Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund

After the election my dad responded to my note of despair by mentioning a few things that like-minded people could do in response to the outcome of the election. I asked if I could share a portion of his letter, and he agreed, but I've been sitting on it for a while because I didn't want it to get quickly buried underneath other posts. Since I'll be on vacation for the next few weeks, now seems like the perfect time to post it:

"[One thing to do] is to donate to the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund. This organization, headquartered in Oceanside, CA, helps wounded Marines and their families during their recovery. The government provides some support for families who want to be with their Marine during recovery, but the funding is often not enough, nor long enough for the entire recovery process.

"A good friend of mine who was a Marine was badly wounded in Viet Nam, and he was lucky enough to wind up in Oak Knoll Naval Hospital in Oakland, just across the Bay from home. I was able to take his wife to the Neurosurgery ward see him, but if we had lived far from the hospital, it would have been very difficult for his family and friends to see him, and help him recover. I guess another reason I chose this fund is because one of my uncles was a Marine in WWII, and fought on Iwo Jima*, among other places. So I guess I'm just partial to jarheads. But giving money, or time, to organizations like this help the Americans who are bearing the greatest share of the burden produced by the misjudgments and misdeeds of the Bush administration.

"*(For those too young for the name of this tiny island to have any resonance, check out this site. My uncle was in the second wave of Marines to hit the beach. The photo here is probably representative of what he saw when he landed. He once told me that he was looking at the boots of the guy lying ahead of him, and that all he could do was to 'crawl up into my helmet' and wait to move out.)"

Two of my great-uncles with my great-grandmother during WWII (one of whom is the man discussed above).