The following blog post is by Family Council staff member Deborah Beuerman.
For what reason did the nation’s commander-in-chief order blockades placed around the WWII Veterans Memorial to keep out visiting veterans? The Memorial is essentially a landscape feature in a very large park through which people can walk 24/7. Usually the area is manned by a few staff members for only part of that time, but they were deemed non-essential and sent home—until the President decided that it was essential for them to come back in order to put up barricades to keep people out.
Honor Flights, a charity group that brings WWII veterans from around the country to visit their memorial, schedules the visits months in advance, so it was known that veterans would be visiting this month. Why was it commanded that these veterans in their 80s and 90s who had come far to visit their memorial, many for the first and last time, be blocked from walking in this park?
There was also one barricade placed in front of the WWI Memorial, quite easy for anyone to walk around. I guess there are not any WWI veterans planning to visit, so there is no need for that Memorial to be completely blocked.
The closure signs placed at the Memorials read, “Because of the Federal Government Shutdown this area is closed except for First Amendment Activities.” Are not gatherings of people for a cause considered First Amendment Rights? The veterans had a cause—one they have well earned. They came to gather and reflect on a war for which they had sacrificed, not only for their own freedom, but for ours. These veterans gave so much. Their friends and comrades gave their lives. Those who lived to come home still gave their lives, for they were forever changed by both the horrors and the camaraderie of war. The lives they came home to were different—family, friends, jobs, the entire country changed. Many sacrificed emotionally and were scarred. Why is it essential that these veterans be blocked out of their Memorial?
Some groups, with the help of Congressmen, moved the barricade and went in. Are the veterans who continue to come throughout the shutdown going to be blocked? Why, yes! The barricades have not only been replaced, there are now mounted policemen patrolling to keep them out.
I can only conclude the reason is the self-focus, the self-importance of those who deem it essential to do everything they think is needed to have their own way. A proposal to continue to fund national parks, including the WWII Veterans Memorial and the Veterans Administration, has been rejected. Why?
