Pat Conroy

An Honest Confession by an American Coward

Author: Pat Conroy Source: This essay is from his book, My Losing Season. Date: November 7, 2006 <snip> I had a small role in organizing the only antiwar demonstration ever held in Beaufort, South Carolina, the home of Parris Island and the Marine Corps Air Station. In a Marine Corps town at that time, it was difficult to come up with a quorum of people who had even minor disagreements about the Vietnam War. But my small group managed to attract a crowd of about 150 to Beaufort's waterfront. With my mother and my wife on either side of me, we listened to the featured speaker, Dr. Howard Levy, suggest to the very few young enlisted Marines present that if they get sent to Vietnam, here's how they can help end this war: Roll a grenade under your officer's bunk when he's asleep in his tent. It's called fragging and is becoming more and more popular with the ground troops who know this war is bullshit. <snip>  [HERE] I didn't know The Great Santini's kid was pinko-cong until reading this. I forgive him.  I guess that was one of the ''incendiary statements'' Howard Levy was sent to Leavenworth Prison for.  As a Marine Army Captain, he should have received life in prison, or been executed.   No hyperbole here.  Good essay by Conroy.