The only photo that my old friend Jack Wallace has from his days in the Marine Corps in a uniform is in a Marine Corps women’s uniform: he was Gay and everybody in his unit knew it. Tarawa is written into the battle history of the Marine Corps, as is the battle of Belleau Wood in the First World War that my grandfather in the Army somehow wound up in the middle of.
On the table in this photo, take note of the little bust of Lenin. Jack’s comrades in the Marine Corps also knew his politics and they didn’t care about that anymore than his sexual orientation. All they cared about was that like them, he was willing to fight and die if necessary for America.
On Dec 14, 2010 Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos (r.) testified on Capitol Hill that it would be a distraction and counterproductive to repeal the military’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that effectively has gotten more Gay and Lesbian soldiers, sailors, and air-people out of the service than under the previous policy. Those statements are a slap in the face to LGBTI veterans like Jack.
They’re also a slap in the face to veterans like Harold Sutley. Harold is Peace & Freedom Party activist (and Marine Corps veteran himself) Irv Sutley’s uncle. Harold was a Navy Corpsman attached to the United States Marines at Guadalcanal…and Gay.
Fast forward to Vietnam, where Gay activist and former Sonoma State University student and employee Ronald Logsdon III was also a veteran and Bronze Star recipient.
Then there’s my dear friend and SFV/NELA NOW Board member Cynthia Conover, who was an Army MP.
But fast reverse to the Revolutionary War, when in the dark days of Valley Forge, the Continental Army of George Washington was trained by the Gay Baron Von Steuben who arrived right after a Gay Lieutenant was court martialed.
I’m very happy that DADT has been repealed. America should be proud of its LGBTI veterans.
Tags: Army, Baron Von Steuben, Belleau Wood, Bronze Star, Continental Army, Cynthia Conover, DADT, Don't Ask Don't Tell, George Washington, Harold Sutley, Irv Sutley, Jack Wallace, James Amos, Marines, Ronald Logsdon III, Sonoma State University, Tarawa