Let us hope and
work for peace
By
Will Collette
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| Click here to see more history and photos of Charlestown's Ninigret Naval Auxiliary Air Field. |
Memorial
Day began in 1868 as “Decoration Day” when people were asked to place
flowers on the graves of Union soldiers who died fighting against the
Confederacy in the Civil War. It has since become the day we remember those in
died in all of our wars.
In
years past, Progressive Charlestown reprinted an original
series of articles on the history of the Ninigret Naval Auxiliary Air Field
(NAAF) over the Memorial Day weekend.
Hundreds of Navy aviators learned to fly, and dozens died
trying at NAAF during the Second World War.
The
NAAF, now Ninigret Park and the Ninigret Natural Wildlife Refuge, changed and
shaped Charlestown perhaps as no event in modern times.
Instead
of re-running the series, we invite you to read about the airfield and its
history, as well as controversies that have arisen over the land and its uses
by simply clicking here on NAAF to bring up all the articles
in chronological order.
It’s
hard to think about our nation’s war dead without thinking about the perilous
times we live in and how easily we could add many more names to the roll call due to a whim or miscalculation.
Will we send more combat troops to Iraq, Afghanistan or Syria? With troops currently stationed in over 150 countries around the world, will we get more surprises like the tragic deaths of four Green Berets in Niger?
Will
we fight Mexico? Or Canada? Or China? Or Britain? Or Haiti? The list
of countries Donald Trump has gone after is a long one.
There
are very few countries in the world that Donald Trump has NOT insulted or
threatened. Russia, of course, is the prime example. Trump is on record as liking Norway what with its minuscule percentage of people of color.
Most
times, Trump’s rolling foreign policy train wreck can be funny in a macabre way.
But not on Memorial Day when we are called on to remember the costs of our wars.
Whether it’s a war that had to be fought, such as World War II or the Civil
War, or some foreign misadventure, war causes death and destruction that often
beggars description.
In
the months ahead, I think we can count on matters to get worse, perhaps a whole
lot worse, before getting better. No one knows what Trump might do next – not the
Congress, not his Cabinet members, not his staff or, for that matter, Trump
himself – and what it will cost in lives.
Let
us all pledge to do what we can to prevent more names from being added to the roll call.
