Trump Is Defiling the America My Father Fought for on Iwo Jima
In defying the rule of law, Trump dishonors the sacrifices my Dad and his fellow Marines made in defense of freedom against tyranny.
First, a note about a Substack Live I’m hosting TODAY that I hope you’ll tune into: Join Senator Chris Van Hollen and me at 10:45AM EST / 3:45PM GMT on Substack for a discussion about standing up to Trump and his lawless administration. We’ll be taking your questions too!
The five dozen uniformed boys, staring impassively, could’ve been posing for a high school class photo. My father, then 17, stood at the top right.
They were new Marines, training at Camp Pendleton in southern California for Pacific Island battles that proved more brutal than they could have imagined. Dad’s last one, the American assault on Iwo Jima, became the deadliest in Marine Corps history.
Richard Lee Harwood didn’t like talking about his experiences in World War II. Until recently, I knew little more about them than that black-and-white snapshot and a few others. He came home with a scar on his back and a piece of shrapnel in his lung, but never specified where and how he got them.
But as we prepare to observe Veterans Day on Nov. 11, what I’ve learned in the past few weeks has deepened my appreciation of the sacrifices that Dad and his Marine buddies made in defense of freedom against tyranny. In defying the rule of law by seizing extra-constitutional powers, our current president dishonors their sacrifice. American voters on Tuesday signaled they don’t like it.