Dear Editor,
The Medal of Honor Citation of Santa Monica resident Joe Gandara reads:
Private Joe Gandara distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty while serving with Company D, 2d Battalion, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division during combat operations against an armed enemy in Amfreville, France on June 9, 1944. On that day, Private Gandara’s detachment came under devastating enemy fire from a strong German force, pinning the men to the ground for a period of four hours. Private Gandara voluntarily advanced alone toward the enemy position. Firing his machine gun from his hip as he moved forward, he destroyed three hostile machine guns before he was fatally wounded. Private Gandara’s extraordinary heroism and selflessness at the cost of his own life, above and beyond the call of duty, are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the United States Army.
The accounts of Donald Trumps own service during the Vietnam era are well chronicled as well as that of hundreds of thousands of draft age young men eligible to be called up for service , except for his dubious draft deferment for a heel spur that was so debilitating the later in life that he can’t recall which foot was thus affected as he dons his designer golf shores.
Over the span of recent years Trump has exhibited some kind of disturbing and deeply rooted contempt for not just my generation of veterans but also for every other generation of veterans since World War ll. This past week the former twice impeached , 34 count convicted felon known Epstein associate President, who is now the Republican Parties nominee for the presidency just denigrate the Medal of Honor of every recipient as well as Private Joe Gandara who was raised in Santa Monica and gave his life on June 9 1944, D-Day so that others may have lived.
According to Private Joe Gandara’s nephew Paul, and his sister Belinda, and their cousins Rosie and Johnny Franco, who also grew up and once lived here in Santa Monica, (that we all grew up with on Raymond street) their uncles citation was suppressed on account of his Mexican American heritage. That over site and insult was amended by President Obama who righted that wrong but not before both Paul and Belinda and other members of their family passed away knowing what the truth was, that there are those in America who are oblivious and openly indifferent to, and even contemptuous of, those who serve.
Donald J. Trump, aka Cadet Heelspurs, is one such person.
I for one shake my bowed head and breath a heavy sigh of relief that Paul and Belinda, Rosie and Johnny have not lived long enough to have heard the most recent remarks uttered from the lips of the aforementioned individual about not just all the recipients of this nations highest commendation, the Medal of Honor, but closer to home here, a native son of Santa Monica, Joe, an uncle that they never knew but spoke lovingly of in hushed and reverent terms.
They would not have liked it I am sure of that. And I don’t either and neither should your fair People of Santa Monica. Neither should you all.
Stewart Resmer, Vietnam Veteran
