Glendale Flies Banners for Their Troops

Tuesay morning, a bright Southern California sun shone. The civic center courtyard was cool, shaded. A ceremony to the hum of Glendale Avenue traffic and the clatter of construction at city hall. A poster in the colors of the flag honored Glendale's dead, those who serve. Glendale's elected officials out in force.

The first banner I saw was on the south east corner of Glendale Avenue and Broadway. It just happened to be that of one specialist Travis Lamoureaux now serving his second tour of duty in Iraq. His grandfather snapped pictures. I cried.

I cried because I am proud. Because I am glad our soldiers are being recognized, including one woman who lost her life in Iraq, believing she was there for the right.
I also cried because though banners can whisper of love and support, still many soldiers are being paid below the national poverty level, because there are still wounded vets who aren't getting the support they need and because the few in America do the work of the many. Many for whom they labor have not been asked to do their share. I cried with hope that all that will soon change.

Only five banners fly in Glendale for soldiers serving active duty. Six more for soldiers including the one young woman who died doing what others won't, what others are not asked to do. Others fly for Glendale's own Bravo company, many who were there in camouflage, standing tall, some waiting for their 2nd, some their third call.

Read more in the Glendale News-Press. http://www.glendalenewspress.com/articles/2008/01/16/politics/gnp-ceremony16.txt.

If you live in Southern California, please write a letter to our Glendale News-Press in support of their gesture and write letters to your own newspapers, your legislators, your President, asking for better support of our troops and our veterans. We are making strides because of people who care. People like those who spearheaded this project, Myna Wilcox, Don Briggs. Still, we can do more.

Post Script: Only yesterday our hometown newspaper reports another soldier gave his life in Iraq. Glendale a city of only something a little over 200,00 gives another bringing the total to seven.
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson wrote the foreword for Eric Dinyer's book of patriotic quotations, Support Our Troops, published by Andrews McMeel. Part of the proceeds for the book benefit Fisher House. Her chapbook of poetry won the Military Writers Society of America's award of excellence.

Today My Grandson Leaves for Iraq--Again. Here's What We Can Do

On this, the day my grandson flies from his base in Colorado to Iraq, I thought I'd begin this blog with a letter published in the Glendale News-Press. The city had decided to hang banners supporting our toops. As you can see, I had mixed emotions about that:


As a writer I am a proponent of the power of words. Put those words on a banner and the effect may be even greater.

Nevertheless the idea of our city's spending a large sum of money on banners (see GNP Thursday, Aug 23, 2007 Page A3) when so much needs to be done for our troops bothers me. In the past I've blogged to encourage our citizenry—in the midst of a fervor of well-deserved support for our troops—to do more than pass around patriotic photos of troops on the Web, wave flags or, yes, hang banners. We need to do more because many of the military issues we heard about in the past have not gone away. Here are a few:

1. A huge number of soldiers still earn beneath the poverty level of a citizen of the US.
2. Many veterans, including a poet friend of mine who suffers from PTSD, are not receiving the medical benefits they were promised and deserve.
3. I'm not sure about the flak jacket and armored vehicles snafu (my grandson who just returned from Iraq said he was issued his flaks) but last I heard there were some 10,000 faulty ones that hadn't been recalled out of 30,000.
4. Benefits for our soldiers (general ones—not just health benefits) have been cut in the last few years, not increased.
5. Most of our soldiers called up from the reserves—some of them for the third time—do not receive education benefits when they return home.

Besides a blog and letter here and there, I've donated a foreword to a book that supports Fisher House, a Ronald McDonald's House type service that provides homes for the families of wounded servicemen and women being treated overseas. It doesn't feel as if it's doing any good.

It may seem a bit ridiculous to say, considering that I'm writing this letter, but I'm about worded out. Still, perhaps because my grandson is in the military soon to return to Iraq for the second time, I just can't let go. So here are a few ideas that don't necessarily take a lot of time or money (but could if one was so disposed.):

1. Let's donate to the USO. Or Fisher House (the charitable organization I mentioned above. If everyone sent a dollar, we could make a huge difference.
2. Send letters and care packages overseas. Make that gift something that the guys and gals need so they won't have to spend their precious salaries on things that are cheaper here at our local CVS. Some churches have overseas programs in place.
4. Send similar gifts to the soldiers who are back in the US after a tour of duty. Many of them have had their tours extended--involuntarily--and will be going back to the desert sand soon.
5. Write letters to your congress people and our President about the benefits our new vets (and yes, our Viet vets!) aren't getting. And, yes, send letters of thanks, too, when they actually vote for something that supports them.
6. And, when you see a soldier at your local Italian restaurant, don't just offer, buy the guy (or gal) a meal on the Q.T.. Not out of charity. Out of thanks.

Now about those banners. If we must put up banners, perhaps they could include calls to action? Maybe one or more of the suggestions above, complete with URLs to make helping easier.
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson wrote the foreword for Eric Dinyer's book of patriotic quotations, Support Our Troops, published by Andrews McMeel. Part of the proceeds for the book benefit Fisher House. Her chapbook of poetry won the Military Writers Society of America's award of excellence.