Regarding Bill Fischer’s letter in the Aug. 1 issue of the Whidbey News-Times, I am not certain what his problem is or was with the photo published in the July 25 issue. That photo was not all that different from the photo published in the “Navigator” on July 27. It was not only a photo of the horrors of war but it also was the photo of a hero.

I viewed the flagged draped coffin of my brother 34 years ago both in print and in person. No, he did not die in Vietnam. He died a few weeks after he returned from there but he is dead nonetheless. The result of a war in which the United States was engaged.

Flagged draped coffins are the result of war whether it is a just war or an unjust war. One cannot hide the results of war even if the politicians or others do not want those to be seen.

The families of those lost in this conflict on all sides have my prayers.

Gerald Schwartz

LCDR USN (Ret)

Oak Harbor