Sunday, August 21, 2005

The story of Gary Qualls

He knows first hand how Cindy Sheehan feels....

"I walked up to the front door and all I could do was look through the glass and stand there and look at them and I knew what was going on and I said "No... Not my baby!"Gary said he dropped to his knees, and that nothing could compare to what he felt at that moment.Gary, a retired marine, says even when he, himself, was close to death on the battlefield in Bosnia-- even when he lost friends in battle-- nothing, hurt more than knowing his son was gone."Apparently, they tried to get him back, but he didn't make. He gave all he could and he can give no more."

The difference is he supports the war and the President and Cindy does not. What made Gary Qualls protest was seeing his son's name used on one of the crosses used at Camp Casey. Why his simple request to not use his son's name could not have been followed I don't understand. Gary has had to do this more than once at Camp Casey. Had the anti-war protestors had the decency to understand this parent did not want his son's name connected to this Gary Qualls would have never started this counter protest.

The irony is it was President Bush's statement on the noble cause that made Cindy Sheehan decide to protest, and her groups actions have made Gary Qualls feel he had to act as well.

Grieving parent against grieving parent. Neither group will solve anything. The media will focus on which one has more people in "their" camp.

While I don't agree with the MSNBC title to their article "Patriotic camp springs up to counter peace mom's anti-war demonstration near president's ranch"; since it implys that the Camp Casey bunch is not patriotic. This one paragraph bothered me more than what MSNBC chose as their title.

Bill Johnson, a local gift shop owner who created ''Fort Qualls,'' said he wanted to offer a larger, more convenient place for Bush supporters to gather. He and others at ''Fort Qualls'' have asked for a debate with those at the Crawford Peace House, which is helping Sheehan. '

'We're asking for a meeting with the president, period,'' said Michelle DeFord, whose 37-year-old son, Sgt. David W. Johnson, was in the Army National Guard from Oregon when he was killed in Iraq last fall. ''We don't want to debate with people who don't understand our point of view.''



An expanded article on this story

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good post. they should take the cross down.

Unknown said...

(((HUGS))) for Faith, and now I'll delete the other one.

I don't think the title was the way to go either, but making a huge deal about the title alone and not the content is what some of the anti-war group is doing.

This pro-war parent versus anti-war parent is going to get worse befor it's over.

Scott G said...

I hope to God that they don't have a debate. Most people on both sides couldn't debate whether Miller Lite is less filling or tastes great without sounding like morons. With all the emotion, the debate would devolve into a spectacle that no good will come out of.

Unknown said...

probably me4 but if they did talk maybe they could come to some common agreement

but it's obvious division seems to be the way it will continue even to the point where parents have to take sides

Cyberseaer said...

The only people who are hurting in this are the parents of the dead soldiers. The media, gasp, is added fuel to the fire with their slant. As I have said before, I feel for the parents who have lost thier children in this war.

Contempt and confusion is the result of this protest and anti-protest in Texas as Bush vacates. If not now, very shortly Cindy will alienate her friends. Her family life is distancing themselves from her and now her and her group are insulting other parents who do not agree with her view. This helps no one and hurts the ones who have receieved visits of military personal to hear the news that no parent, no partner, no child wants to hear.

Once the protests stop and everyone can take a breath, then the healing can start. Once that happens, people can move on with their lives.