Survivor Greed or Social Irresponsibility?

["Vincent H. Bartning" <Bartning@prodigy.net>]

Hello all:

At the end of _Saving Private Ryan_, Tom Hanks' character tells the last
remaining Ryan to "earn it."  Moreover, the Vietnam Memorial only has the
names of the Killed in Action (KIA), and they even add more every year.

Surviving soldiers do put down the dead.  I remember a piece by J. Glenn
Gray entitled "The Soldier's Relation to Death."  The selection's from a
1959 book entitled _The Warriors_, and the author began as a private in the
American Army after being drafted in 1941; he had also just finished his
graduate training in philosophy.  He was discharged in 1945 as a second
lieutenant.

Anyway, what about the women and children of those who died?  I'm sure
there were survivors who also lost family members, and Roger Waters says
"we spent what they had made" in _The Final Cut_ by Pink Floyd.  We do
appreciate the history of those who survived, no doubt, but is it clouded
for self-centered reasons in the wrong sense?  Usually, it's the family,
not the friends who inherit from their loved ones, and even the Pentagon
says that families of U.S. KIA are not compensated enough.  If I'm
attacking your position here rather than shedding light on the subject,
please forgive me and let me know.

Thanks,

Vincent Henry Bartning
Still Interested in a Nonprofit to Help Families of U.S. KIA,
and I have received letters denoting enthusiasm of the idea
from high levels of the military and our government.

Remember John Wallace Rich
Remember Louis E. Bartning

P.S. My dad said Louis sometimes used the English form of Enrique, Henry,
and that's my middle name too.