San Diego AE911Truth Action Group Reaches Out to Military Community: An Uplifting Report from the USS Midway Berth |
Written by Ann Capotosto, San Diegans for 9/11 Truth | |||||||
Tuesday, 17 January 2012 23:10 | |||||||
By Ann Capotosto, San Diegans for 9/11 Truth
This is no ordinary band of street activists. San Diegans for 9/11 Truth includes an impressive group of experts who give one Sunday per month to freely share their collective knowledge on the subject. On hand were Dwain Deets, former NASA Chief of Aerospace Projects Director; Ret. Air Force Lt. Col. David Gapp, former crash site investigator; Ted Muga, former Naval aviator, retired Commander and retired Pan Am pilot; Jerry Bischoff, retired architect; and Ginger Gainer, retired American Airlines flight attendant and purser. Members of Veterans for Peace also provided support – including Vietnam and Iraq War vets. The day started inauspiciously as the display was being set up. A couple walked by and the woman pointed to one of the banners with quotes from noted military officials. "Look, honey, Gen. Wesley Clark," she said. They stopped to read the banner and the expressions on their faces dropped as they realized the purpose of the display. The man turned in anger and yelled to us, "Cowards! None of you served!" Immediately Ted Muga pointed over to the USS Midway and replied, “I flew in Vietnam and served on that very vessel.” We feared that was going to be the tone for the day – especially given the media hype to mark the anniversary – but the rest of the day was very smooth as servicemen and servicewomen, firemen, police, pilots and flight attendants all filed by on their way to the Midway. Many stopped to peruse the boards and ask questions.
On the east end of the display was a TV with a loop of the powerful 15-minute documentary from AE911Truth, Architects and Engineers: Solving the Mystery of Building 7 – narrated by Ed Asner. I was standing by the TV when a man riding by on his bicycle stopped to watch. I stood by silently letting him take it in, and witnessed utter shock come over him as he watched the footage of Bldg. 7 collapsing. "That’s a controlled demolition!” he exclaimed. “I know, I’m a demolition expert!" It turns out that he is a disabled retired Navy Seal. He had never seen this footage before.
Hundreds of free DVDs and flyers were given away, some subtitled in Spanish. Many foreign visitors stopped to chat. For the most part, they are far better informed than the average American. Late in the afternoon, an Air Force officer attached to the Department of Homeland Security stopped to question Dave Gapp about the appropriateness of wearing his uniform. Gapp replied that it was an official ceremony and he was allowed.
Late in the afternoon, a young wheelchair-bound veteran came by with his mother. Both of his legs were missing above the knees, and one hand was gone. The scars on his arms were still pink. He was locked onto a display dedicated to the disabled veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. He stared and stared at a photo of a Marine in dress blues with an artificial leg. The pain on his face was palpable and I had to walk away to compose myself. He was still there when I returned fifteen minutes later, this time further down the line looking at photos of the buildings in mid-collapse. His mother took a DVD and said he wanted to go to the showing of the new full-length AE911Truth documentary, 9/11: Explosive Evidence – Experts Speak Out, which the group was showing at a community center that evening. The Final Edition of this DVD will be available in early February.
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