To the Editor:

I write to correct two points from your article on the Veterans Day observance at the Great Falls Freedom Memorial in your November 15-21, 2023 edition.

First, the article inaccurately stated that I served in Baghdad, Iraq in 2003-04 as an Airborne-, Air Assault-, and Ranger-qualified Soldier. I attained those qualifications after, not before, my tour of duty in Iraq. While this may seem a small point, your readers will naturally (but incorrectly) assume that I provided the erroneous information, and I do not want to appear to have misrepresented my record, especially given military punctilio and recent controversies on the subject.

Second, the article misattributed to me what my speech noted was an apparently apocryphal quote from George Washington: "The willingness with which young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars are treated and appreciated by their nation." 

Bruce Ellis Fein

Great Falls