Name: Don Holland
Website: Don Hollands Web Page
Referred by: From a Friend
From: White Sulphur Springs, WV 24986
Time: 1999-07-31 21:06:27
Comments:
Hey shipmate,
Here is the letter and poem I tried to put in your guest book, it is one
of my favorites, hope you like it.
Don Holland
P. O. Box 646
White Sulphur Springs, WV 24986
Phone (304) 536-1686
Monday 29 Mar 1999
The Honorable Robert C. Byrd
311 Hart Building
Washington, D. C. 20510
Dear Senator Byrd,
Jim Godwin was my best friend in Marlinton High School, from
1957-1960, he was an
artist and a great writer. Jim went to work as a reporter for the
Trentonian Newspaper in
Trenton, N. J. after graduation in 1960 and I answered John Kennedy�s
challenge to �Ask
not what your country can do for you, but what can you do for your
country.� I enlisted
in the U. S. Navy and Jim was drafted into the U. S. Army.
Jim did not flee to Canada, or England as many others, including
our current President
did. Jim reported for induction, was sent to Viet Nam, exposed to Agent
Orange and
unspeakable atrocities that left him to endure Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder for the rest
of his life. Jim came home to West Virginia from his Viet Nam service
with deep
emotional scars that made his life constant misery, but at least he did
not come home in a
body bag, as almost 60,000 of our other comrades did, or physically
mutilated by horrible
wounds as another 400,000 of our comrades did.
Jim finally died in late December 1997, actually a Viet Nam
Casualty, thirty years after
the fact. His name belongs on �The Wall� just as much as any that are
on it. I attended
Jim�s Wake in Elkins, WV in January 1997 and visited with many of our
old friends and
Jim�s family. We recalled some of his absolutely great writing and I
showed them his
finest work, �EPITAPH TAPS.� Jim had made a special visit to present me
a personal
copy just a few months before he died. I believe he did this in
anticipation of his death.
I am enclosing a copy of Jim�s opus, because no one ever described
a military funeral
better than he did in �EPITAPH TAPS.� I would remind you that this
scene was repeated
almost 60,000 times during Viet Nam, I participated in dozens of these
ceremonies for my
fallen comrades.
While we who served during this long conflict endured the suffering
stoically because
we saw it as our duty, there were those at the other end of this moral
spectrum who
refused to serve, they protested and demonstrated, sniveled and whined,
marched and
complained. They finally succeeded in forcing Congress to abolish the
draft, and it
became necessary to pay those who had the courage to take up arms and go
in harm�s way
a premium wage in order to attract volunteers.
This increase in military pay resulted in a commensurate increase
in military retired pay,
and made it so lucrative that once the war was over it became a prize
that others coveted,
including the American Bar Association who saw it as a tremendous source
of revenue for
their members, and so they went after it. Congress realized they had
made more
concessions to us than they really wanted to when so many of us were
bleeding and dying,
and they suffered a terrible case of buyers remorse. Congress was no
longer willing to
pay the �Price of Peace and Freedom� they had so fervently plegded to
do during the
hostilities. Then in a shameful and cowardly act they caved in to
pressure from the
American Bar Association and sold us out for the feminist vote with �THE
UNIFORMED
SERVICES FORMER SPOUSES� PROTECTION ACT OF.�
This shameful and cowardly act required �VOODOO� legislation in
order to enact an
unconstitutional �EX POST FACTO� law, that gave �PROPERTY RIGHTS� to our
military retired pay to our ex-spouses, when we can never have a
property right to this pay
ourselves. It in effect permitted an ex spouse to earn �LIFETIME
PROPERTY
RIGHTS� to our military retired pay for her �Valuable Service� of even a
very few years,
when it requires the military member at least twenty years of service in
order to earn
retired pay.�
This absurd law permitted my wife to divorce me and literally move
in with my next
door neighbor, who was a draft dodger, and the two of them receive over
$20,000 a year
of my VA Disability (I am 100% disabled, service connected) and my Navy
retired pay.
Isn�t this ironic that money appropriated for the National Defense is
now being shared by
two people who did absolutely nothing to defend this country, and the
100% disabled
Veteran who earned it during a thirty year Navy career, is left homeless
and destitute.
I consider you to be �The Greatest West Virginian,� Jim and I
received letters of
congratulations from you as our United States Senator when we graduated
from
Marlinton High School in 1960, and you have been a stalwart champion of
all that is right
since that time. Your character and integrity has stood out from many
others in
Washington, including the President, and you were the first one I am
aware of who knew
the �Line Item Veto� was Unconstitutional. Please tell me how �The
Uniformed Services
Former Spouses� Protection Act� can possibly be constitutional when it
makes my former
spouse superior to any current or future spouse and children, and denys
them equal
protection under the law?
Because of the despicable deceit and betrayal of Veterans by our
government, I want
to warn you of the dangerous consequences and the ultimate progression
of this course of
action. You have already alienated the entire community of Veterans and
it is
questionable if any of them would go in harms way for a government that
betrayed them
as this one has. But not to worry, in the absence of an effective
military to fight a war,
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR CLINTON WOULD LEAD AN ARMY OF U. S.
SENATORS, REPRESENTATIVES, FORMER SPOUSES, LAWYERS, AND
JUDGES, TO DEFEAT THE ENEMIES OF FREEDOM, LIBERTY, JUSTICE
AND THE AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE.
Please read Jim Godwin�s �EPITAPH TAPS� and then tell me how our
government
could renege on commitments that were made to us when we were coming
home in body
bags at the rate of over 400 per week, in return for the feminist vote
and to appease the
American Bar Association. Please tell me how the government can expect
future
generations to take up arms and go in harms way for this country when
you have betrayed
those of us who served in the past.
Sincerely,
Don Holland
EPITAPH TAPS BY JIM GODWIN COPYRIGHT 1991
Bereaved family,
Bereaved friends,
Men, Women, Children,
Rifles and Flag,
A forlorn bugler, hence...
Those of Cloth
Deliver God�s Words,
Of Valley and Shadow,
Black and Veil,
And TAPS...
Light rain unfelt,
Sunburst unseen,
Hand with Bible shaking,
Eyes glazed,
Serene...
Few minutes to recapitulate
A score of years,
An Obituary,
An Epitaph,
Eyes filled with tears...
Empathize Spouse,
Parent and Child,
Comrades
Few peers,
Faces in the crowd...
Ne�er forget the Patriot,
Lying �neath the shroud,
Of Glorious Stars and Stripes,
Be proud,
Dare not ye speak, those disavowed!
Test not is Hero right,
Justified in cause,
Or dark, be damned,
By passive man,
Serve eternal pause...
For can you know the pain,
Can you touch the sore,
Can you taste the blood,
And hear the silence,
Of the Dead of War?
Hear first the Psalms,
The rifle blasts,
The �Praise Be God�,
And �Hallelujah,
He rests at last�...
Feel throats knot,
Silent cries,
Memories passing,
Behind moist eyes;
Vague attempts to realize...
Now disturbing quiet
Permeates the air,
Inaudible speech,
Tis oft somewhere;
Prevail, Despair...
Must that Knight in casket,
Feel the pain and dread,
Of comrades who survived,
Just to be chastised,
And wish they too were dead...
Has Gallant Soldier Fallen;
Ultimately is he whole?
Trust God be Judge; not man,
He has lost this weary life,
But not his immortal soul!
And, TAPS.....
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