Dear Senator Barry,

I am ashamed as a citizen of this great "land of the free" and the Commonwealth of Virginia, home of the Declaration of Independence, that you would shamelessly put forward a bill so blatantly unconstitutional and a scandal to the meaning of patriotism! I come from a large family of eight sons and one daughter,5 of whom served our nation in WWll and the Korean War! My brother,Ted,was seriously wounded at Iwo Jima while serving with the 4th Marine Division,he was later decorated with the Silver Star. He risked his life to save several members of his platoon under heavy Japanese mortar fire. My brother Will was badly injured when his ship,the USS Willmarth(DE638), was hit by a Japanese kamekaze plane while several of his shipmates were killed in the attack. His ship was assigned to do "picket duty" to draw fire away from the troop transports and LSTs landing personnel and equipment on Okinawa in April of 1945. My brother, George, was simultaneously serving with the U S Army with the land forces on Okinawa at the time of the attack on his younger brother's ship! My brother Alan and I served with the US Army, he as an infantryman in Germany..and I with the Signal Corps briefly in Korea and later in Japan.

My three brothers who served in WWll,two who are deceased,referred to guys like you as "flag wavers". Self serving individuals who were motivated, not by patriotism, but some phony effort to gain political or societal recognition!

It is interesting to note that the very first people victimized by Hitler and the Nazi Holocaust were those who refused to raise their arms "Heil Hitler" fashion to the Nazi flag or pledge their undying loyalty to the "fatherland"! No, Senator, like morality,patriotism can't be instituted by legislation in Nazi Germany or the Commonwealth of Virginia. When all of my brothers(but one) enlisted in the Armed Forces of the United
States,we did so to defend the principle "with liberty and justice for all", even those who didn't support our point of view. I truly hope you will recant this ill conceived nonsense!

Sincerely,
Harry A Tenney (electronic mail, January 25, 2001)
Charlottesville,Virginia

To which, Paul Gaston adds: Harry Tenney's superb letter puts me in mind of Dr. Johnson's famous observation that "patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel," a wise comment on scoundrels, not patriots.

Paul Gaston (electronic mail, January 29, 2001)