Posted on 10/13/2011 4:01:07 AM PDT by tobyhill
As soon as 62-year-old William Johnsen finished his intravenous drip, he waited for the nurse to apply a Band-Aid, said goodbye to the other patients and then left the veteran’s hospital for the spot where he has been spending his days for the last 3-and-a-half weeks — the “Occupy Wall Street” protest.
Johnsen, a disabled Vietnam combat veteran who suffered a heart attack in December, can’t sleep outside overnight like the young protesters due to his health issues — he has a genetic condition that has triggered emphysema and liver disease. But though the disease tires him out, the animated New York native isn’t about to sit out the crusade, which he says has given him a new sense of purpose.
“We are awakening, we’re waking up to the fact that it’s up to us,” Johnsen said Tuesday at the camp in Zuccotti Park, not long after finishing his treatment at the hospital. “Government and our other institutions of authority are so corrupt that we cannot trust them anymore. There is a rebirth of realization that it’s in our hands.”
“As somebody who has walked thousands of miles for jobs, democracy and justice, this is the type of spirit that was lacking in so many of my walks that I’ve done alone reaching out to people,” he added.
Older activists like Johnsen — some hobbling along on canes and leg braces — are quickly becoming a presence at “Occupy” protests across the country. And the veterans of the civil rights movement, anti-Vietnam war protests and anti-nuclear proliferation demonstrations appear to be relishing being back in the struggle, supporting the “kids” and mobilizing other seniors to join in.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
It’s a cartoon
I’m a Vietnam veteran and I want to see his DD 214.
A bit of unintended insight, I'm sure. The grey pony tail league can't find any purpose in living and are hoping others will provide it.
: Yeah, like... well, I just want to slap a hippie or two. Maybe even make them get jobs.
Skipper
He is right about one thing.
“Government and our other institutions of authority are so corrupt that we cannot trust them anymore. “
All this Government wants to do is steal from those who work and give to those who will not.
Redistribution of wealth is theft, pure and simple.
I might add that those who are wealthy and in Congress will leave themselves a loophole. Thieving bastards. I don’t trust any full time politician, and damned few of the new generation of politicians.
The American dream is dying from sloth and greed.
Most of the SEA vet posers would have blamed Agent Orange.
He goes from the VA hospital to protests against being robbed by big business?
uh huh
Bookmarked for viewing after work...
apparently he trusts the VA
Want to bet he lives on VA or govt disability benefits and has gotten hundreds of thousands over his lifetime in VA medical care?
A nation may be grateful for his service, but he is not grateful for his nation
Golly Gee whillakers! Here is an example that fits in with MSNBC’s legitimize OWS (occupy Wall Street) the socialist answer to the Tea Party
Wonder hold long it took Miranda Leitsinger to find this “example” her MSNBC handler (editor) told her to find. Searching through the bunch of trash collected at the OWS NYC park site.
Wanna bet this character doesn’t even exist....
Ain't it interesting that so many of these old, beat up, street living assholes, were all "Vets" back in the 60s and early 70s.
When I visit my local VFW, I rarely hear any of these guys telling "war stories and proclaiming acts of valor".
The majority of real vets, would be happy to just not have any more nightmares, and the hell with old war stories.
I am too and it's possible that he is too. During the war, we had vets come home and join the hippies in their protest, (I was not one of them).
The weirdos used them and the vets who joined this bunch were looking for a place in the spot light. This vet (If he is a vet) the article focuses on, is no different.
It's the "look at me, look at me" syndrome.
DD214 ping....
“I’m a Vietnam veteran and I want to see his DD 214.”
I am assuming that since he had treatment at the VA, he would have to present his DD214.
I hated them 'back then', and I still hate them now.
One of my favorite moments was watching the Chicago Cops beat the hell out of them on the night of my birthday, Aug 26, 1968. The same night that Dan Rather got slugged on TV by a Cop inside the Convention at the old Chicago Amphitheater.
Read “Stolen Valor” by B.G. Burkett. Written in 1998 and still relevant to the issue. The author points out that a DD 214 is a manual form filled out on a typewriter and signed by a validating authority (mine are, anyway). Easy to forge and accepted by VA.
I hold to the old view that those who saw the most talk the least. I went, did my job, came back, life goes on.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.