This was submitted to the Cherokee Scout by Michael Berlin, adjutant of the Cherokee Guards, Camp 893, in Murphy.
By R.S. Jason Bosher and Walter D. Kennedy, Guest Columnists
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The Sons of Confederate Veterans oppose the recently recommended actions by the Naming Commission in conjunction with the Department of Defense. Their actions to strip the names of Confederate officers and heroes from our military assets will raise serious doubts as to whether Southerners are welcome in today’s military.
A vocal and ambivalent minority has embarked on a vicious attack against American history. They have fought long and hard, lobbied those in power and championed the cause to change the names of military bases, naval vessels and historic flags. In other words, all things connected with Southern valor displayed on the field of battle during the War Between the States are to be purged.
This action is a rejection of the same vigor that inspired many Southerners to join the military and heroically defended the United States, many in her time of need, and in communion with the valor displayed by their Confederate ancestors.
This was true when the blitzkrieg raged, and the relentless attacks in the Pacific continued as World War II found the entirety of humanity engulfed in the flames of war. It is meaningful that the highest-ranking general officer to be killed in action was Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr., the son of Confederate Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner Sr.
Moreover, the highest-ranking naval officer in the Pacific Theater during that great conflagration was Admiral Chester Nimitz, the grandson of Confederate Capt. Charles Henry Nimitz, while the Commander-in-Chief at the end of World War II, President Harry S Truman, was the grandson of a Confederate veteran, who was also the president responsible for desegregating the U.S. Armed Forces in 1948.
In every war after the War Between the States, Southerners volunteered in large numbers to patriotically support our nation and to display her might abroad.
Despite the cadre of Confederate descendants, the Naming Commission cannot help but continually berate and even attack Confederate veterans.
As a result, fathers and grandfathers of the South question if their children are welcome in an environment that displays such animosity toward our shared heritage. Even more capricious is the desire to destroy the Reconciliation Memorial, sculpted by Sgt. Jacob Moses Ezekiel (Battalion of Cadets VMI) in Arlington National Cemetery, which was meant to reunite a fractured nation after its victory in the Spanish-American War.
Evidently, it appears that the official policy is to discriminate against Southern heritage and the esprit decor that transcends from Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Nathan Bedford Forrest to their descendants.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans oppose rewriting history. We understand that it is not only Southern history being attacked, but all traditional American values, including our Founding Fathers from Washington to Jefferson and even Benjamin Franklin.
R.S. Jason Boshers, Tennessee, is commander-in-chief of Sons of Confederate Veterans, while Walter D. Kennedy, La., is lieutenant commander-in-chief.