Memories before the dreaded but necessary Vietnam commemoration

By Daniel P. Cortez

In compliance with federal mandates, ceremonies commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War will be held throughout Virginia this year and next.

Like millions who have waited decades for America to right the wrongs of a conflicted society that dishonored military men and women, I simply followed the military directives of the commander-in-chief. I should feel proud, but such pride carries a painfully cognitive price.

A scared but proficiently trained Marine lance corporal, I arrived in Da Nang, Vietnam, one day after my 19th birthday in 1970. Landing in a combat zone was accentuated as Marines, armed for battle, were directed to deplane first.

Examining sanctuary city and immigrant crime issues

By Daniel P. Cortez

Four unarmed Marines and one sailor were brutally murdered recently in Tennessee. That hits home to this retired leatherneck and thousands of other Stafford citizens serving at Quantico or other nearby military bases.  Parents with children in service cringed hearing the tragic news that it was committed by a cowardly, demented American Muslim who spent seven months in Jordan and may have been radicalized.

And the Hispanic community remain outraged at the horrific crime committed by the undocumented Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez who admitted taking the life of Katherine Steinle in San Francisco.  Sanchez had been deported five times with seven felony convictions.