Memo to President Trump: My dad wasn’t ‘loser.’ He was a loyal soldier and a WWII POW

I found them in the attic. We were cleaning my father’s house after he died.

I crawled through a small doorway over my childhood bed to the dusty attic filled with everything from toys and fur coats to my mother’s dresses. In a box, wrapped in ribbons were packets of letters my dad sent to my mom from a POW camp in Germany.

A censor’s stamp and the German Hitler postage stamp were on each letter.

My father, Ray Brown was captured during the invasion of Italy. My father was not a loser. He was a loyal brave American soldier responding to the call of duty.

When the current American president denies the heroism of those captured while fighting for freedom, it’s personal. He insults my father and his service to the country. He insults all who serve.

The recent Atlantic article on Trump and his disrespect for military service brought back the deep feelings of anger I had in 2015 when then candidate Trump first insulted and demeaned Sen. John McCain, therefore insulting and demeaning all American prisoners of war.

Trump, of course, has denied making the remarks attributed to him by the Atlantic reporter, calling it “fake news. But reports like these are nothing new, and the McCain insults alone should have cost him the election four years ago.

I did not serve my country as my father did. I am a Christian pacifist who was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War. If I were forced to serve, I would have moved to Montreal or gone to jail. Thankfully, I didn’t have to do that.

I spent the ’60s protesting the Vietnam War and working for peace. My politics and activism then and now are in support of policies and politicians seeking peace not conflict, understanding not confrontation, collaboration not violence.

But I never question the brave women and men, like my Dad, who serve their nation in the military. I respect them even as I question policies that might lead them into conflict.

I am proud of my father’s service. I know how 15 months in a German POW camp, Stalag IIB, impacted him.

Next to the letters in the attic, I found two telegrams that had been sent to my mother: the first that her husband was missing in action, the second that he was a POW.

I can’t pretend to imagine how much her heart and soul hurt when she opened those letters from the Department of Defense.

The list of reasons to vote against Mr. Trump is long. He is a loser, not John McCain or Ray Brown. He can’t remain as president.

I hope everyone who respects the men and women who serve our country in the military will share my hurt and anger at his comments and vote him out of office this November.

Rev. Dave Brown is the founder/host of Blues Vespers, one of the PNW Interfaith Amigos and the former pastor of Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Tacoma. He’s an occasional News Tribune op-ed contributor.