There were two letters in the paper today that blew me away here's the first:

Salute service and the flag

I am a World War II veteran (1943-49). I served in Europe and fought through France and Germany, and ended up in Austria in 1945. I am 81 years old, on Social Security and living with my daughter because I can't work. And I would like to have a flag, but I have to buy one sometimes at a yard sale or swap meet.

This is the flag that I love; it stands for a lot of broken hearts of mothers, sisters, brothers, friends, wives, fathers and all. I am very proud of my country. When I see my flag I get goose bumps, I shed a tear.

This country doesn't owe me anything because I fought for it. I would gladly do it again if I had to.

RUBEN PETERS

Riverside


and the second:

The new citizen-patriots

Two-hundred and twenty-odd years ago a small group of poorly armed citizen-patriots stood behind trees and attacked the organized regiments of Redcoats whom they thought were illegal occupiers of their country. Today we call these fellows heroes and our Constitution contains a Second Amendment stating "A well organized Militia, being necessary ... the right to bear arms shall not be abridged."

Today we are the invaders-occupiers. We call the citizen-patriots in Iraq "insurgents" or "terrorists." We demand that all militias there be disarmed or destroyed, we bomb and advance artillery and tanks through neighborhoods, and we state, despite agreements with local leaders and the "interim government," that "Our troops will go in and out as always" (The P-E, Aug.30).

This is not al-Qaida. These are patriots who attack us only when we invade their territory. We were probably wrong to invade, and we are definitely wrong to occupy this nation.

ALAN WILLIAMS

Riverside

Wow! How perspective can vary, huh?