KERRY DELIVERS - ‘I can die happy’: WWI medals arrive

[Mass]

This story is so much representative of Kerry.

http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2007/03/05/news/news04.txt

KERRY DELIVERS - ‘I can die happy’: WWI medals arrive

Bill and Paula Garvey hold his Uncle Willie's World War I medals. (MICHAEL IVINS/For The Patriot Ledger)

By SUE SCHEIBLE
The Patriot Ledger

WEYMOUTH - Uncle Willie finally got his medals.

Sen. John Kerry visited the Weymouth home of World War II veteran Bill Garvey to present the ailing 80-year-old with some long overdue medals. But they were not for deeds in World War II - Garvey already has a dozen of those on his mantel.

Kerry brought three World War I medals earned by Garvey’s late uncle and namesake, William Henry Garvey, who was killed in action in France on Nov. 10, 1918, just hours before the armistice ending the war was signed.

‘‘Senator, you don’t know how happy you have made me - now I can die a happy man,’’ Garvey said as Kerry showed him the World War I Victory Medal, the World War I Victory Button (Silver) and the Meuse-Argonne Battle Clasp, all in a frame.

‘‘Oh, don’t go giving me that routine,’’ Kerry joked. ‘‘We hope you will be around to enjoy these for many years to come. Now give me a hug.’’

Garvey has advanced prostate cancer and considered his uncle’s medals unfinished business.
...

Kerry and his staff purchased the medals from a private vendor in Rhode Island after the Army refused to award them to the Garveys. The Army’s Military Awards Branch ruled that Garvey did not qualify as a ‘‘primary’’ next-of-kin of his uncle. Only the eldest child, parent, eldest sibling or eldest grandchild of a soldier are considered primary next-of-kin who can receive medals posthumously.

...

.

[MBS]

1. oh, bravo

Good Dead #100,003 from the good Senator.

[MBS]

11. whoops, way too late to edit : I meant good DEED! n/t

[Luftmensch067]

2. Oh, gosh, that's so sweet!!!!

They bought them for him!!! And JK went there to give them to him personally...

[karynnj]

3. What a sweet story

What a nice thing to do.

[beachmom]

4. What a great story! I think it all came down to it being "official"

because Sen. Kerry is in the government. I mean, I suppose anyone could have bought the medals, but that was so unbelievably nice and appropriate that JK and his staff would buy it and Sen. Kerry could present it to him. It's called a work around and a praiseworthy one at that.

[karynnj]

16. I agree with you

I know that he could have bought them himself, but that would not as you noted be "official" medals given by the government and it just wouldn't feel right. Getting them as a gift from his Senator along with an offer of a hug is just so right. This is just a very classy kind thing to do - and as you said in your other comment, making this guy happy by giving him medals he should have had years ago, likely is far more rewarding than speaking to Fox. (I seriously doubt he did this because he needed a few more votes to keep his Seante seat in 2004.)

[MH1]

5. That's so wonderful!

Thanks for posting.

From the story - why the medals were so important to Garvey (not just sentimentality):

‘‘I want to give these medals to my children before I die,’’ Garvey said Saturday. ‘‘It is important for my children and grandchildren to understand the price that was paid by the generations before them.’’

The lesson will be more real with the actual medals.

Thank you, Senator Kerry!

[rox63]

6. Aw, that's so sweet of him!

More proof of what a really nice guy our taller Senator is. :loveya:

[wisteria]

7. That story just melts my heart. What a kind and thoughful thing to do. n/t

[ProSense]

8. Beautiful story!

Making someone happy, fulfilling a dream, showing compassion is "the right thing to do."

:loveya:

[politicasista]

9. Cool story!

Go Kerry! :yourock: :kick:

[Mass]

10. I have to say it was good to read after the cynicism of the primary season.

I do not know how I will succeed in supporting anybody these days.

The fact that Kerry is doing that when he is not running for president is so refreshing because it shows he cares really about people and not for photo-ops.

[beachmom]

12. I know, Mass. Kerry is one of a kind, and there are precious few

who are like him. I think that there is so much cynicism out there, it's hard to overcome that mentality. I admit that when I first started researching Kerry, and reading the nice things he'd done, my skeptical side thought, "well, he's only doing it because he's running for president". Problem was, the stories kept piling up, with many of them clearly private or spontaneous, not meant for P.R. or photo ops. Now he is most definitely not running for president and is a Democratic senator in a very blue state. No need to do nice things anymore!! And yet he still keeps doing them. It may well be that he does these things because it makes up for the BS days where he has to question a guy for financing a smear campaign against him, whose only answers are "well, everybody else is doing it", "I can't recall who asked me to give the money", and "when I'm asked, I just generally give".

[Mass]

13. I guess what bothers me is the double standard for CPAC.

On one hand, Ann Coulter uttered a slur against Edwards. Sure, it was a nasty one, but did it hurt Edwards? Will it even make him lose one vote in a Democratic primary?


On the other hand, Newt Gingritch repeated the meme of conservatives: people who cannot make it in our society, who need help, are responsible for it.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/03/hes-baaack-by-digby-bill-sher-reports.html

...
He blamed the residents of New Orleans' 9th Ward for a "failure of citizenship," by being "so uneducated and so unprepared, they literally couldn't get out of the way of a hurricane."

And he called for a "deep investigation" into this "failure of citizenship."

Here's the full quote:

How can you have the mess we have in New Orleans, and not have had deep investigations of the federal government, the state government, the city government, and the failure of citizenship in the Ninth Ward, where 22,000 people were so uneducated and so unprepared, they literally couldn't get out of the way of a hurricane.
...

May be it is me, but I am really bothered that the liberal blogs and the DNC spend a huge time talking about Ann Coulter (which is after all nothing more than an entertainer -- as distateful and nefarious as she can be --), and very little, with a few exceptions, talking about Newt (who may be in position to affect policies) and the credo of conservatism.

[beachmom]

14. That is awful. You know what's weird -- I was talking to a friend

of mine, supposedly a "liberal", who didn't say it quite like Newt but along the lines of: well, if I had lived there I would have left, and I just don't understand those people there.

I think the answer is: it would have been just as risky to leave as to stay. Why? Because the folks didn't have any money and leaving, getting a hotel room, etc. (and maybe it would have been difficult to impossible to get transportation out) would have meant going from living paycheck to paycheck to being completely ruined financially. Or . . . everything they owned was there and there was an extreme fear that their stuff would be stolen if they left and this would ruin them.

You're right Mass -- that remark is beyond cruel. The most powerful is the most to blame FIRST -- and that's the federal gov. Get that house in order before passing judgment on others.

[sandnsea]

15. I agree

And so what if Republicans distance themselves from her, or even if she apologized. Look at how they laughed with her when she made these crass remarks. Look at the litany of crass remarks and conniving political games they've played in just the last couple of months. The Dem Party shouldn't ask for an apology, they should just point to the whole batch, shrug, and say 'It's What They Do'.

http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/

[rockymountaindem]

17. Senate offices do this kind of thing all the time

I know several people who have gotten medals they're owed by working with their Senate and Congressional offices. If you ask me, it's one of the best services those offices provide. I'm very impressed that Kerry's staff went the extra mile to purchase the medals themselves. I collect antique military memorabilia with the money I get from working in the summer, and I've given some people tips on how they can go about getting replacements for grandpa's old medals and such. It's usually not as hard as people think.

I love seeing these stories because those medals are really imporant to people, and it's heartwarming to see them get what they, or their relative, are owed. Good for Sen. Kerry and staff :toast:

Edit:
On reading the article I notice they picked him up a WWI victory medal. That's pretty sweet. I have one of them in my collection, but I met one collector with over 300 WWI victory medals. Bonus points for the staff for picking up the Meuse-Argonne service bar. The service bars are sometimes hard to get because there were so many different ones issued (I think it was 17 for the Army and 19 for the Navy) that any one store is not all that likely to have the specific one you're looking for.

[globalvillage]

18. That is one of the nicest things I've heard in a long time.

There really are still people who do things out of pure kindness.

People like Sen Kerry.

:loveya:

[BlueIris]

19. Awwwww.

Swoon.