Mary McGrory: Veterans have lost a true friend

May 2, 2004

THE VETERAN community was deeply saddened to hear of the death of Mary McGrory, a Roslindale native who became, as her Washington Post colleague David Broder hailed her, "the most elegant newspaper writer Americans have read over the past half-century."Ms. McGrory was a reporter who understood that veterans were the caretakers of freedom and deserved everyone's respect. She supported the Vietnam veterans at a time when it was not a very fashionable thing to do, and we will always be grateful. She spoke in her columns about the deplorable treatment the veterans were getting at the Veterans Administration.

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In 1989, Ms. McGrory wrote: "The shameful truth is that the VA has gone to great lengths to make sure there would be no scientific evidence to prove that Agent Orange, (which contains dioxin, the deadliest known poison and one of four chemical agents sprayed in the millions of gallons in the jungles of Vietnam), had no connection to the many afflictions of veterans and the birth defects of their children." Veterans have lost a true friend, and we will miss her as we miss our brothers and sisters in arms. WALTER J. NORTON Sr.
Brookline
 

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