Traverse City Record-Eagle

Your Views

December 14, 2010

Letters to the Editor: 12/14/2010

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Real costs of war

On Nov. 11 our local chapter of Veterans for Peace honored 197 Michigan veterans who made the supreme sacrifice in the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

At the Open Space each memorial marker had an 8½-by-11-inch laminated plaque with the veteran's name, picture, rank and unit/branch of service. The plaque also included his or her age, hometown, and the date and location where he or she was killed.

This has been done on every Memorial and Veteran's day for the last five years.

We always must be mindful of the tremendous sacrifices that our Michigan veterans and their families have made, and we must never forget the real costs of war.

Phil Houle

Kingsley

The writer is a member of Chapter 50, Traverse City, of Veterans for Peace.

Best Christmas gift

I appreciate everyone who had a part in the removal of the rail cars near the Lake Ridge condos.

I feel like I have received the best Christmas gift ever.

Berneice Gonder

Traverse City

Intercede for whales

When the USS George Washington and the American strike force concludes exercises in the Yellow Sea off the Korean Peninsula, the best use of this group would be to sail into the waters of the Antarctic Ocean to end the dastardly attack and slaughter of whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary by the imperial Japanese whaling fleet.

A few flyovers by Douglas SBD Dauntlesses (World War II-era dive bombers) would send a reminder and a clear message of the outrage of all civilized people to end this infamous Japanese savagery once and for all.

Citizens from around the world who have protested this slaughter and have tried to engage, reason and intercede, have met only the intransigency of Japan.

I have a dream of the USS George Washington as a great white whale, gently bumping the Japanese whaling fleet to the bottom of the sea.

Max Old Bear

Traverse City

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