| Disabled veteran fights to make things right September 25, 2005 Carmelo Loran watched a documentary about the Iraq War, and the arm that he doesn't have ached for the wounded soldiers. That's why he made three signs with a variation on the theme of disabled veterans. One reads, "Stop Making New Disabled Veterans and Take Care of the Old Ones You Got." For a couple of weeks this month, the Vietnam War veteran protested in front of the U.S. Army and Coast Guard recruitment offices on Main Street in Springfield. The Springfield resident had been sitting there every morning for two weeks with his signs. His friendly face and warm manner belied that he ever carried a rifle. But the prosthesis that is a couple of shades pinker than he is reminds him of that war. Like he said, he was young. There was a war going on, the president needed fighting men, and he, at 17, saw himself as a man. Years later he would rethink the purpose of the Vietnam War. If it started as a way to contain communism, he said, in the end it was about war for war's sake. "This country is built on war - that's how we make our money," said Loran, now 54, and the father of two daughters. His position is not unusual in the Latino communities nationwide. Latino soldiers have been decorated with countless Purple Hearts - Loran among them - and 42 Medals of Honor. They fought in the Civil War and fight today, about 130,000 strong. But civilian Latinos are evenly split on the wars in the Middle East, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. When Bush proposed a budget increase of less than 1 percent for the Veterans Administration last February even as an increasing number of soldiers from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan returned home with disabilities, Loran was incredulous. "I saw all those kids with no arm or legs - these guys are going back to a McDonald's job," he said. "The wounded guys are going back to alcoholism and drugs. That's what I did." Born in the Bronx borough of New York City of Puerto Rican-born parents, Loran joined the Marine Corps "to get out of that rat hole." His mother signed the papers to allow a boy to go to war and soon he joined the 3rd Marine Division. But the run from the rat hole to the foxhole resulted in injuries that would forever change his life. The division was overrun by the Viet Cong in 1970. A grenade landed in his foxhole. He instinctively shut his eyes tight and threw his hands over his face. He lost his right arm below the elbow and a finger from his left hand. At 19, he learned to write with his left hand. "It was through sheer will. I was so young; I just picked up a pen and started writing," he said. It was with that battered hand that he drew up the signs against further carnage until the veterans already home get well taken care of, including himself. "This time I needed an emergency arm. I had to wait three months to get an appointment," he said. "I went to lean on it and it twisted on me; it gave way completely." The protest and the office of U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Springfield, made the paperwork fly like jets on a mission. His new arm is scheduled to arrive soon. Loran would not label himself an activist, but the documentary he saw, "Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War," directed by Robert Greenwald, made him seethe. "I'm tired of complaining and complaining," he said, about how the country was drawn into Iraq. Originally, Bush claimed there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, then that the Saddam Hussein regime was tied to al-Qaida, then that the purpose was to create a democracy there. "I've got to do something about it," said Loran. "We can't go into a war of lies. You can't ask people to die and change the reason they're dying for." For many, the surge of patriotism following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 meant keeping quiet and not questioning the government, an ironic stance given that this country was founded on protest and celebrates its courageous dissent every Fourth of July. As summer gives way, Loran, on disability ever since the grenade attack, nonetheless remains a good soldier for freedom. Another sign reads, "Keep The Promise: The Left Gives and The Right Takes, Bring Them Home." Natalia Munoz can be reached at nmunoz@repub.com |