Losers, Suckers, and Other Heroic Hellhounds

Let me tell you something about my military background…I don’t have one. But I have been blessed with brave kith and kin who have proudly, yet humbly, served their country in the military.

This lineage of selfless service in my family goes back to frontiersman and Alamo fighter Davy Crockett(Yes, I really am related to him) and Sam Crockett, who fell mortally wounded at Manassas during the Civil War.( Okay, okay, Abraham Lincoln wasn’t Sam’s favorite President. But at least he didn’t let bone spurs get in the way of his military service. Let’s just say he fought and died during The Civil War and leave it at that.)

More recently, though, my maternal grandfather fought in France during World War I. Several uncles from both my mother’s and father’s side of the family fought in World War II — at Normandy, in Italy, and around Eastern Europe, as well as in the “Pacific Theater.” Another uncle fought in The Korean War but doesn’t like to talk about it. Both my mom and dad enlisted in the military service, too. And then my BFF served his country as an Army medic in Vietnam.

So I’ve been surrounded by military veterans and heroes all my life — and I’m not alone, either. My position isn’t unique. Almost everyone I know has some kind of familial connection to some branch of the military. Ask around and you’ll realize most people aren’t 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon, they’re maybe 8 degrees of bravery near a battlefield. That’s just the way it is for most Americans.

We might hate war, but we usually have respect for the warriors because we’re so close to them. We know them: they’re part of our American story. Even when they’re not fighting in any war, we still respect them. Even when they haven’t died fighting in any war, we honor them. And God forbid, if they have died in service to our country, we remember them.

Apparently Trump didn’t get the memo about selfless service to God and Country.

Never in my lifetime would I have believed we’d have a President, a Commander-in-Chief, who would have called(or even thought of) our war dead as “losers and suckers.” Never! And yet, several news sources have reported that Trump has done just that at a cemetery. He actually questioned why anyone would choose to die for his country. As in “Why? What was in it for him?”

Of course, I wasn’t around to hear him say such heartless, insulting things like that. I didn’t hear him call our honored war dead “suckers” or “losers.” But I do believe he said those things. Such words are in keeping with his boorishly insensitive character. More importantly, he didn’t HAVE to actually say these words aloud for me to know they WERE what he actually believed.

With Trump, his inactions always speak louder than his lame brained words. Case in point? Trump’s unprecedented snub of Belleau Wood back in November, 2018.

That was when a special commemoration of World War I history took place, and he just didn’t show up. He was there, in France, but he didn’t want to go to the once-in-a-lifetime ceremony that honored America’s war dead. He was there, in France, but he was a big no-show.

Trump didn’t feel like going to Belleau Wood to honor the sacrifice that American soldiers made there 100 years ago.(He later said he didn’t want to get his hair wet.)

The Battle of Belleau Wood isn’t just significant in terms of military or World War I history. It’s also become a legend of true grit and courage among the U.S. Marine Corps. That’s why now, 102 years later, it’s so surprising that so few Americans know about it, including Trump. So here’s the abridged version of what happened.

In June 1918, The U.S. Marines stopped the German’s advance at Belleau Wood — the bucolic woodland/hunting preserve that would soon become a war-scourged wasteland, thanks to the intense fighting. At that time, the Germans could have regrouped, regained momentum, then attacked Paris. Thanks to the diehard tenacity of the Marines, however, the Germans were not only repelled but also expelled from the area. Retreating French forces actually told the Americans to retreat, but the Marines refused. Instead, this quip was given: “Retreat? Hell, we just got here!” (That remark was initially attributed to Captain Lloyd W. Williams until Major Frederic Wise declared he’d said it.)

After this battle, the Marines got the nickname Devil Dogs. Why? Because it was believed to be the name the Germans had called them. And yet, the term Teufelshunde(“devil dogs”) wasn’t commonly known in contemporary German back then. The German word Hollenhunde, or “hellhound” might also have been used by the Germans to describe their enemy. So were the Marines Devil Dogs or Hellhounds? After winning such a bloody and costly fight, Devil Dogs became the moniker the USMC wanted to own. So they did.

At Belleau Wood, the Marines held their ground and got the job done.

The French people didn’t forget their sacrifice, either.

They changed the name of the wooded area to Bois de la Brigade de Marine (which, translated, means “Wood of the Marine Brigade.”) Marine Regiments(5th and 6th) were awarded the Croix de guerre. To this day, Marines actively serving in these regiments are authorized to wear the French fourragere on the left shoulder of their uniforms in honor and recognition of what their regimental predecessors did in 1918.

You can say what you want about the cool arrogance of the French. But for more than a century now they have remembered — with gratitude — the courageous sacrifice of the U.S. Marines.

Meanwhile, Trump still thinks Belleau Wood is the exciting new men’s cologne from Ivanka’s fragrance collection.

He just didn’t have enough class to show up at the American cemetery at Belleau during the 100th anniversary of the war’s end. But the usual dog-ate-my-homework excuses for his absence were given to the press at the time:

It was raining so hard the President couldn’t fly in his helicopter.

The Secret Service wouldn’t allow it. Trump wanted to go, but the Secret Service wouldn’t let him fly.

Trump’s hair would have gotten all messed up because of the weather.

So circumstances beyond his control prevented America’s Commander-in-Chief, arguably the most powerful leader in the world, from attending this special tribute to America’s fallen heroes?

Well, yeah. That’s what he wanted everyone to believe, anyway. In reality, Trump didn’t want to inconvenience himself. He didn’t want to waste his valuable time remembering a lot of dead soldiers who were such losers and suckers that they couldn’t make it home alive. Remember, POTUS 45 likes winners, not losers.

The Donald doesn’t really like any ceremonies associated with the war dead or physically disabled veterans unless there’s a parade involved…and then he can hug the flag and be the center of attention.