BCT Editorial – 5/12/09

This page was last updated on May 14, 2009.

Then and now; Editorial; Beaver County Times; May 12, 2009.

What follows below is in no way intended to diminish the service of Mr. DiMaggio. The purpose is to note what the editorial failed to mention.

The editorial failed to note we had the draft during World War II. As a 24-year-old single male (Mr. DiMaggio didn’t marry until 1948.) at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack, Mr. DiMaggio was eligible for the draft. Many men eligible for the draft chose to enlist instead of waiting to be drafted. This was so they’d have at least some control over their service. Mr. DiMaggio chose to enlist in the Navy. Even so, Mr. DiMaggio didn’t enlist immediately; he waited until after the 1942 baseball season, nearly a year after WWII started.

As for today’s “rich and famous,” has the Times forgotten Pat Tillman already?

Finally, we can’t discount the effect of outlets like the Times routinely referring to our military missions in less than glowing terms.