Private Kuhl 1943 vs. Seaman Weaver 1967
Do political and military leaders strive for justice?
By TED ARENS
Guest columnist, Manistee News (MI) — Wednesday, September 23, 2009 11:18 AM EDT
When I attend VFW, and American Legion meetings we say the Pledge of Allegiance. When I attend meetings at the Fin and Feather or attend meetings at the Boy Scouts with my grandsons we say the Pledge of Allegiance. The Pledge ends with the words “with Liberty and Justice for all.”
Larry Weaver was a seaman who served on board a United States Navy ship.
The ship was attacked by a foreign power in 1967 resulting in the deaths of 34 Americans, and the wounding of 174 out of a crew of 294.
Larry Weaver, not expected to live after the attack, now has a stainless steel left shoulder, both knees totally replaced, nerve damage to the right side of his body, can only use his right thumb and index finger, has one square foot mesh holding his abdomen together, still has 60 pieces of shrapnel in his body, and has had 31 major surgeries since the attack.
While recuperating in a hospital, the 21 year old sailor was wheel chaired to a room, where the door was locked, and he was threatened by Admiral Isaac Kidd. He was told if he spoke about the attack he would be locked up for life, and the key would be thrown away. Just about everyone of the crew was threatened by Navy officers.
Larry Weaver’s only crime was that he served his country honorably.
The Navy followed up with a quick one week investigation, a white washed story, and buried the attack from the public. Even the ship’s name has been erased from the Navy’s vessel registration website.
I started thinking about what incident in history compares with this act. The only thing I can remember is General Patton slapping private Kuhl.
Lt. General George S. Patton, commander of the Seventh U.S. Army, visited a military hospital in Sicily on Aug. 3, 1943. He traveled past the beds of wounded soldiers, asking them about their injuries. Coming to the bed of a soldier who lacked visible signs of injury, General Patton inquired about his health. The soldier, 18-year-old Pvt. Charles H. Kuhl, had been tentatively diagnosed as having a case of psychoneurosis. He told Patton that he couldn’t mentally handle the battle lines. “It’s my nerves,” he said. “I can hear the shells come over but I can’t hear them burst.”
Enraged, Patton slapped Kuhl across the face and called him a coward. As Patton left the tent, he heard Kuhl crying and turned back, striking the soldier again. Months later radio broadcaster Drew Pearson revealed to U.S. audiences that Patton had slapped Kuhl. Many members of Congress and the press called for Patton’s removal from command, and outrage over the alleged “cover-up” was widespread. General Eisenhour wrote a letter to Patton demanding that he apologize.
Why is there no outcry over Seaman Weaver in America? For sure the national press in 1943 divulged the story to the American people; in 1967 they helped cover it up. In 1943 General Eisenhower made Patton apologize to the soldier; in 1967 the Navy had Admiral Kidd threaten the young sailor as he was recuperating in the hospital.
This story is about powerful special interests and donations to Congress. It is about career protection, and the failure by Navy officers to help their comrades as they are attacked, and murdered. It is about failure of the Navy officers to stand up to their civilian counterparts. It is about the manipulation of the American public by the national press.
And finally, it is about you and me as Americans and a failure to demand justice. Justice for a young 21 year old broken bodied seaman who was serving his Country honorably, and then suffered the undeserved threats by a mature, seasoned Admiral.
Do our representatives believe in the Pledge of Allegiance? Or does it come with as an asterisk, to be manipulated by them as they please. Ask your representatives and those running for office where they stand on justice for Larry Weaver and an investigation into the conduct of the Navy. They will not respond, because they wish not to offend those special interest and the tens of millions they donate to their elections. And they do not wish to alienate you as voters. What if Larry was your son or grandson?
Larry Weaver’s words: http://gidusko.webs.com/temp/lw012605_kidd.mp3
http://gidusko.webs.com/temp/tedarens.htm
The USS Liberty Memorial Website
Susan: Thank you for posting. From your dad’s sad event to other “incidents”, IMHO, there is nothing the US government its military or any government for that matter will not do to to “cover their asses” for an agenda. Nothing operates in a vacuum. Remarkable how any written record of anything critical or a revelation is always ‘missing, lost or destroyed’. As to missing reports like tapes and files ‘classified” into the USS Liberty like your father’s, they are probably stil there and ”misfiled, mislaid, miscategorized, etc.”…… the venerable excuses of a bureaucracy among these subserviant gatekeepers of the official truth.. And we have only their word and unaccountability of it. Your sought after reports will magically appear one day for some historian who will ‘find” them, write a footnote in a history book to a public that doesn’t remember or care and feels no outrage. It’s standard operating procedure. Look at the continuing obstinate and official reluctance of Congress to look into an “accident” that clearly wasn’t? Even the Freedom of Information Act has been amended, altered and exempted for the government’s benefit. to prevent accountability.
The lesson is that government exists to protect itself first and foremost in every manner. The truth and the public are a matter of later convenience.
As to Sicily and Italy and the criminal incompetence of Gen. Mark Clark, a friend who was with the Texas 36th Division would literally “spit” anywhere at the mention of his name. He died scarred and crippled from his military service. (I still remember Mr. Keith) Good luck with your research and your book and please keep me posted. And may you find the answers and the peace and the knowledge you seek -jdavis
There were only 2 weeks of morning reports missing which includes the time Dad had his incident.
I have a google alert for Sicily, 1943, so that is why I found your account of the obscene cover-up that you describe above. I am writing a book about searching my Dad’s path thru Sicily in WW2 as an Engineer Soldier. The focus has finally been narrowed down to NO SHAME, both for him & also NO SHAME for blunders made in decisions regarding this invasion. As for most accounts of family members of returning soldiers that were in a combat zone, they are quoted as never being the same. Well my Dad had more disgrace because he felt a failure to his unit and he felt he was sent home as a “basket case”. The incident in question happened on a rear boundary – Dad was receiving fire from both sides (shells & mortars) and remembers having rocks and stuff come down on him. Apparently he was not physically harmed, but was yanked out and sent to a psych station hospital. Dad had many accomplishments in his lifetime, beyond belief, despite his continual anxiety & depression. He still felt a failure. He always spoke of a carbon monoxide incident. I am wondering if there was a cover-up and how I could search for this. A visit to NARA, military records in St Louis, showed that morning reports were missing for his company. In searching payroll rosters, we finally got an approximate date — it indicated when he was cut off from the payroll for that unit. Interesting, 2 other soldiers had the same date. Anyone have any ideas?? Susan