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Monaghan deserves honor

As a low-ranking veteran of the Vietnam War who came home to suffer the scorn of many of my fellow citizens for about a decade, I stand with Hazel Hoeft’s repudiation of attempts to remove Ensign John Monaghan’s statue from downtown Spokane (“Monaghan was a hero,” Nov. 11), precisely on all of the grounds that she raises.

While Vietnam War architect Henry Kissinger has the consolation of the Nobel Peace Prize, and anti-war activist Jane Fonda suffered no consequence from posing on an enemy anti-aircraft gun, while benefiting from her stellar career in this country, low-ranking military veterans fared much less well. Whatever the dubious involvement of the U.S. in the second Samoan Civil War, Ensign Monaghan was only honored for attempting to save the life of one of his comrades at arms.

Philip J. Mulligan

Spokane

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