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Island Trees Serving Bethpage - Plainview — Island Trees — Plainedge — Seaford Old Bethpage
VOL._5 NO. 22 Thursday, April 1,1971 10c per copy
AN OPEN LETTER
Dear President Nixon,
This letter is prompted by the verdict handed down to the young Lieutenant
serving the United States of America in the war in Vietnam.
We hang our heads in shame the guilt is ours!
WAR IS HELL and we train our soldiers to kill we fight for survival in a
savage world.
How can a handful of men judge a soldier in the calm of a panelled courtroom
as opposed to his service in a combat-fear-ridden environment. How can we
judge as we enjoy the safety of our homeland and the luxury of our c&rs and
material creature comforts ?
How would anyone of us react under combat conditions?
Are we so virtuous?
Are we fit to judge?
Mr. President- - - do not take our sons and husbands and commit them to battle
and the horrors of war and then judge them guilty of murder for doing their duty
and following orders.
"YOUR HONOR, court members, I asked Judge Latimer and my
other attorneys not to go on in mitigation in this case. There's a lot of
things that really aren't appropriate and I don't think it matters what
kind of individual I am. And I'm not going to stand here and plead
for my life and my freedom. But I would like you to ask — or to ask
you to consider the thousands more lives that are going to be lost in
Southeast Asia. The thousands more to be imprisoned, not only here
in the- United States, but in North Vietnam and in hospitals all over
the world as amputees.
"I've never known a soldier, nor did I ever myself, ever wantonly
kill a human being in my entire life. If I have committed a crime, the
only crime that I have committed is in judgment of my values. Apparently
I valued my troops' lives more than I did that of the enemy
when my troops were getting massacred and mauled by an enemy
I couldn't see, I couldn't feel and I couldn't touch, that nobody in
the military system ever described as anything other than communism.
They didn't give it a race. They didn 't give a sex. They didn 't
give it an age.
"They never let me believe it was just a philosophy in a man's mind
That was my enemy out there. And I had to value the lives of my
troops and I feel that is the only crime I have committed. Yesterday
you stripped me of all my honor. Please, by your actions that you
take here today, don't strip future ... future soldiers of their honor,
I beg of you."
Lt. William L. Calley, Jr.
March 30, 1971
Mr. President please do not take our sons— the flower of American youth-
- - and dishonor them.
We are either in war and we expect WAR IS HELL with all its ugliness or we
are not at War!!!
The American people owe a debt of gratitude to those who serve her military
needs.
I, for one, am sick and ashamed of the way our military men have been
treated. The news media have had a hand in this too, I regret to say and as a
publisher of this small weekly paper I want to speak out loud and clear on behalf
of our military.
As a mother of three sons now actively serving their government- - - these
United States- - - I would hope that my sons are serving honorably and the
sacrifices they are making are for the benefit of us all!!! To love one's country is
to serve her in her hour of need!
No one hates war more passionately than those who must serve and the
mothers and wives who must remain home and pray!!!'
Mr. President look into your heart and then answer who is really guilty?
Florence M. Cullem, Publisher
Object Description
| Rating | |
| Title | Bethpage-Tribune_1971-04-01 |
| Subject | Newspaper |
| Description | This is a Newspaper distributed locally within Bethpage, Old Bethpage, Island Trees, Plainedge and Seaford. |
| Creator | Florence Cullem |
| Publisher | Florence Cullem |
| Contributors | Scanned and Prepared by Hudson Microimaging, Port Ewen, New York 12466. |
| Date | 2010 |
| Type | Periodical |
| Format | PDF; TIFF |
| Source | Bethpage Public Library |
| Language | English |
| Coverage | United States |
| Rights | The Newspaper is in the public Domain and Digital Rights Held by Bethpage Public Library. |
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