Time for honor, not retribution

Andrew “Spiff” DeLateur moved to Maringo Drive, a tree-filled neighborhood near the town of Millwood, when he was just a year old. He is 20 now. The streets leading to his home make up the physical and emotional map of his childhood.

Andrew, a West Valley High School graduate, served as a Marine in Iraq from February to October. It was his second tour of duty there. Late in the evening Thursday, he will fly home to Spokane from California’s Camp Pendleton for a two-week leave. He does not want a big hoopla at the airport. He does not want a homecoming party. But his mother, Mary – a woman I wrote about in March who marked her son’s absence with a candle in the window, prayer and regular Andrew-update e-mails to 100 people – wanted to do something.

So Mary has been walking door to door through the streets where her three sons grew up. She carries yellow ribbon and this simple request: Would you fly the flag and/or tie a yellow ribbon on your property so Andrew will see them and know we are grateful for his service to our country?

Sometimes Mary’s husband, Tony, accompanies her door to door. Sometimes, friends do. Monday morning, Mary and I walked to six houses along Maringo Drive. Surprisingly, most people were home. When they opened their doors, their faces registered weariness and suspicion. It’s candidate-doorbelling season. Their faces softened as soon as Mary said, “My son …”

And when she finished her pitch, the women’s eyes filled with tears. The men looked at us, looked away, and when their eyes returned to us, they were watery, too. They all said yes. They all took yellow ribbons. They never mentioned politics or uttered anti-war comments.

Mary and I are the same age, just a crow’s foot shy of 50. We remember how the Vietnam War vets were not welcomed home warmly. How people took out their rage against that war on the men fighting it. It always sounds like an urban legend that the soldiers were spit upon in airports as they returned in uniform. But Mary and I both know real people to whom this happened. Her brother-in-law Bob, a Navy pilot, was one of those men.

For once, though, our society learned from history rather than repeating it.

The young men and women returning from Iraq have been greeted with warmth and gratitude, regardless of personal opinions about the war. Mary invites Vietnam vets to drive the decorated streets of Andrew’s childhood in the next two weeks.

“I believe life provides you with the opportunity to redo things,” Mary said. “I hope veterans who didn’t get it when they returned will take it as their route, too.”

Mary and I then drove the “Andrew route.” It begins as you take the Argonne exit off Interstate 90 and head north. Mary pointed out the Yoke’s store on Argonne Road. Its reader board Thursday will say: “Welcome home Lance Corporal Andrew ‘Spiff’ DeLateur, USMC.” We noticed how many businesses and fast-food joints reside on both sides of Argonne. Mary planned to contact them with her request they place those same words on their reader boards.

We then drove through Millwood and onto the Argonne Road bridge that spans the Spokane River. It’s a construction zone. The workers have agreed to place on a traffic direction sign a banner created by Mary’s friend Kent Meredith. It shows 1-year-old Andrew standing up in his crib, his green sleeper on, a proud smile upon on his face.

At the intersection of Argonne and Upriver Drive, we turned left onto Upriver Drive and soon passed Pasadena Park Elementary School. In the windows hung dancing bows of yellow ribbon. As we took a left off Upriver onto Maringo Drive, we noticed the trees, fall-glorious with yellow as if in greeting, too.

Andrew will finally come home Thursday to his family. But the whole community can claim him through his mother’s simple plan. Welcome home, Andrew, welcome. And thank you, from all of us, to all of those you represent.