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thedrifter
05-19-07, 09:07 AM
Armed Forces Day
U.S. role in Iraq divides even those devoted to the military
Saturday, May 19, 2007 3:26 AM
By Jodi Andes
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Between retired Army 1st Sgt. James Bernard and Marine Major Gen. Stephen T. Johnson, there have been few U.S. wars of the past 60 years that one or the other hasn't personally witnessed.

Bernard drove an Army supply truck onto the Normandy shore after D-Day, served in the Korean War and did three tours with Army intelligence in Vietnam.

Johnson, who joined the Marines in 1972, led 25,000 Marines in Iraq, including the Columbus-based Lima Company.

For both men, the military has been their life and livelihood. But their views on the Iraq war differ as much as public opinion.

"I think we're there to get the job done and to help the Iraqi government get their feet under them. We should not waver from our efforts," Johnson said moments before addressing a group of 700 who attended the annual Armed Forces Day luncheon yesterday at the Villa Milano conference center on Shrock Road..

Bernard said he thinks its time for the troops to come home.

"We'll be fighting it for 20 years or more," he said Thursday at his daughter's North Side home where he lives. "I almost cry when I read three or four more GIs were killed overnight. It's not right."

At 82, Bernard is one of the nation's younger surviving World War II veterans. He used a fraudulent birth certificate and forged a doctor's signature on his physical exam to get into the Army at age 17.

His hearing was severely damaged by mortar rounds in Europe. He can barely hear his daughter, Renee Osborne, sitting 4 feet away.

His health has been failing. He's had heart surgery, and diabetes seemingly wants to claim both feet. His daughter brought him to her home in Columbus from his native New Jersey this year.

It's not that Bernard is getting soft in his old age; after all, his men nicknamed him "Hard-ass Sarge," and he has no qualms about things he did in WWII.

Warfare just seemed different then.

Fighting in the French countryside, Bernard remembers Gen. George S. Patton climbing on a jeep to rally the troops.

"Kill all those no good sons of *****es," and, "I don't want to see a house standing," Bernard recalled the famous 3rd Army general saying.

Bernard was helping guard 37 German prisoners after the war ended when word came that Patton had died after a traffic crash. The Germans took off their hats in respect.

The idea of ending the war and bringing peace to Iraq seems like mission impossible, Bernard said. No war has brought peace to the Middle East, he said.

Told about Bernard's comments, Johnson insisted progress is being made in Iraq, but that the process needs to be given more time. Americans have been working on our system for 200 years; Iraqis have had five years, he said.

"You can see the benefits. They are now handling policing in some areas. And in some areas the level of violence has gone down," said Johnson, 56, deputy commander of the Marines' combat development command in Quantico, Va.

As servicemen and women milled around the banquet hall yesterday, the debate wasn't common. Talk wasn't so much on the war as it was on those fighting in it.

"The men coming back from Iraq think we should be there," said Richard Long, who serves as spokesman for the VFW. "And I know that the American public wants the war over.

"No veteran likes war."

jandes@dispatch.com

Ellie