OPINION
It appears that there may be a cancerous growth today over Madison and Jefferson County.
This story begins when a local Japanese Industry (MPP) wanted to donate Japanese Cherry Blossom trees to the Mayor of Madison to be planted on our riverfront.
Under the protest of WWII "war veterans", Mayor Huntington (not a veteran himself) insisted that the Japanese Cherry Blossom Trees would be planted throughout this city. WWII veterans felt that this was a slap in the face to them and that their efforts to stop the Japanese attack upon the united states may have been in vain. As one veteran stated "seventy five Madison and Jefferson County young men were killed as a direct result of the Japanese SNEAK attack upon Pearl Harbor". The Japanese Cherry Blossom Kamikaze pilots killed thousands of Americas' young men and the Mayor of Madison, Al Huntington, suggested that we should forget.
When our soldiers and sailors (5,800) were being killed by the "Cherry Blossom" Kamikaze (suicide pilots), the Department of Defense(DOD) came to Madison and filmed our beautiful river bank and city as an American "Home Town". The DOD took this film back to the troops and said "this is what you are fighting for".
The City of Madison and Mayor Huntington should bow their head in shame for allowing MPP and Mr. Hasegawa to rub the Cherry Blossom issue in the face of our courageous veterans who will not be forgotten, has the Mayor sold his soul too? In spite of a gracious letter sent to Mr. Hasegawa by veterans requesting that he reconsider his gift(Dec. 1998).
David Sutherland, representative of MPP and Mr. Hasegawa, in concert with Mayor Huntington charged full speed ahead regardless of permits or feelings. The billboard has listed on it nothing but thirty six Japanese businesses and individuals. Try to get your billboard up on the riverfront to advertise your business!!
The local media states this billboard has been vandalized. Madison Precision Products (MPP) and the Japanese sycophants insist that someone be prosecuted. The billboard in the first place was erected by MPP and the Japanese illegally. It was removed and then it re-appeared again with the City of Madison seal on it.
Did Mayor Huntington sell us out to the Japanese? Who owns this billboard and what right does MPP have on insisting that the city guard the billboard?
We here at OldMadison.com are unable to grasp clearly how Mr. Hasegawa or Mayor Huntington could entertain the thought that our veterans should forget the horrible torture and deaths that the Japanese caused our brave young men and women. It is our desire to see that the traditions that were fought for and lives were given for are upheld, that the American flag and the institution of our government still hold with the same values we had when we went to war to fight off the Japanese attack. We see the erosion of those unique American values being trampled under the thunder of politics and Business, Business, Business.
The solution:
For those who want the Japanese billboard to stay on our beloved riverfront, let them do it. But first they must get permission from three sponsors.
First, you need permission from a war veteran...Perhaps a Marine who fought at Iwo Jima. A soldier at Mount Surabachi who stood among the bodies of "thousands" of dead buddies. Each night spent on Iwo Jima meant half of every one you knew would be dead tomorrow, a coin flip away from a bloody end upon a patch of sand your mother couldn't find on a map.
Next, you need a signature of an immigrant. Their brothers and sisters may still anguish in their native land, often under tyranny, poverty, and misery. Or maybe they died on the way here, never to touch our riverfront. Some have seen friends and family get tortured and murdered by their own government for daring to do things that we take for granted every day. For those who risk everything simply to become an American, Ask one of them if it would be okay to forget what our veterans have done for them.
Last, you should get the signature of a mother, not just any mother. You need a mother of one of the seventy five young men from Madison that was killed as a result of the Japanese attack. When that son or daughter was laid to rest, their family is given only one gift by the American people; an American flag. Go on. I dare you! Ask that mother if it is okay to display the Japanese billboard on the riverfront.
Mayor Huntington and Mr. Hasegawa, I have one simple request. Just ask permission. Not from the politicians or the pundits. Instead, ask those who have defended our nation so that we may be free today. Ask those who struggled to reach our shores so that they may join us in the American dream. And ask those who clutch a flag in place of their sacrificed sons or daughters, given to this nation so that others may be free. For we can not ask permission from those who died wishing they could, just once again sit on the river bank.
Go ahead. Ask! I dare you!
"Lest we Forget"