Learn from the past

To the editor,

Regarding the many letters questioning the war record of John Kerry, first of all follow the money trail that subsidizes the false and malicious charges against Kerry by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The trail leads to well-bankrolled Republican Party operatives and their vituperative campaign.

As a former Marine Corp. veteran who served first in the Marine infantry and later as a fighter pilot during the Korean War, I resent how casually SBVT contradicts the official Navy records of award citations and fitness reports.

Accurate reporting in both the Navy and Marines was always emphasized. Getting it right was imperative whether investigating a fatal mishap or writing an evaluation that would influence some one's career. So don't trash the integrity of the military in order to oppose a man who honorably and valiantly served his country.

If we don't learn from the mistakes of history, we will repeat them. Both the war in Vietnam and the war in Iraq were started by lies presented by the respective administrations. Kipling said it well: "If any question why we died, tell them because our fathers lied."

Over a thousand families of those killed in Iraq and those horribly maimed will understand the words of Siegfried Sasson, an English infantry officer and poet in World War I, summed up in the following verse:

"You smug faced crowd with kindling eye.

Who Cheer when soldier lads march by,

Sneak home and pray you'll never know

The hell where youth and laughter go."

Kerry as one of the senate's most decorated veterans will continue to serve this nation well.

William A. Fairhurst

Three Forks