Franklin & fellow classmates,
Accident vehicles that still have the deceased enclosed in them are covered with tarps. We put sheets over the murdered, and remove the dead from hospitals in black bags.
Respect for our war dead should be no different.
With his words, the author of the AP piece painted a descriptive picture of the battle that day. But how many of us would have read that article if the much discussed photographs had not been involved? If we are forgetting the ongoing service and sacrifice that men and women make everyday in this war, shame on us. We shouldn't need the jolt of a picture to focus our attention on the cost of conflict and the human suffering that goes with it.
When the AP picture exposed the last awful moments of the fallen solider, it down graded the service to his country that went before. The larger concentration became the picture of his death not the attributes of his life. No one would wish to be remembered as body parts and blood.
Cpl. Bernard died fighting to keep us safe from harm and instead of protecting him when he could no longer protect himself, we chose voyeurism instead.
