Remember the "The Bridge on the River Kwai?

I can still remember the first time I saw that movie, it was then 1957. It was a very emotional experience for me, then 6 years out of the army hospital, and just beginning my quest for benefits that would take me 60 years. It was hard for me to get that Colonel Bogey March out of my head, how about you?

What I wish I knew then was that there were a lot of American Merchant Marines doing slave labor for the Japanese on that bridge, barely surviving under the Jap brutality. You wonder how these brave Mariners could ever be treated worse. Well let me tell you about those brave men who did survive.

They were the ones who carried the supplies for our troops all over the world in unarmed vessels, easy targets for those enemy warships and submarines. Those ships were sunk by the thousands, and the Merchant Marine Men AND Women died or ended up in slave labor camps as POWs.

Those that survived finally came home no doubt thinking that they would be taken care of, as they were promised they would be, only to be totally abandoned by the US Government, through the Veterans Administration, and the Congress who refused to acknowledge they even existed. 

What kind of miserable bastards are we paying to take care of our veterans anyway. In a short time I hope to be listing their positions, names, and addresses so you can say thanks to them yourself. And there are millions of others getting the same treacherous treatment from our government.

To get the full stories, go to my website, American-Veterans-Betrayed.org and see the full story as it evolves from the endless research I and others are doing. The Congress and the VA are making all veterans, victims of "friendly fire!" And they worried in combat! I'll be back on the 19th with the next edition of the AVB.


Jon Roger Coughtry