CPJ member Bill Warmbrodt submitted a response to an individual who disagreed with CPJ's presence in Dunkirk's Memorial Day parade.  Mr. Warmbrodt's letter was published in the July 2 issue of the Observer.  The following is the content of his letter:

CALLING FOR PEACE IS  PATRIOTIC

Editor. OBSERVER:

The opinion piece “Demonstrations sent wrong message” in the SUNDAY OBSERVER (June 4) was fair-minded and thoughtful.  The writer’s  comments on the Center for Peace and Justice’s message in the Memorial Day parade contained some valid points.  His support for CPJ’s right to freedom of speech is welcome as is his acknowledgment that peace is
indeed patriotic.

As a CPJ member, however, I would strongly disagree with his implication that CPJ’s anti-war statements completely disregarded America’s heroes.

The Center’s parade banner proudly proclaimed: “Remember the Dead -- Work for Peace.”  It recalled our heroes with gratitude and sadness. Of course, we honor those who motivated by patriotism have lost their lives in all our country’s wars – some of which were justified and others questionable.  Successful anti-war efforts can keep even more of
our military from needlessly dying in mistaken wars.

The writer cites our Civil War and World War II, but does he remember Vietnam? CPJ remembers and the 58,000 Americans who died in a war that Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara now admits the Johnson administration never understood and which in the end was a colossal political and military disaster. If we can believe the polls, a growing majority of Americans agree that the War in Iraq also is needlessly taking the lives of our troops. Instead of just looking back and honoring our dead, which with the writer CPJ would do, CPJ would also look forward hoping by its statement to prevent more of our military sons and daughters being needlessly killed.

Like the writer some in CPJ agree that there are just wars.  Not all CPJ members are pacifists opposed to all war. A number of veterans like me who fought in America’s wars belong to and marched with the Center.  Some members idealistically would see the end of all war as the ideal for humanity.  They believe with Martin Luther King that  "wars are
poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows." Most members would see any war as the last option. The Center for Peace and Justice allows great freedom of expression within its own ranks.

Local citizens should be proud of our veteran groups and their leadership, which is broad minded enough to allow other voices in its Memorial Day parade.  Such an enlightened policy prevents the parade itself from becoming an implicit endorsement of the present
administration’s inept handling and inadequate protection of our sons and daughters in the military.

As for CPJ politicalization of the parade, the Bush administration has used the Memorial Day sacredness and solemnity for its own political purposes.

I’d refer readers to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s Memorial Day speech this year at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington Cemetery. In an obvious reference to the war in Iraq, Rumsfeld said that this country has again been called to the "great task of freedom's defense." He said the nation’s renewed strength comes from those being remembered on this day. "In their memory, and in tribute to what they died for and what they lived for, let us renew our resolve, let us be proud that America has again answered history's high call." If that isn’t political what is?

I am a WW II vet and support peaceful dissent to any government policy.