As I write this on Veteran’s Day, I am reminded of my days in Boot Camp at Great Lakes, two years stationed on a destroyer with the Pacific 7th Fleet, and later at the Naval Air Station on Midway Atoll. I am thinking about my Company Commander at Great Lakes, Petty Officer Tuason, a Filipino native and my fellow recruit Leon who grew up in Harlem.
After Great Lakes, I met colleagues from all branches of the service at the training for my Navy journalist rating near Indianapolis. On my 7th Fleet tin can based in Japan, my liberty buddies were Mike from Philadelphia and John from Chicago. (We washed down Kirin or Asahi beers together while enjoying bowls of ramen or chewing on yakitori barbecue.) KMTH Radio and TV was my duty station at Midway where I served with Joan from Louisville and Electrician First Class Chris, whose wife and red-haired, pre-school daughter accompanied him to that remote atoll.
In the 1970s, I don’t believe the Navy or Air Force were as diverse as the Marine Corps or the Army. Still, having grown up in a small town near Saginaw my days in the Navy were served with a more diverse group of shipmates than the residents of my hometown.
In the spring of 1978 a few months before the end of my active duty, rock’n’roll icon Robert Palmer released his first Billboard Top 40 hit: Every Kinda People. Its lyrics often remind me of the men and women I served with in the Navy and the strength and challenges of America:
Ooh, it takes every kinda people
To make what life's about, yeah
Every kinda people
To make the world go 'round
For many young men and women, service in the military is their first experience with the diversity that is the citizens and residents of the United States. On ship, we relied on our shipmates to keep us safe and celebrated liberty with them at ports from Korea to Australia.
With war once again in the Middle East and other trouble spots across the globe, we need to remember that we rely on each other to keep us safe and to enjoy our liberties together. After World War II, the writers of the Superman comics apparently understood this very well. In what was a book cover used by many children in the late 40’s, Superman is talking to a group of young people when he says:
“Remember boys and girls, your school -- like our country – is made up of Americans of many different races, religions and national origins. SO…if you hear of anybody talk against a schoolmate because of his religion, race, or national origin don’t wait, tell him that talk is UN-AMERICAN.”
DC Comics and Superman in 1948 just said it a little differently and to different audiences than Robert Palmer thirty years later. In 1948, the trauma of World War II was still fresh in Americans minds. In 1978, it was just a few years after the Viet Cong overran Saigon in the spring of 1975. Different times, different lessons with similar words expressing respect for American diversity.
Over the last month or so, watching cable news I can’t help but be troubled by the reported rise in Islamophobia and anti-Semitism in our country. We are Americans. Period. Full stop. In America, we are blessed with freedom of religion and freedom of speech. We can have strong opinions, but need to remember that we are ALL Americans.
On Veteran’s Day, perhaps more than any other day, I am reminded of that.
I encourage our fellow residents in Southwest Michigan to be involved with organizations in our area that make a difference in reminding of us that. One of those organizations that I am familiar with is Interfaith Action of Southwest Michigan.
In their purpose statement on the organization’s website, Interfaith Action states:
“We aim to practice and promote:
- expressing the dignity of all human beings
- engaging in peacemaking and countering violence
- advancing justice, especially for those on the margins of community life
- upholding the holiness of all creation”
On the anniversary of the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month, now Veteran’s Day, I give thanks for my fellow veterans and for those who know “It takes every kinda people. To make what life’s about.”
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