My letter to "W"

An associate of mine has been invited to the White House...Here's a letter I asked him to give to the President:

October 2, 2008

Dear President Bush:

I'm a veteran of the battle of "Bloody Tarawa," as it was called shortly after the battle. It was well-named--more than 6,000 men died during those three days of savagery, including more than 1,000 US Marines and 600 sailors and Naval officers. An additional 2300 Marines were wounded.

I went to Tarawa this past February,  returning to my first battle experience sixty-six years ago, determined  to do something about the garbage that litters Red Beach, the beach where I saw so many of my countrymen fall under murderous Japanese gunfire. The garbage on that hallowed ground is an in sult to the memory of all who fought and died there in defense of our country.

I took a camera crew with me to Tarawa to film this outrage. It will soon be released with movie great Ed Harris as narrator. The title of the documentary: "Return to Tarawa: The Leon Cooper Story." Both Discovery and History Channels have expressed interest.

My budget for the clean-up involved calls for $2 million to install a state-of-the-art incinerator system, restoring Red Beach to its former pristine condition, making it a permanent memorial to the Marine and Navy forces who took part in the battle.

The incinerator will also serve as a model for other Pacific Oceana nations who, like Tarawa, dump garbage on their beaches, to be swept out to sea by storm surges and tides, adding to the contamination of this precious resource.

I urge you to make funds available immediatly for this worthy and important project.

I have another, very important reason for writing. I learned during my recent trip that more than 200 Americans still lie where they fell during that long ago battle. One of the dead is Congressional Medal of Honor winner, Lt Bonnyman.

There has been no organized effort by our country since 1946 to identify, recover and repatriate these brave men who sacrificed all for our nation. Their families, relatives and friends deserve nothing less for this long overdue obligation.

Here, again, I urge you to take immediate action, sending a special task force to Tarawa to begin the important work.

Finally, during my visit to Tarawa, I met an Australian Navy Commander who heads up an ordnance demolition team, on behalf of his country,  to remove the live ammunition that lies all over the tiny island of Betio, in Tarawa, where the principal fughting took place. As one who was a partcipant in that battle, I assure you that most of this live ammunition is ours.

I don't know how many Tarawans have been killed or injured by our indifference to this disgraceful situation. But surely, the least we can do is to help the Australian team in their work. I urge you to promptly despatch a team of ordnance demolition specialists to Tarawa.

I'll be glad to confer with any of your staff in helping get the programs outlined here underway.

Sincerely,

Leon Cooper

Comments

[Jen]

Hi, Are you still there writing?

One of my great-uncles was a military photographer at the Battle of Tarawa. I'm not sure which uncle (several were in the Pacific)--maybe Norm Topping?

I was looking for information about him, and surfed onto your blog. Is Discovery Channel going to tell your story? I would love to know!

Best regards,
Jen