“The Greatest Generation” still has difficulty looking into the accurate mirror of history to this day.

As I watched the first African-American two-term president shake the hands of World War II veterans on the shores of Normandy, France, racism and prejudice once again reared their ugly heads. There was not one non-white face among those veterans!

Throughout the weekend that marked the 70th anniversary of the storming of the beaches on D-Day, not one movie on the major networks portrayed the historic heroic actions of non-white veterans. It appeared, once again, that World War II was a war fought exclusively by white men and women to liberate both the Pacific and Europe from the evils of fascism.

What truly makes that “the Greatest Generation” is that men and women from segregated, prejudiced and separated locations across America gave their blood on foreign fields and returned to the same conditions – unrecognized, unheralded and still unacknowledged.

“The Greatest Generation” was also composed of the 442nd Infantry, all Japanese-American soldiers, whose motto was “Go for broke”; the “Red Ball Express,” comprised primarily of African American soldiers; and the Tuskegee Airmen of the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the Air Corps – all African-American airmen.

America is still made up of all colors, creeds, beliefs and lifestyles; it still takes all Americans to make up “the Greatest Generation.” Let America continue to fight the good fight at home, against monochromatic interpretations of history, politics and lifestyle.

James A. Weathersby

veteran, U.S. Marine Corps

Augusta