On Saturday, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) held a medal presentation to Dario Raschio, a 100 year old US Navy Veteran. About 100 protestors with the group Don’t Shoot PDX crashed the presentation shouting, “hands up, don’t shoot!” The anti police protestors delayed Raschio’s ceremony for approximately 15 minutes.
Raschio was being awarded medals for his actions in World War II. On Easter Sunday 1944, his plane was shot down over the Pacific. Several hours later, a Navy destroyer came to his rescue. Raschio located an ammo dump prior to his plane being shot down. He revealed its location and the dump was destroyed.
The veteran accepted the medals and a flag that flew over the US Capitol on behalf of those who died in World War II. When Raschio spoke, shouts continued from the back of the room demanding the US military withdraw from Iraq. The veteran pushed back at those attempting to ruin his ceremony.
“Give me a chance. Let’s show a little respect for this occasion.”
Before Raschio even returned to his seat, a protestor announced, “for 4.5 minutes we are going to take time to pay respect to everybody who has been killed by police in this nation.”
How would you have reacted if your father or grandfather was being honored and these protestors ruined the ceremony?
H/T: The Oregonian