Where are the wreaths for the known?

U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis recently told constituents of how he participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. He told us to remember and give thanks to those who gave their lives in the service of our nation, as they are the indispensable Americans without whom we would not be free.

Ernie Gallo of Palm Coast is the USS Liberty Veterans Associations president. On June 8, 1967, the USS Liberty, stationed in international waters, was attacked for two hours by the Israeli military. That left 34 U.S. sailors and Marines dead, 174 wounded and the Liberty the most decorated ship for a single engagement in U.S. Navy history.

The Navy Board of Inquiry following the attack was a farce and cover-up that included admirals threatening the survivors with court-martial, life imprisonment or worse if they ever spoke of the attack, as detailed in testimony to the commission convened by Adm. Tom Moorer, retired chief of naval operations and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Justice has been denied the men of the Liberty for 50 years. If moved to by his constituents, Rep. DeSantis could initiate a proper congressional investigation into the attack on the Liberty.

Like the men on the Liberty, DeSantis is a Navy man proud of his service as a JAG officer. He knows how a Navy Board of Inquiry is supposed to work. At noon on June 8, Gallo and his shipmates gathered at the tomb for their fallen crew members at Arlington National Cemetery. Although invited, Congressman DeSantis did not attend.

DeSantis claims to know nothing about the attack on the Liberty. We owe the 34 indispensable Americans who gave their lives on the USS Liberty. Its time we Americans let Congressman DeSantis know about it.

Phil Restino and Ernie Gallo

Restino, of Port Orange, is spokesperson for We Are Change Central Florida. For 10 years hes organized USS Liberty Remembrance Day events in Volusia County. Gallo, of Palm Coast, is the Liberty Veteran Associations president. For more info, see http://www.usslibertyveterans.org and http://www.honorlibertyvets.org.

Nation took a turn

Sometime in the past eight years of the Obama administration, our country took a sharp left turn. Liberals, the left and the media savored it while conservatives worried we were headed in the wrong direction. Hillary Clinton had a credibility and email problem. Bernie Sanders wanted a political revolution, but a concerned country elected Donald Trump. President Trump wanted to make America great again, repeal and replace unaffordable Obamacare, improve the economy, cut costly regulations and the size and scope of government, stop illegal immigration, rebuild our military, and reduce our taxes through tax reform. Democrats also have an agenda, which includes: treason, impeachment, Russian collusion, obstruction, tax hikes and single-payer, government-run health care. Republicans inability to agree on a fiscally sustainable fair alternative to the ACA would open the door to socialized medicine, loss of doctors and nurses, rationing of care, long waits, critical health decisions made by government bureaucrats and the death knell to free market insurance.

Margaret Thatcher predicted: Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They always run out of other peoples money. Yet half of all millennials, the largest emerging voter bloc, have a favorable view of socialism. Look at Venezuela with the richest oil supply in the world, collapsing into socialistic chaos while U.S. capitalism has produced the greatest wealth-producing economic system available. Will destroying President Trump and his administration produce economic prosperity and protect our freedoms or undermine and change our country forever?

Madeline Bizette

Port Orange

Excerpt from:

LETTERS: DeSantis claims to know nothing about the attack on the Liberty. - Daytona Beach News-Journal