70 years later, Navy clears gay WWII vet's record...

[joeybee12]

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Nearly 70 years after expelling Melvin Dwork for being gay, the Navy is changing his discharge from "undesirable" to "honorable" — marking what is believed to be the first time the Pentagon has taken such a step on behalf of a World War II veteran since the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell."

The Navy notified the 89-year-old former corpsman last month that he will now be eligible for the benefits he had long been denied, including medical care and a military burial.

Dwork spent decades fighting to remove the blot on his record.

"I resented that word 'undesirable,'" said Dwork, who was expelled in 1944, at the height of the war, and is now a successful interior designer in New York. "That word really stuck in my craw. To me it was a terrible insult. It had to be righted. It's really worse than 'dishonorable.' I think it was the worst word they could have used."

http://news.yahoo.com/ap-exclusive-navy-clears-gay-wwii-vets-record-213853644.html

:toast:

[Laf.La.Dem.]

1. Never too late to correct a major mistake

:patriot:

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Good

[izquierdista]

3. Melvin sounds kind of naive

"I wasn't ashamed of what I was or what I am. It was just a sad period. I didn't know frankly at that point it would affect the rest of my life."

Why do you think so many people were in the closet, Melvin? They knew that you had to hide it or it would affect the rest of your life. But good for him, it wasn't people that went along with society's rules that changed it; it was people like him that saw absolutely nothing wrong with being who they are.