PR FOR PEOPLE®
THE CONNECTOR
Editorial Staff
Chief Content Creator:
Patricia Vaccarino
Published by
PR for People®
Brand Manager:
Josue Mora
Copy Editor:
Lars Brockner
Chief Photographer:
Ilya Moshenskiy
Design and Layout:
Josue Mora
Photo Credits:
William Lulow, Josue Mora,
Ilya Moshenskiy,
Patricia Vaccarino,
and a special thanks to
Barbara Lloyd McMichael
Old veterans playing cribbage at Soldiers' Home, Washington, D.C., ca. 1900
Photo credit: Johnston (Frances Benjamin) Collection, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, LC-USZ62-47034
Civil war wounded, ca. 1863 - if these men survived through to the end of the war, they would be eligible for pensions
Photo credit: Wright Brothers collection, Prints & Photographs Division, Library of Congress, LC-ppmsca-04598.
Denis McDonough, Biden's Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs
Photo credit: Department of Veterans Affairs
Military spouses share stories with First Lady Jill Biden during her visit to Joint Base Lewis-McChord Photo credit: White House
Contributors:
Lynn Berger, Dave Bresler,
Peter Corning Ph.D,
Rongqing Dai Ph.D,
John de Graaf, JoAnne Dyer, Ron Flavin, Michael Fliegelman,
Randy Friedberg, Esq.,
Manny Frishberg, Linda Jay,
Henri P. Gaboriau, MD,
Sally Haver, Alison Harris, Roger Hillman,
Lorraine Howell,
David L. Laing,
Nick J. Licata,
Chef William Lulow,
Dean Landsman,
Barbara Lloyd McMichael,
Joe Puggelli, Annie Searle,
Hall Stuart-Lovell,
Jordan Riefe, William Thomas,
Patricia Vaccarino,
and Serena Wadhwa.
Memorial Day reminds me of the two toughest guys I know: My Two Joes. Joey Blue Eyes was my father’s nickname. At 20, this working class boy from Yonkers found himself in the Marine Corps on the front lines of Korea in the 1stBattalion of the 1st Marine Division. Marching north to the Yalu river during the Chosin Reservoir Campaign in 1950, he was one among 12,000 Marines who was surrounded by 60,000 Chinese soldiers.
My husband is also named Joe. When he was 20, he found himself in the army in Vietnam, where he and his fellow soldiers were in the Dong Ngai Secret Zone by the Dong Ngai River. He had been out on patrol in the jungle, planting sensors to detect the enemy Vietcong. Joe found a 500-pound bomb dropped by a fighter bomber. The bomb landed in a “blast crater” that had been formed by another bomb. Fortunately, the bomb was a dud. Joe had a life-flashing-by moment. He wondered: Why were the Vietcong killing people like us? And why are we killing them? Just because they have a different color of skin?
My Two Joes returned from the front lines knowing that it wasn’t the communists who were the real enemy. The people who put them there on the front lines in the first place were the real enemy. The great class divide between the superrich and all the rest of us is never made more apparent than it is in armed conflict. Too often war is a game for the superrich who have their own special interests at stake.
This Memorial Day, let us honor our troops who have served our country, and echoing the words of President Joe Biden: May God Protect Our Troops.
Letter from the Editor
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In keeping with their commitment to honor the sacrifices of all those who serve, veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors, the President and First Lady have restored the POW/MIA flag to its original location on top of the White House