Serving America 2024

SERVING AMERICA

It is the veteran, not the preacher who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the veteran, not the reporter who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the veteran, not the poet who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the veteran, not the campus organizer who has given us freedom to assemble.

It is the veteran, not the lawyer who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the veteran, not the politician who has given us the right to vote.

It is the veteran, who serves under the flag and whose coffin will be draped by the flag.

SATURDAY MAY 25, 2024

Where America comesEat! to

Steak&Bake

8OZ T R I-TIP SERVED WITH A HOT, SALTED BAKED POTATO

g and Lobs erSteak

6OZ T R I-TIP WITH NORTH ATLANTIC LOBSTE R TAIL

While we’re bellyaching about prices keep the Robert Davenports in mind

Robert Malcolm Davenport’s teen years were spent growing up in Manteca.

As a teen he walked Yosemite Avenue that then doubled as Highway 120 jammed every weekend with people freely traveling to the Sierra or San Francisco.

Most of the time Davenport walked on Yosemite Avenue sidewalks was to partake of a free public education at Manteca High.

Other times it was likely to do things that teens were free to do back then whether it was catching a movie at the El Rey that is now The Veranda, enjoy a milk shake at The Creamery, or grab a burger and fries with friends at The Patio.

The odds are overwhelming you’ve never heard or even knew Davenport.

But he is one of more than 50 million men and women that you and I owe the fact we can freely travel about, enjoy a free public education, and are free to shop, worship, and express outage as we are today.

Davenport served America. And the price he paid for that honor as a 23-year-old assigned to the Airborne’s 503rd Infantry in the early 1970s was his life.

The sergeant had been in the war zone of Vietnam’s highlands four months when his squad was running point near Monkey Hill on a trail shifting through heavy jungle foliage.

It is when he suddenly detected motion in

the foliage. He motioned to his radio opera tor the direction of the movement but due to imminent contact did not have sufficient time to alert the entire squad.

With complete disregard for his own personnel safety, Davenport moved forward on the right flank in an effort to engage the enemy before the point team could be brought under devastating hostile fire in the attack zone.

The enemy responded shooting him in the head. By doing so, he forced the enemy to expose their position and saved the rest of his squad from either certain death or devastating wounds.

Davenport and others who never returned home to mark a Veterans’ Day as well as those who did are the reason why 333 mil lion of us are able to bellyache about the high price of consumer goods that are more plentiful here than anywhere else on the face of the earth, challenge and rip into the government at will without being thrown into the slammer, travel about as freely as we can without getting government permis sion, to basically worship as we please, and — if we so chose — opt not to participate in mass demonstrations of “national unity” as is the case in North Korea.

Even if you share the opinions of the jackals roaming the bowels of the Internet whether they are on the extreme right, left, or somewhere in between that America is a hot mess you are indebted to men and women like Davenport.

To paraphrase Otto von Bismarck, democracies are like sausages. We might like what they are but it is better not to see

At Bank of Stockton we’ve been providing service with a smile for over 157 years. From business loans for expanding a growing venture to real estate loans for helping you buy your first home, we’ve always been here for all your banking needs.

DENNIS WYATT Editor

Our debt to these heroes can never be re-paid but our gratitude and respect must last forever

Most Americans profess to truly love our veterans, especially at gatherings on Veterans Day and Memorial Day.

And while their feelings are usually sincere, it is important to remember that future “veterans” are now soldiers defending us 365 days a year. The heroism that has been demonstrated time and again by veterans from the American Revolution to the Global War on Terrorism is sometimes unnoticed by those of us who enjoy the security that their sacrifice has provided.

Army Staff Sergeant Clinton Romesha has seen war at its very worst. While serving at Combat Outpost Keating in Afghanistan, he and his comrades awakened to an attack by an estimated 300 enemy fighters on October 3, 2009.

According to his Medal of Honor citation,

Staff Sergeant Romesha took out an enemy machine gun team, and engaged in taking out a second, when he received shrapnel wounds from a rocket propelled grenade. He continued to fight on.

He killed at least three other Taliban fighters and directed air support to destroy 30 other enemy fighters. After receiving the nation’s highest military medal, Staff Sergeant Romesha said he felt conflicted.

“The joy,” he said, “comes from recognition of us doing our jobs as soldiers on distant battlefields but is countered by the constant reminder of the loss of our battle buddies. My battle buddies. My soldiers. My friends.”

Staff Sergeant Romesha’s attitude is not hard to find among the living Medal of Honor recipients. They will never forget the sacrifice of their friends and neither will the Gold Star

At Hospice of San Joaquin, we deeply embrace our mission to honor and serve America’s veterans. It’s our heartfelt expression of gratitude for the immense sacrifices they’ve made in serving our nation.

families, who will have to cope without the embrace of their loved ones.

Our debt to these heroes can never be repaid but our gratitude and respect must last forever.

For many veterans, our nation was important enough to endure long separations from their families, miss the births of their children, freeze in sub-zero temperatures, bake in wild jungles, lose limbs, and, far too often, lose their lives.

You cannot fight a war without soldiers and while the utopian idea of a society without war is appealing, let us not forget that wars have liberated slaves, stopped genocide and toppled terrorists.

Stephen Ambrose once wrote, “America’s wars have been like rungs on a ladder by which it rose to greatness. No other country

has triumphed so long, so consistently or on such a vast scale through force of arms.”

It has been often said that without our soldiers, Americans would be speaking Russian, German or, perhaps, Japanese. Regardless of which view of alternative history you take, we do know that without our veterans America would not be America.

And as we look at the Middle East today, we know that there is a large, dangerous and committed group of fanatics that wants us dead. And while ISIS, al Qaeda and other terrorists may lack the conventional weapons of Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan, they are every bit as evil in their intentions.

Those who defend us from our enemies must be supported. Whether their service was in Baghdad or Beirut, we need to serve veter-

MANTECA BEDQUARTERS

America’s death toll for wars: 1,185,596 lives lost p RIC

American war deaths have varied dramatically, depending on the war they were volunteering (or being drafted) to fight. Some fell to the enemy, many more fell to disease. Since the Revolutionary War ended, 646,596 American troops have died in battle and more than 539,000 died from other, non-combat related causes.

Revolutionary War Deaths

Around 230,000 proto-Americans fought in the Continental Army. The colonial militias mustered up another 145,000. The death toll was around 6,800. Disease was a much deadlier enemy killing 17,000 would-be Americans.

War of 1812 Deaths

Some 15,000 Americans died as a result of the War of 1812. Around 2,260 deaths were due to the fighting. The rest were from disease.

Mexican-American War Deaths

The 1846 war, which expanded the United States to include Texas, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and parts of Colorado, There were 1,733 U.S. troops were killed in the war. Another 11,550 died from diseases and non-combat mishaps.

Civil War Deaths

A rough estimate from the American Battlefield Trust puts the number of Americans killed in the Civil War at around 650,000.

Indian Wars Deaths

The U.S. Army worked to support “Manifest Destiny” and westward expansion. Some 106,000 American troops fought and at least 1,000 died doing it.

Spanish-American War Deaths

The total number of American service

members who fought in the SpanishAmerican War hovered around 306,700, with only 385 dying in combat. More than 2,000 fell to disease.

World War I Deaths

With 4.73 million men in uniform, World War I saw Americans mobilize like never before. Around 2.5% of those Doughboys would not make it home, as 53,402 fell to the enemy and another 63,114 to other causes.

World War II Deaths

This war, which saw more than 16 million Americans don a uniform and completely reshaped American society, actually had a lower proportional combat death toll than the Civil War.

Korean War Deaths

Of the 1.79 million who served in Korea, 36,574 Americans died fighting and with a total of 54,246 died as a result of the war.

Vietnam Deaths

More than 58,220 American troops died during the course of the Vietnam War. Despite the prolonged fighting, improvements in battlefield medicine and the mobility of helicopters helped save many lives.

Gulf War Deaths

The Gulf War of 1990-1991 saw a force of 694,550 American troops in service or deployed in support of the war. Of those, only 383 were killed.

Iraq and Afghanistan Deaths

Of the 2.5 million American troops deployed in support of Operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn. Of those, 5,364 died in action, and another 1,476 died in non-hostile incidents.

them being made.

It’s a truth we often forget.

Democracy by its very nature is a mess. But is the mess we must endure.

There is a reason why one of the greatest debates in this land for more than 250 years hasn’t been about forcing people to stay in this country but whether people can come into this country.

It’s a point lost on those who think every immigrant is looking to live on the public dole or to prey on America by joining the criminal underbelly of society.

They are drawn to America by the promise of a better life of freedom and the ability to have at least a shot at improving their lot in life and that of their family.

None of that is a possible without the concept of democracy which, like any other thing in life, cannot be 100 percent pure given there are 333 million of us in this country and 8.1 billion people on earth.

And democracy, which has never been the friend of tyrants, kings, bullies, and those with super nova egos, can’t exist let alone grow unless it is secured.

And it is not secured by posting on the Internet or published words. It is not secured in stirring sermons or teachers inspiring inquisitive minds.

While all of that helps people see the possibilities, dream of a better life for themselves and a better world for everyone, as well as question the status quo the cold-hard truth is the freedoms we either cherish or simply take for granted would not exist unless they are secured by a standing military.

If America is a hot mess then the world is quicksand pulling mankind down toward even more hellish mess.

That’s because there are those out there who want to impose their will on others whether they are individuals, of a different faith or ethnicity, or simply disagree with them. That has always been the case. It is the case. It is likely to be the case until the end of time.

Whining about the economy? Things could be worse

“And

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following editorial by George Murphy Jr. first appeared in his column, “Batting the Breeze,” in the Dec. 28, 1950 issue of the Manteca Bulletin. Murphy, who has since passed away, was publisher of the Bulletin at the time. He also was a serving on board a ship when Pearl Harbor was attacked 83 years ago on Dec. 7, 1941.

We would like to apologize to all servicemen — it seems we have been developing a case of civilianitis. And that means a lot of crying about life on the home front, in case you didn’t know what civilianitis means.

We were lying in bed the other night worrying about this and that — then we heard our conscience open fire. Our conscience

made a little speech like this: You’re worried, aren’t you, Murph? You’ve got big problems. Things look tough next year. No new cars, maybe; so perhaps there’s no automobile advertising. And that’s a good chunk of your revenue, isn’t it.

And you’ve got big payments at the bank to meet, and maybe you can’t get enough newsprint to put out enough pages to make the payments. Things are sure rough.

But how about the boys in Korea, Murph? What have they got to lose? Not much. They don’t own anything. No, they haven’t much to lose — just their lives.

Yeah, you sure got it rough. Worried about the Roe Bowl and whether Cal can win one for a change. That’s a big problem, Murph. How many people in the Rose Bowl? About

a hundred thousand, maybe? That’s about one person in each 1,500 in this great nation. Pretty small percentage, isn’t it?

Ever stop to think that about one in each 1,500 is saving your comfortable neck? That’s right. There are only about 100,000 of our men in Korea. And how many men are 42,000? Why, that’s no crowd at all. But that’s a lot of men to stop bullets in a little place like Korea. And that’s how many casualties we’ve had over there so far.

It might be a tough year all right. Just as you’re thinking — no gasoline, shoe shortage, high prices for eggs, coffee and so on. You don’t think there’s much to look forward to, do you, Murph?

The trouble with you is, you forget too easily. You forget that this war is just as tough as the last one — or maybe tougher. But you don’t think it’s so bad because you’re not in it. What does a casualty list mean to you? Nothing but a bunch of figures. Just a bunch of guys you don’t know and never heard of before.

Well just remember one thing. Those guys are just about the same as they were the last time. And they’re having the same horrible things happen to them, and you don’t give a hoot because you’re busy worrying about life on the home front.

crushed by his own shipmates. That was panic, Murph, and don’t you think for a minute that there wasn’t plenty of panic when the Chinese broke through in Korea. And there was some nice old guy like Sam Neville there, too, and don’t forget it. Remember Terlizzi? Always good for a laugh — the ship’s comedian. But he wasn’t laughing the last time you saw him, was he? Remember when that torpedo plane hit and its gas tank blew up? You looked up quick to secondary aft when you felt the heat. He was swaying back and forth on the gun platform, his mouth working like he as trying to talk. He still had his phones on, didn’t he? But no clothes. They were burned off and his flesh hung from his body in strips. He was dead when you got up there, wasn’t he?

Think back a few years, Murph. Yeah, those guys are just the same. Remember Sam Neville? He was the first man you saw die at Pearl Harbor. You remember Sam, he was that guy in C Division you always thought looked awfully old to be only a third class radioman. Remember how you were stand ing on the second deck and watched Sam run down that ladder? He slipped, didn’t he, and was wedged between the ladder steps flat on his back. And the guys at Pearl Harbor were panicky, weren’t they? And they came down that ladder behind Sam, and one by one they stepped in his face. And you watched them

Somewhere in Korea is a guy just like Terlizzi. Maybe he burned up in tank, a jeep, or an airplane. It doesn’t matter where or how — but he got burned up. Maybe he was just number 31,467 on some casualty list but to some people he was a nice guy with a sense of humor and had a name like Terlizzi. And Boats Powell. You remember him. A quiet guy with a crooked smile, but one of the best little gunners in the business. That torpedo plane got him, too, didn’t it Murph? And you took a chipping iron and scraped him away from his 20-millimeter gun where his flesh had fused with the metal. A lot of guys in Korea have been scraped up by their buddies, and you might remember that once in awhile.

And what about Smooge Scroeder? Used to be a wrestler in a carnival and just as tough as they come. But he was always good fort a laugh when the going got rough, wasn’t he? Take that night when you guys on the fantail heard your first big shell scream over your heads. Smooge shouted: “I’m a lover, nit a fighter”, and your nerves felt bet-

prices

FROM PAGE 5

It is what men and women like Robert Malcolm Davenport guard against.

As was the case in Vietnam and in most wars the clear and present danger is always on the battlefield when bullets are flying

debt

FROM PAGE 4

ans as well as they serve us – even when the guns have temporarily stopped firing. Fewer than 10 percent of Americans can

economy

FROM PAGE 6

ter after a good laugh at his joke. And when that shell hit, Murph, you both went down together. Remember? Only Schroeder didn’t get up. He was cut in two by a big chunk of hot metal. And you thought you were a dead pigeon because you didn’t know that most of the blood and bits of flesh on you were Schroeder’s and not yours. That’s the night it first dawned on you that war is a bloody mess. You used to think people got killed with neat little bullet holes. They don’t, though, do they? They usually get smashed up and there have been over 45,000 smashed up already in Korea. And they claim this is just the start of the war. And there are probably a few guys in Korea like Jack McBride. You remember Jack, don’t you Murph? You never liked him too well — a kind of a wise guy. But when the chips were down he always came through, didn’t he? You’ve always wondered what made Jack do what he did the night the shell hit your gun. He was up in the director tub and lost both legs at the knees. But somehow he crawled out of the tub, dragged

and rarely in the events that led up to skirmishes or war.

The men and women who serve this country are who we rely on in split second situations or prolonged reposes to provocation to keep the flickering candle of democracy — clearly an aberration in the march of time — burning.

Take a moment — even if it is only on

claim the title “veteran.” Far less than 1 percent of our population is currently serving ready to defend our freedoms.

Soldiers — and the veterans who served — have given us freedom, security and the greatest nation on earth. It is impossible to put a price on that.

himself across the deck in front of you, crawled down the ladder into chief’s quarters, and backed into a corner where he died.

And when they carried you down to the chief’s quarters, the first thing you saw in the dim light was Jack. And you felt a little sick to your stomach, didn’t you?

Wonder how many guys in Korea are going to feel the same way — if they haven’t already.

And when they set your stretcher down on the table you didn’t feel very funny, did you? the doc cut your pants away and you could see the bones sticking through the flesh. You turned away and saw Sig Hanna on the table next to you. Yeah, Murph, it was Hanna, that little redheaded coxswain. He was half propped up against a stanchion and you could see his guts oozing through holes in his shirt. Remember how he leaned over a little an said to you: How ya doing, Gunner, isn’t this a helluva a way to make a living?” And in 20 minutes he was dead.

And Korea is full off guys — just good old American guys that can still crack a smile 20nminuts before they die.

And you’re worried about the price of eggs. Quit worrying. Forget it. You never had it so good.

Memorial Day — to reflect and give thanks for those among us who have served and those who never made it back to enjoy what for many is just a paid holiday from work or a day off from school.

The Robert Malcolm Davenports deserve our undying gratitude for the sacrifices they have made.

This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@ mantecabulletin.com

We are A Bridge to Change, a non-profit organization that offers free mobility equipment loans and trained service dog adoptions. Our main purpose is to provide disabled veterans with the aid and support the government cannot provide. We serve the state of California.

For the past 9 years, we have been unwavering in our commitment to supporting our veterans. Our dedicated efforts have focused on honoring and assisting those who have bravely served our country, ensuring that they receive the support they deserve. Through our programs, donations, and partnerships, we have been able to make a tangible difference in the lives of these courageous individuals.

Our main objective is to enrich the lives of disabled veterans who have served our country with the use of a free loaner AllTerrain Track Chair and to donate trained service dogs to those in need. These needed services are provided only to enable each veteran to live a full life with dignity and to make progress towards a better future. We are here to support veterans in need and to change lives for the better. We are passionate about helping those in need and look forward to meeting anyone who would like to learn more about how we do so. If you or a

would like to learn more about our non-profit, we would

a

6/30/24 Get up to $80* via Visa® Reward Card1 or Visa® Virtual Prepaid Card2 after online submission* on purchases of four (4) or more new Michelin passenger or light truck tires totaling $900.00 or more. (Tire purchases totaling $899.99 or less get $60). Offer valid 5/23/2024 – 6/30/2024.

Inc. The card may be used everywhere Visa debit cards are accepted online in the United States, US Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. Visa is a registered trademark owned by Visa International Service Association. Virtual Prepaid Card expires six (6) months after issuance. No cash access. Copyright © 2024 Michelin North America, Inc. All rights reserved.