| In 1967, as a Marine Major, I was assigned to the Navy ROTC staff at Dartmouth College. From my third floor office, I could look down at the quadrangle in the middle of the college and the town of Hanover, New Hampshire. Every Wednesday noon, a number of students would form a silent vigil under the flagpole there, in protest of the conflict in Vietnam. They would hold up, or stand behind, signs with various messages. One day I felt the need to respond and wrote the essay which I submitted to the Freedom Foundation in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania for consideration in their annual contest. I am very proud of the fact that it was selected for one of the George Washington Honor Medals in 1967. Here is a copy of that award winning essay:
On nine different occasions I have left this country to travel to more than twenty others. With each return, I experienced the same thrill of coming home to the "...land of the free." In Nevada, in 1957, I was held spellbound as I looked up and saw the brilliant colors and felt the awesome power of man's greatest, scientific creation, the atom bomb. The experience was matched, however, the morning I stood, just at dawn, on the bow of an inbound ship and saw the magnificence of the Golden Gate Bridge appearing out of the fog and mists of San Francisco Bay. I have been hopelessly tangled in red tape by the inexperienced government in India after the independence from British rule. Civil officials admitted their shortcomings but made no excuses. They proudly pointed out that they were free and that efficient, self-government was not automatic and would not come overnight, but they were learning and making progress. Indeed they were, and still are. In Hong Kong harbor, I have seen the sampan fleet and the growing number of refugees from Red China. Amidst poverty that has to be seen to be believed, there is, however, hope - for something better - if not for ones self, then for ones children. In West Germany, a veteran of two wars beat on his wooden leg and told me he wanted to fight one more time, against the Russians this time, because he is separated from his relatives and friends in the East. These are only a few experiences. Although there was never any doubt in my mind, my travels have only strengthened my conviction that America and what she stands for, with whatever faults she may have, is still the greatest country on Earth, my country. The "inalienable rights" of the Declaration of Independence, "The Bill of Rights" of the amended Constitution, the "government of, by and for the people" of Abraham Lincoln, and the "Four Freedoms" of President Roosevelt have come down to present day Americans as birthright. All birthrights, however, must be protected if they are to be continued to future generations. The threat today is Communism, an ideology avowed to World domination. That it is in conflict with our own concept of freedom, liberty and democracy is unquestionable. Regardless of our age, we can see the progress Communism has made in our lifetime. We should ask ourselves several questions. "Does our way of life, of freedom, mean enough to me to fight for it?" If the answer is "Yes," then "Where and when are we going to stand and fight?" for fight we must or be swept under by the tide. In 1950 we stood in Korea. Today, the South Koreans stand with us in Vietnam. If we should suddenly sit down, we may soon be faced with the necessity of standing in our own back yards. Do we want to risk this possibility? Our stand in Vietnam is taken so "...that the people of South Vietnam shall have the right of choice, the right to shape their own destiny in free elections..." We take these things for granted. For those who would talk of moral issues, let us not forget that no war is nice. Our own freedom was bought for a price that has been expensive, in terms of lives lost, to maintain. In the final analysis, by helping to gain the freedom of the people of South Vietnam, we are helping to maintain our own. In other words, DEFENDING FREEDOM SAFEGUARDS AMERICA. Eric
H. Wieler
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