War memories.

Although I found Denis Brasket's article, "The Forgotten Heroes of a Greater Generation," (July/August 2005) to be a bit selective in its history, Brasket did ask a fascinating question: Should the American members of the International Brigade (the Abraham Lincoln Brigade) be honored for their valor and idealism in their struggle against Fascism in the same fashion, for example, as young Americans who in 1939 and 1940 volunteered to serve in the Canadian armed services, many ultimately becoming American RAF fighter pilots in the Battle of Britain?

It's no secret, however, that many of the U.S. volunteers were recruited by or belonged to the Communist Party USA. The volume Spain Betrayed: The Soviet Union in the Spanish Civil War argues, "from the very beginning, the Comintern and Moscow wanted these units under their control and saw to it that a majority of the troops, if not all of them, were members of the Communist Party.... the International Brigades became, in effect, a Soviet army within Spain."

This political affiliation doesn't disqualify these veterans from receiving honors from any source, public or private. The University of Washington's Memorial is an example and there should be more memorials to their sacrifices and bravery. Reconciliation and truth must become the guiding principal. But let us honor the veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade without romanticism and distortions of history.

Lawrence Gulotta

Brooklyn, New York

Thank you for Sherwood Ross' article, "How the United States Reversed Its Policy on Bombing Civilians" (July/August 2005), the heading photo of which jumped out at me. It was a B-17 of my brother's group--in fact, he could even be flying it--above the burning remains of their target, a factory that had been making Focke-Wulf 190s, planes feared by all allied airmen. It was my brother Jack's eleventh and last mission, as he didn't make it back--nor did many of his comrades. It was October 9, 1943. As for me, it wasn't until 1944 that I got an overseas assignment in the China-Burma-India theater of operations. But I know that famous photo like the back of my hand.

Stuart C. Burdick

Former Captain, USAF

North Bend, Oregon 

Sherwood Ross seems to have forgotten that it was the Axis Powers that attacked or declared war on the United States. As the twentieth century unfolded, the world saw the arrival of full-scale industrial or "total war." In this era, a nation's entire society contributed to its war-making capability. Ross implies it would have been better for thousands (perhaps tens of thousands) more uniformed Allies to have died in a protracted war rather than bomb the population centers of those who attacked us.

The United States Strategic Bombing Survey, from which Ross quotes, goes on to say, "The great lesson learned in the battered towns of England and the ruined cities of Germany is that the best way to win a war is to prevent it from occurring." As a Humanist I completely agree, but I also say we have a moral right to defend ourselves and save American lives when we are attacked.

Kenneth O. Lynn

Colonel, USAF

Goldsboro, North Carolina 

I would like to express my appreciation for the collection of fine articles on war in the July/August 2005 issue of the Humanist. This is the best issue I have seen since becoming an AHA member last year. I was particularly pleased to read Vern Rossman's First Person account, "The War at Home: Forgotten Events in the Civil Rights Movement," because of my personal involvement in the first of the series of marches that culminated in the one he described. I spent the summer of 1965 in Jackson, Mississippi, as a volunteer from Wisconsin for the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, the primary organizer of the marches. Your readers may be interested in the letter I wrote on my release after being held for ten days following my arrest, with hundreds of others, for parading without a permit. The letter is available in our family website at http://parkscrapbook.us/ParkScrapbook/FILES/JAIL.HTM.

Robert W. Park

Madison, Wisconsin