A tireless crusader who demanded the truth http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20091007/OPINION03/910070342/-1/SPORTS12
October 7, 2009 Iowa, and the nation, lost a courageous woman this month: Margaret "Peg" Mullen died in LaPorte City last Friday at the age of 92. Her name and her story will long be associated with a grim period in American history when this nation was engaged in a pointless war that turned ordinary people into crusaders against a government that lied and covered up facts about that war. Peg Mullen was one of those ordinary Americans. She was the wife of a farmer in Black Hawk County. Gene worked at a Waterloo packing plant and later John Deere to supplement the farm income. Peg had worked in a number of jobs, but eventually stayed home to raise a family. She and Gene had five children. The second child died at birth; the eldest, Michael, died in Vietnam in February 1970. Ordinary life ended for the Mullens on that date. From that point forward, Peg Mullen increasingly became a voice against the Vietnam War and the U.S. military. She did not accept the military's explanations for how Michael died, and the Pentagon's fumbling made her increasingly suspicious and angry. Eventually, she became a crusader against war in general. It was a powerful thing to watch a mother transformed into a force for generals and politicians to reckon with. The Mullens' story captured the imagination of the nation, in part through C.D.B. Bryan's 1976 book, "Friendly Fire," and later a TV movie by the same name. That war ended, and the nation moved on, but Peg Mullen's passion was never extinguished. She demonstrated that in an interview with a Register editorial writer in 2005 following news that the military concealed the truth about the death by "friendly fire" in Afghanistan of former NFL player Pat Tillman. "The military always misleads people," she told us then. "I just wonder why they have to lie. War is bad enough without covering it up." Those sentiments are easier to accept today when cynicism about government is common. But the American people were more willing to believe what their government said 40 years ago. Peg Mullen, and others like her, changed that by demanding the truth and refusing to readily accept what their government told them. Most of all, Peg Mullen put a compelling human face on the realities of war for the families and friends left behind to cope when loved ones are lost. Hers was an indefatigable spirit, a spirit that is still needed as this country winds up one war, contemplates the course of another and tries to find meaning in the lives lost in both. . --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sixties-L" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sixties-l?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
