To The Editor:
With reference to our conversation, I fully recognize that many will not agree with my political leanings and I fully respect that. Nevertheless, I was dismayed by the cartoon you published last week. To publish a depiction of the flag-raising at Iwo Jima with our flag upside-down is so egregious that I cannot continue to subscribe to The Valley Reporter.
Americans by the thousands fought, died, were wounded or deemed missing in action, honoring the flag, our country and all both stand for. To use that venue to vent a political stance is disgraceful to all that we should hold dear and honor, particularly when this wonderful country of ours watched while for eight years under the previous administration its basic values and constitutional rights were systematically attacked and eroded. Precisely the opposite values which those amazing Americans fought and died for.
Shame on the cartoonist for creating such a demeaning and dishonoring portrayal of a defining moment in our history and shame on The Valley Reporter for allowing it to be printed. My family, including myself, my father in two World Wars, my father-in-law in World War II and my son in Afghanistan, not to speak of my brother-in-law, cousins, in-laws and innumerable other forbearers, volunteered to step forward to uphold all that is great about our country, and to see their contribution, among the other hundreds of thousands, mocked and derided by depictions such as displayed by the cartoon in question is deplorable at the very least.
John J. McCloy II
Fayston
