Well, Chattanooga's mayor and City Council election is in a week. There are many important issues at stake in this election and candidates are hard at work trying to convince you that they have your best interests in mind. Perhaps they do. That said, let me tell you what's on my mind.
For the past five years or so I've served on the Advisory Board of the Charles H. Coolidge Medal of Honor Heritage Center. The Center, located in a bedraggled low traffic corner of Northgate Mall (after having been "escorted" out of downtown Chattanooga some years ago to make room for development), is hanging on for dear life.
In spite of a strong, patriotic and spirited effort by the Center's Board to gain city government and community support for a move of the Heritage Center to its natural location in a little used corner of Coolidge Park, vocal anti-military sentiments in the city's centers of influence killed the effort. An ad-hoc group was formed to study options. While well intentioned, that has led to consideration of an expensive and yet still unsupported recommendation to move the Heritage Center into the vacated area of the now defunct Chattanooga History Museum.
While there is merit in this outcome, it forces the volunteers at the Center to become expert fundraisers and enter into a long shot local, regional and indeed national fundraising campaign just to meet the rent that the River City Company proposes to charge for the property. Meanwhile, city leaders across government, philanthropic organizations, civic organizations and leading businesses in general have basically given the Center's leadership a "good luck" salute and turned away.
I am stunned that Chattanooga's leadership is not fully and publicaly embracing the Charles H. Coolidge Medal of Honor Heritage Center. The Center's mission is to preserve the city's distinguished heritage in heroic veterans' sacrifices to defend and save our nation. Indeed, the Federal Army essentially broke the South's back in Civil War fighting on Missionary Ridge, and 33 Soldiers earned the Medal of Honor freeing African Americans from the tyranny of slavery -- on that hill and others here in Chattanooga.
And, of course, Chattanooga is literally the birthplace of the Medal of Honor which was initially awarded to Private Jacob Parrot for his bravery with Andrew's Raiders on the "Great Locomotive Chase" of April 1862 -- culminating here just outside Chattanooga.
Battlefield Civilian Surgeon Dr. Mary Walker was the only female and civilian to ever earn the Medal of Honor, largely for her heroics -- here in Chattanooga.
The Center will honor the 32 Tennessee citizens who have earned the Medal of Honor in the Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam and they should be honored -- here in Chattanooga.
The Center will honor the incredible valor of Technical Sergeant Charles H. Coolidge, one of our own and for whom Coolidge Park and the Medal of Honor Heritage Center were named -- here in Chattanooga.
The Center will honor Private First Class Desmond Doss's unspeakable valor on Hacksaw Ridge in Okinawa in 1945. If you haven't seen the movie you should -- here in Chattanooga.
The Center will ensure that Chattanooga forever understands, remembers, and celebrates its central position in preserving the most free and democratic nation ever to embrace God's earth.
Major General (Ret.) Bill Raines is the Center's board chairman and he has worked tirelessly at great personal expense and sacrifice to bring the Coolidge Medal of Honor Heritage Center back to the downtown area. He dearly wants to ensure the Center forever gives our citizens and our visitors a place to celebrate the heritage of valor that our Medal of Honor recipients so justly deserve. The city's leadership should be begging Bill to get this done and they should be helping him with the effort. It is my assessment that they are not. Bill and his board are pretty much on their own.
When you vote for mayor or for the City Council, among other things, please ask yourself the central question -- "Has my candidate publicaly embraced and fully supported the Charles H. Coolidge Medal of Honor Heritage Center?" Ask those currently serving in elected positions. The answer is grim. If you are a veteran, a patriot, or anyone who loves their country and their city, find candidates who have publicly and fervently spoken out in support of the Coolidge Medal of Honor Heritage Center. I believe that is where you will find the right public servants to represent you. They are few and far between but they are there.
B.B. Bell
General, US Army (Retired)
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General Bell,
I agree with the desire to preserve the memories of our fallen heroes. My father and two other uncles served in WWII and my son served in Iraq.
I myself did not serve in the military because I graduated from high school in 1971 and didn't think I was ready for Southeast Asia. I am a patriotic person and truly am thankful for the sacrifices made to protect us from tyranny especially WWII as it was truly a world war. I am a history buff for that era 1930-1945 and have studied and read everything I can get my hands on.
I just watched the movie, "Hacksaw Ridge" about a Medal of Honor recipient interned here in Chattanooga. Desmond Thomas Doss was a United States Army corporal who served as a combat medic with an infantry company in World War II. After distinguishing himself in the Battle of Okinawa, he became the first conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor for actions above and beyond the call of duty.
The whole point of this article is: "When is it time to let go?" Just about all of the WWII and Korea era veterans are deceased or close to it. The generation of young adults and kids this day and time are spoiled rotten; are not aware of this countries struggles against oppression and communism, and are taught in school to hate America, disgrace the flag, Gay is okay, and are bombarded by drugs and gangs. A lot of them are so out of touch that our education system is a travesty.
There are numerous memorials; the USS Alabama in Mobile, Al.; the USS Yorktown in Columbia, S.C.; but funding and keeping these memorials afloat is becoming a financial burden.
Everywhere there are Japanese restaurants and as inhumane as the Japs were in WWII, I still go. Mexican restaurants; Mexico being where a large portion of illegal immigrants and drugs flow into our country, I still go.
I honor your service and your cause, General, but when do we let go of the past? I have no answer.
Jack Varner
Chattanooga
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Mr. Varner asks "when do we let go of the past". Maybe it's a matter of perspective, or a lack thereof on the part of him and others.
Although I'm a lot younger than Mr. Varner, all of my family are veterans. Most of the men have served in the military since the Spanish American War. Those who didn't had not come to America yet. All of them have served since World War II, and some of the women too. Some of them were "lifers" who served for 20, 25, 30 or more years. Some only served two to four years, and anything in between. My husband comes from a similar family and is a combat wounded disabled veteran. I work for a company that practices a discriminatory hiring policy; only veterans need apply. When I once asked the boss about that his only response was "Let them sue me. Besides, we have you and your accomplice as our 'token' employees". The lady I work with isn't a veteran either, but she comes from a family similar to mine.
Growing up we had a family friend, "Uncle" Jack, who had spent time as a Japanese POW during WWII. Daddy always said he was treated horribly and no one ever spoke of those atrocities. Other family friends included a lady who was a survivor of Hiroshima, a childhood friend whose uncle had been a German POW, and an elderly Jewish couple who had numbers tattooed on their arms just to name a few.
I eat at Japanese restaurants too, and cook some Japanese dishes that I learned while there. Due to my ancestry I also cook Polish, Hungarian, and German dishes too, and like to eat in those restaurants. If Mom ever caught me cooking Hillshire Farms kielbasa with cabbage she would have more than two or three stern words for me. I also eat in Mexican restaurants as long as their food is authentic, and know the difference because I learned to cook it while living in the American Southwest.
None of this has even a smidgen of relevance to the Medal of Honor Heritage Center.
This center has nothing to do with holding onto the past. It has everything to do with honoring those who have exhibited courage and heroism far beyond what was expected of them. It has everything to do with honoring those who have asked for little in return for their sacrifice, often making the extreme sacrifice, so the rest of us can whine and complain about those who would like to recognize them.
We make a big deal about actors who live in La-La Land, then complain their jobs are harder than that of a Soldier, Sailor, or Marine. We make a big deal about scantily clad women and rappers whose greatest life accomplishments have been grabbing their crotch or flashing their "goods". We make a big deal about children who haven't lived long enough to have accomplished anything in their own right.
But we will belittle those who wish to honor those who have made it all possible.
There is a saying, often attributed to General George S. Patton and others, "Freedom has a taste, and for those who have fought for it, the taste is so sweet the protected will never know". All I can say is that this is true, from my observation. It would be interesting to see a poll about how many of those who don't want to allow the Charles H. Coolidge Medal of Honor Heritage Center located at Coolidge Park are veterans.
Vicki Rodgers
Nine Mile, Tn.
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Mr. Varner:
You ask in the last sentence of your response, "When do we let go of the past?" I will answer that question in one word. Never.
President John F. Kennedy said it best, “A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers.”
Catherine A. Smith