Grand Junction Daily Sentinel Editorial

4/9/07

      Navy SEAL Danny Dietz died on June 28, 2005 in Afghanistan, fighting off dozens of Taliban. For his heroic efforts that day he was awarded the Navy Cross, the country’s second highest military honor.

      In his hometown of Littleton, they want to honor him with a statue in Berry Park, a beautiful bronze taken from the last picture taken of Dietz. He’s crouching, holding his Rifle on one knee.

      The memorial to Dietz, scheduled to be unveiled July 4, would join thousands of other memorials to fallen service men and women around the nation — a community’s small tribute to one of its own.

      But in Littleton the peaceniks think the Bronze statue of Dietz in the park is inappropriate. Children play there. Three schools are nearby. It’s in the vicinity of Columbine High School. Dietz is holding a weapon. The message, they say, is all wrong.

      Jim Carrier, a board member for the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund and the Navy SEAL Warrior Fund, says those opposed to the Dietz memorial miss the point. “It takes guns to defend our freedoms against terrorists when they are trying to kill you and your children.”

      Indeed it does. Let’s hope the Dietz memorial is unveiled as planned.