John Glenn On The Senate Floor
The New Hampshire Legionnaire, March/April 2004
Joe Caouette, Editor
Some people still don't understand
why military personnel do what they do for a living. This exchange
Between Senators John Glenn and Sen. Howard Metzenbaum is worth reading.
Not only is it a pretty impressive
impromptu speech, but it's also a good example of -one man's explanation
of why men and women in the Armed Services do what they do for a living.
This IS a typical, though sad, example of what some who have never
served think of the Military.
Senator Metzenbaum to Senator Glenn:
"How can you run for Senate when you've
never held a "real job?"
Senator Glenn:
"I served 23 years in the United States
Marine Corps. 1 served through two wars. I flew 149 missions. My plane
was hit by antiaircraft fire on 12 different occasions. I was in the
Space Program. It wasn't my checkbook, Howard; it was my Life on the
line. It was not a nine to five job, where I took time off to take
the daily cash.receipts to the bank.
I ask you to go with me . . . as I went
the other day . . . to a Veterans Hospital and look those men - with
their mangled bodies - in the eye, and tell THEM they didn't hold
a job!
You go with me to the Space Program at NASA
and go, as I have gone, to the widows and orphans of Ed White, Gus
Grissom and Roger Chaffee . . . and you look those kids in the eye
and tell them that their DADS didn't hold a job.
You go with me on Memorial Day and you stand
in Arlington National Cemetery, where I have more friends buried than
I'd like to remember, and you watch those waving flags. You stand
there, and you think about this Nation, and you tell ME that those
people didn't have a job?"
Click
here for the original article
from Lane Memorial Library
Source
Lane Memorial Library,
Hampton, New Hamshire
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