Speech by Mr. George Wallace
ADBC Banquette, April 16, 2007

I love my America. I thrill to the flag; choke to the anthem and tear up at TAPs. Like father before and son to follow, I served her with pride.

But now I am ashamed of her.

America would never abandon a comrade on the field of battle.

But she did.  
Not once.
Not twice.
But three times.

With lies and false promises we abandoned them first to the invading  sons of the Rising Sun who saw cruelty as sport and the lives of Americans valueless.

And after nearly four months of resistance, armed with only guts and shovels and meager equipment; and precious few weapons of war, we surrendered them to that cruel culture of captors which gave no respect. And which made sick and starving slaves of them in the mines and factories and hell-hole camps of the Philippine Islands, Japan and the region.

Unaware of the fate of their sons, the embattled giant sleeping melting pot of America reared itself from its lethargy and on the sweat and outrage of working men and women began to build and feed a war machine.

The machine was nourished by flesh and bone and lubricated by blood and it grew and became powerful and began to stop, then reverse the course of cataclysmic world war. Finally, the enemy was vanquished.

For its atrocities and unimaginable actions and for economic and diplomatic purposes, Japan was forgiven. There’s no need to apologize or compensate for years at hard labor and sickness and disease and cruel treatment.

“America will take care of its own,” was the second betrayal; the second false promise.

Then for decades, as America and Americans danced the Wal-Mart waltz of growing consumerism, we were led like blind sheep down the path of denial and ignorance while the returned heroes raised faint voice of protest.

They asked only for justice; an elusive and lost concept to those who had abandoned them.

Thus began and continued the third abandonment as leaders squandered trillions of dollars, much of it on agendas of their own. In this instance, those many leaders are not worthy of breathing the same air and walking the same earth as those betrayed heroes.

“Can’t offend our partners,” they said. “Wait long enough and they’ll all die and their voices will fade away.”

And dying away they are at an accelerating rate. Their voices becoming few and their claims fading.

Can you hear them now?

I love my America. I thrill to the flag, choke to the anthem and tear up at TAPs.
Like father before and, son to follow, I served her with pride.

But now I am ashamed of her. I am ashamed of myself and of you, my fellow Americans, for we too have let them down.

But for some there is still time and I will raise my voice so long as I am able to tell their story. At least I can do that much to ease my shame.

* Mr. George Wallace, a long time journalist, and his wife, Mary Kay, are actively involved in developing the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor Museum in Wellsburg, WV. He is editor of The Quan ADBC newsletter.