosecute all involved. The Trump
campaign’s photo op on the graves of our dead was beyond
a bad decision, a violation of the rule that “Army National
Military Cemeteries are a national shrine to the honored dead
of the Armed Forces, and certain acts and activities, which
may be appropriate elsewhere, are not appropriate in Army
National Military Cemeteries.” It was a violation of federal
law: 32 CFR Section 553.32(c) “Memorial services and
ceremonies at Army National Military Cemeteries will not
include partisan political activities.”
It is a shame that when his country needed soldiers during
the Vietnam War, Donald Trump cowardly sought and
received five deferments, so someone else’s kids risked their
lives in his place. Gen. John F. Kelly, whom I served with in
the Marines, reported that Mr. Trump called veterans
“suckers and losers.” Mr. Trump diminished the Medal of
Honor by comparing it (ridiculously) with the Presidential
Medal of Freedom. He also denigrated the service and
prisoner-of-war captivity of Sen. John McCain. I urge my
fellow veterans to see through this New York City billionaire
and charlatan’s self-serving tactics. He doesn’t understand
the military and never will. While we honorably served our
great nation, he has only served himself. It is dishonorable,
and he should never again be commander in chief.
Joe Plenzler, Warren County, Va.
The writer is a retired U.S. Marine lieutenant colonel.
The Post reported that the Trump campaign allegedly
violated the law by filming at Arlington National Cemetery
and reportedly assaulting an official who tried to prevent
them from doing so.
However, the version of the story that ran in print before
being updated online initially described the event as
including “dueling accusations of misbehavior,” based on the
inevitable denials and retaliatory counter-accusations by
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung, who, like his employer, is
notorious for his invective. In this case, Mr. Cheung accused
the employee who was trying to enforce the law of mental
illness. The Post was under no obligation to publish this
statement. In doing so, they might have endangered the
person by singling him or her out for harassment and
threats.
Brendan Martin, Arlington
On Monday, former president Donald Trump arranged a
photo op wreath-laying at Arlington Cemetery. These
hallowed grounds are the final resting place for the nation’s
heroes, not a backdrop for a political campaign. This incident
reminds me of Mr. Trump’s displaying of a Bible in front of St.
John’s Church opposite the White House in June 2020.
The service personnel who were tragically killed three years
ago during the final U.S. exit from Afghanistan were fulfilling
the terms of withdrawal arranged by Mr. Trump. Their loss
has been marked on each anniversary of their death. So why
has Mr. Trump chosen to make such a public show of his
purported “sorrow and respect” this year?
I find it hard to believe that his motivations have anything to
do with service personnel. We have witnessed yet another
superiorly selfish act by a pseudo-patriot. The country and
those who defend it only matter when there is perceived
profit for him personally, in this case, in the form of photos
the campaign took at the event in violation of the rules at the
cemetery.
But Mr. Trump does not seem to care about rules. His
actions were clear and every true patriot should clearly see
the essence of the enduring selfishness of this candidate for
the nation’s highest office and the position of commander in
chief of its armed forces.
George Fedoroff, Arlington
At Arlington Cemetery, Donald Trump displayed his modus
operandi of choice: to turn the sacred into the profane, and
the profane into the mundane.
Accountability of such transgressions of law, rules and
values of decency must continue to be swift and immediate.
It is a reminder, as the presidential election approaches, that
Mr. Trump’s mind-set is to violate the letter, rule, spirit and
respect of our nation and the people who have served to
protect it.
Steven L. Katz, Washington