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Have a read of this ...... an elderly man in the US ....

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oooooo
 
Joined in 2006
October 22, 2009, 21:20

I got this off samesame, so I sincerely hope i have not broken any rules or protocols.


As the American state of Maine gears up to vote on the issue of gay marriage, a speech given to Maine’s Judiciary Committee back in April from an 86-year-old war veteran has gone on to become a YouTube hit. His heartfelt words cut right to the heart of the matter – “we can all be different and still be equal” – and I felt compelled to pass them on.


“Good morning committee, my name is Philip Spooner… I am 86 years old, a lifetime Republican, and an active VFW chaplain. I still serve three hospitals and two nursing homes, and I also served meals on wheels for 20 years. My wife of 54 years, Jenny, died in 1997. Together we had four children, including one gay son. All four of our boys were in the service.


I was born on a potato farm north of Caribou and Perham, where I was raised to believe that all men are created equal, and I’ve never forgotten that. I served in the US Army 1942-1945 in the First Army as a medic and an ambulance driver. I worked with every outfit over there including Patton’s Third Army. I saw action in all five major battles in Europe including the Battle of the Bulge. My unit was awarded Presidential Citations for transporting more patients with fewer accidents than any other ambulance unit in Europe, and I was in the liberation of Paris. After the war, I carried POWs back from Poland, Hungary, and Yugoslavia, and also hauled hundreds of injured Germans back to Germany.


“I am here because of a conversation I had last June, when I was voting. A woman at my polling place asked me, ‘do you believe in equality for gay and lesbian people?’ I was pretty surprised to be asked a question like that. It made no sense to me. Finally I asked her: ‘what do you think I fought for on Omaha Beach?’ I haven’t seen so much blood and guts, so much suffering, so much sadness and sacrifice – for what? For freedom and equality. These are the values that make America, our great nation, one worth dying for.


“I give talks to eighth grade teachers about World War II but I don’t tell them about the horror. Maybe I have to invite them to the ovens at Buchenwald and Dachau. I’ve seen with my own eyes the consequences of the caste system, how it makes others seem less than others, or second class. Never again. We must have equal rights for everyone… It takes all kinds of people to make a world. It makes no sense that some people who love each other can marry and others can’t, just because of who they are. This is what we fought for in World War II, that idea that we can all be different and still be equal.


“My wife and I did not raise four sons with the idea that three of them would have a certain set of rights but our gay child would be left out. We raised them all to be hardworking, proud and loyal Americans and they all did good. I think if two adults who love each other want to get married, they should be able to. Everyone is supposed to be equal… Let gay people have the right to marry. Thankyou.”



gettingthere
 
Joined in 2008
October 22, 2009, 22:08

Thank you so much for putting this up. I’d love to be able to share this story with a friend of mine. I found a YouTube video of the event for those who are interested.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beEh6jBM8CE



Anthony Venn-Brown
 
Joined in 2005
October 23, 2009, 00:04

chris……on our new website/forum….will be able to embed videos.



blackjack
 
Joined in 2009
October 25, 2009, 23:58

Woah, I’m grateful for that spiel…


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