Respecting service and sacrifice

In my last column, I was critical of Donald Trump for his comments about captured American members of the military. After submitting the column for publication, I was told of another public figure who mocked American POWs in the past.

Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), a comedian before his election, repeatedly joked about Sen. John McCain having been captured during the Vietnam War. Salon.com reported the comments as, "I have tremendous respect for McCain, but I don't buy the war hero thing. Anybody can be captured. I thought the idea was to capture them. As far as I'm concerned, he sat out the war. Anyone can be captured."

I think it should be pointed out that neither Trump nor Franken has served in the military, so they both avoided any chance of being captured by simply avoiding service. Perhaps not having served has contributed to the disrespect both men have shown toward Americans who were held as prisoners of war. Did they mean for their comments to apply only to Vietnam War POWs, or do they also apply to the hundreds of aircrews shot down during World War II? Did they mean to include the Americans subjected to the Bataan Death March after capture by the Japanese?

Approximately 12 percent of the U.S. population are military veterans, and barring a new war, this number will get smaller. The smaller military and fewer veterans apparently have made it acceptable to some to insult service veterans to make a political point. We can see that this attitude crosses party lines.

I have written this column to provide political balance to my previous criticism, and I do not intend to give these reprehensible and offensive comments any more coverage. I do urge other veterans to object to comments that sully the military service of anyone for political purposes. Insulting comments such as these will be taken by some as applying to all veterans.

Jack Dragoni attended Boston College and served in the U.S. Army in Berlin and Vietnam. He lives in Chaffee, Missouri.