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Letters
Reference to Nov-Dec issue photo on page 26
I was fascinated by the picture of all the “brass” and even more
so by the unidentified person on the far right. After a close look I
could make out the black tie, tan shirt and the dark buttons, that’s
not Army or Marine so I looked closer and sure enough there are
black stripes on his sleeve, those of a four star Admiral no less.
Who he is I don’t know, could be Chief of Naval Operations or
Commander Pacific Fleet. Anyway that raises Richard Fastenau’s
total to at least 27 stars, wow!!
When that picture was taken I was a POW, having been shot
down on 26 May 1952 while flying with Fighter Sq. 653 from the
USS Valley Forge. We were all really elated when “Ike” was elected
president. The feeling was that he would know to end the endless
stalemate we were in at the time.
Harold E. Sterrett LCDR (Ensign)
USN Ret. P00611
The Last words spoken by Private Ryan to his wife in the movie
were “Tell me I was a good man.” Oh, yes, Private Ryan, you and
your comrades in arms are exceptionally good men. You are obedient
sons. You answered your country’s call and in turn, paid a very
high price. Indeed, “Freedom is not Free.” May God bless and heal
you men of obedience and unquestionable courage... Lest We
Forget.
Anonymous
Our enemy and our friends
In telling the school children for our Tell America Program we
are asked questions by youngsters. Many want to know what the
enemy looked like.
A Letter from a wife
I just came from the movie theater still wondering how I made
it to the exit, my eyes blinded by tears. Saving Private Ryan was so
emotional for me that three minutes into the film I was crying... crying
for all the mothers, fathers, wives, sisters, and brothers who lost
loved ones during wartime: crying for my husband who experienced
the same horrors that I witnessed on the screen in the
“Forgotten War” of Korea: realizing that after twenty years of being
married to him that I did not live with all of my husband.
Somewhere in Korea was part of him that will never come to rest.
How must a war veteran feel when he loses his youth, his buddies
or a chance to lead a normal life when nothing seems normal anymore,
especially after he has taken a human life or has been through
the horror of seeing bodies torn apart by exploding shells and bullets?
No, these men can never, ever be the same again. They have
seen too much violent death and they have lost too much.
Children sit in front of television for hours, watching glorified,
staged murder and mayhem. As spectators of the staged debacle,
they gravitate to the thought that human life has no value: It’s like
a game. This movie depicts no game. It makes obvious the fact that
human life is very valuable. In my opinion, every child that can
comprehend should see Saving Private Ryan. This movie is violent
yes, bloody yes, but it depicts very accurately an important piece of
American History.
Saving Private Ryan is not only a valuable exercise in what
makes war so ugly, but also a valuable lesson in why war is sometimes
necessary in order to guarantee the freedoms of those who
would be oppressed and enslaved. It shows the waste of human life
by man’s greed to possess that which rightfully belongs to others.
It also demonstrates the goodness of man in his willingness to sacrifice
his own life so that others may live. Saving Private Ryan
demonstrates why we should be proud of America’s fighting men
from all wars. They lost so much more than we can ever imagine
and saw things we can’t even comprehend. We owe it all to our
combat veterans to get their story truthfully no matter how emotional
it may be to those who hear it.
Korean orphans that looked for food every day.
North Korean POW’s going home.
I am enclosing a few photos that will show the enemy and the
orphaned children.. I was a medic with the 171st Field Hospital. We
were assigned to the North Korean POW Camp II in Pusan. We fed
the children that gathered outside the gate.
Dan Rusillo
30 Kingston Mnr
Middletown, NY 10941
(See Nov-Dec issue for more of Dan’s photos. Dan, I will return
all photos when they return from printer.–Ed)
Page 32
The Graybeards