Dr. Herb Wilson's Testimony in Support of SCR 4022
For the Record, I am Herbert J. Wilson, MD, 43 years in New Town, as a Family Physician,- now retired to Bismarck. However, for the testifying role this morning, I prefer to come to you as Air Force T/Sgt Herb Wilson, Forty-forth Bombardment Group (Heavy) I am just awakening from a long sleep, as once did Rip Van Winkle. What I see rather horrifies me. What happened to that USA that my buddies and I fought for? May I beg your indulgence as I give a service man's testimony in support of the original draft of SCR 4022? You see, it took a good deal of soul searching, for the idea of withdrawing, of admitting defeat, to come from such a gun ho veteran, as I characterize myself today..
May I address a word of admiration to those currently serving in the armed forces? I relate to them closer than to you legislators. But the service people of today are showing more dedication to duty and more unquestioning loyalty to a cause (albeit flimsy) than we in 1944 could have ever done.. In our day it was a sacrifice for a cause that was quite understandable. Speaking as a GI of WWII, before you in my discharge uniform, I would like very much to say I joined as a volunteer as you service people do today. In 1942 it did not work that way. My draft number came up in a drawing (as indeed there well might be a draft next year if this conflict continues). Later, however, while overseas, I volunteered for combat and thus became aware of those hidden enticements to put one's life on the line. It was like this: You never thought it was going to happen to you. You had a job to do. Why not get this thing over with. Your people back home were rooting for you as though you were in a football game. You were joining an elect group. Your flight crew would exhibit a camaraderie that would keep you going. You felt in your heart of hearts that you were doing the right thing for God and Country.
So today, as I wake up still a flight sergeant, after 62 years of slumbering, I rub my eyes for a better look at what the modern GI is fighting for-and I see hardly anything genuine beyond this goad of patriotism- this devotion for a cause, even though poorly articulated. But it is a cause kept going by the camaraderie and the victory illusion. as it was for me long ago. I perceive the Iraq war tearing the country apart. I cannot see an end to the mess. No, not a clear cut end as we could in 1945. Next year it will be conscription and more troops. What is the US into?- Is it a civil war between two religious factions. Is it an oil war?
I truly am speaking for my lost buddies of the 1940s when I ask that everything possible be done to turn the escalation around and pursue a negotiated peace, decidedly with the aide of other nations; with the aid of the UN- earth's family of nations. When I came home in 1945 we were looking to the United Nations to put an end to the world's strife- an end to the brutal wars that had characterized the first half of the 20th century.
Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle went to sleep for 20 years. On awakening he saw a lot of change- most for the better. After my sleep now, do I see my country better? How long must I sleep again to find an America returned to its status of world respect and leadership?
Please vote YES on SCR 4022, a bill designed to bring the present debacle to an earlier end.