VIENNA – Gordon Webber hadn’t heard the news that U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden during a firefight Sunday in Pakistan.

The 67-year-old Vietnam Era veteran from Vienna reacted Monday morning with a feeling of pride for the U.S. military.
 
“Bin Laden’s dead, well that’s a victory isn’t it: I’m proud of ‘em,” he said in a phone interview, after learning a Navy SEAL team killed Bin Laden in his hideout in Pakistan.
 
“It’s a great victory for America,” said Webber, commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10881 in Farmington.
 
There is still a long way to go, however, until U.S. armed forces can come home, Webber said.
 
“They’re terrorists still there and they’re going to come after us again,” he said. “It doesn’t mean that it’s over.”
 
Another VFW officer, Clyde Penney Sr. also called it an “important victory,” but said his combat experience in the Vietnam taught him to be prepared for a counterattack.
 
“When we kill one of theirs they want to kill a dozen of ours,” he said, referring to his serving as a U.S. Marine in Vietnam in 1969.   
 
Penney, 73, of New Vineyard, said, “From my past experience, we need to be on the ready, they’re going to retaliate.”
                                                     
David Robinson – 861-9287
drobinson@centralmaine.com

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