Tom Brokaw labeled them “The Greatest Generation” and I can’t argue with that. The people sitting on this bench were all adults during WW II and I’m guessing that most of them did their part.
This morning was Memorial day and I was watching heartbroken parents crying at the graves of their kids. This was one documentary that was very hard to watch. I think that it is important to pay respect to the countless soldiers who have died for our country. The thing that makes me mad today is that so many have died based on BULLSHIT A.K.A. “bad intel.” As much as Bush & Cheney were to blame, I think the person who bothers me the most is, Colin Powell. He was the guy you could “trust” and he used that trust to make the upcoming war seem OK…It worked on me. I figured he wouldn’t lie and I had a very young child at the time. The mushroom cloud scenario he described was enough to make me, a lifelong anti war liberal, reluctantly agree that we should make a preemptive attack and I still don’t forgive him for that. He knew better and decided that loyalty to his superiors was more important than loyalty to his troops. He did the thing any good company man would do, but sacrificed thousands of young Americans in the process… His newly found guilt and regrets are not nearly enough to make me forgive him…
All Photos © Matt Weber
Black and White Street Photographs of New York City by Matt Weber 