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November 13, 2009

Veterans contributed in war and peace

By JERRY McGOVERN, School Ties

On Veterans Day, students in my public speaking classes at Plattsburgh State watched the "St. Crispin's Day" speech from Shakespeare's play, Henry V. The king speaks just before the English battle the French at Agincourt in 1415, on the feast of St. Crispin. Though heavily outnumbered, maybe by as much as five to one, the English are victorious, losing about 700 men to the French's 8,000.

The speech is famous and provided historian Steven Ambrose with the title of his book about World War II, "Band of Brothers," which Tom Hanks turned into a documentary. The term appears when the king talks of how the battle will transform all of them: "But we in it shall be remembered; we few, we happy few, we band of brothers, for he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother."

It's often connected to Veterans Day because Henry motivates his soldiers by predicting how, when they are veterans, they will remember their valor on this day: "He will strip his sleeve and show his scars and say, 'These wounds I had on Crispin's Day.'"

REGULAR GUYS
It's a stirring speech, but I think Shakespeare — and Henry — got some of it very wrong. Veterans are not anxious to show their scars.

The veterans I've talked to — some from wars I was too young for, others from a war I protested — don't glory in "what feats he did that day."

Leo grew up in Vermont speaking French, not learning any English until he went to school. In World War II, he landed in Italy with the 3rd Platoon, Company K, of the 141st Infantry. They fought their way through Italy all the way to Strasbourg, France.

"In the battle of Herrlisheim, we lost every third man," Leo told me. "It was horrible. I loved them dearly, and we lost them."

He became a guidance counselor.

Larry served with the Army's 90th Replacement Battalion in Vietnam in 1968. He didn't tell me anything about combat, but he told me about the woman he met there, married and brought to New Jersey. Then, over many years, he facilitated the admission of 18 members of her Vietnamese family to America. Now he's a sponsor of the Be Tho Orphanage, not far from where he served as a soldier.

Larry was successful in the cosmetics industry, a vice president for Liz Claiborne.

Dick didn't tell me about battles he fought as a marine, but mentioned a New York City cop who called him out of the blue one day. "We were in Vietnam together. His leg was messed up so he got on my back. We could stay where we were and get shot or run through a field that was mined. I didn't think we'd make it."

Dick became a math teacher.

SILVER STAR
Ronnie has never said anything to me about his Army life in Vietnam. But he's made it clear that John Kerry and Jane Fonda shouldn't be invited to any social events he's attending.

He had a good career with Verizon.

In a Long Island diner last year, John told me about being in the Army, about being so scared, so cold and so wet one night in Vietnam that he began to cry, absolutely sure that he would never be safe or warm or dry again. What he didn't tell me was what happened the night of the ambush, when he earned the Silver Star.

He became a reading teacher.

I don't know what these men think or feel about the battles they fought, or if Shakespeare's St. Crispin's Day speech makes sense to them. But I know I have respect and gratitude for them, for the courage they showed in war and the lives they made when they came home, no matter the scars under their sleeves.

Jerry McGovern, the Press-Republican's coordinator of Newspapers-in-Education, taught in New York state's public schools, and now teaches in the Communication Department of Plattsburgh State. He can be reached at gmcgovern@pressrepublican.com or 565-4126. This column is the opinion of the writer and not necessarily of this newspaper.

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