United States Won in Vietnam, Veteran Says at Council Salute

The Vietnam War was a victory for the United States, says Joe Brunner, a mid-1960s veteran of that divisive conflict ending in 1975—“but we weren’t treated very good when we came back.”

Brunner took part Tuesday night in Councilman Dave Allan’s latest City Council salute of servicemen and women as La Mesa draws closer to the June 3 unveiling of signs along Fletcher Parkway—to be designated Veterans Memorial Parkway.

But unlike council recognitions of Pearl Harbor survivors and World War II and Korean War veterans, which drew as many as a dozen, only four vets of the Vietnam era—including one female Marine reservist who didn’t go to Southeast Asia—accepted invitations to attend the council meeting.

Sandra Durbin of La Mesa, introduced by Allan as the first black female air traffic controller in the Navy during her Vietnam tour, presented the veterans after telling the audience how 1,699 Americans from that era are still listed as missing in action.

“Across the street [at the American Legion post], and most places where there are veterans gathered, we keep the light on. … It’s to say: If you come home, we’re waiting for you.”

Later, outside council chambers, Durbin explained how hard it was to recruit Vietnam veterans to the council meeting.

She said she was told: “They should have honored us when we came home.”

Jerry Merghart of Lemon Grove, wearing a Hawaiian shirt, accepted the microphone from Durbin and told the audience that he served in Vietnam in 1960-62, when America sent military advisers to South Vietnam to battle a Hanoi-backed insurgency before the formal start of the war.

 “I don’t need to tell you what all we did,” Merghart said, “because I didn’t exist there, according to [Secretary of Defense Robert] McNamara.”

Still sensitive to old political battles was Brunner, wearing a cap that signified his being named San Diego County Veteran of the Year in 2010.

Brunner said he was a “high-speed Morse Code operator” for the Navy between August 1965 and June 1967, and told a sparse audience: “We were sent over there to stop what was known as the domino effect, where countries fell one after another to communism. When we left, that was the last hot conflict in the Cold War.

“In my opinion, we won.”

Later, the council heard about other divisions—in the committee looking at forming an assessment district in The Village.

Speaking to council after its discussion of the proposed downtown property-based business improvement district, committee member Deena While said the April 14 meeting of the PBID Formation Committee was very tense.

“I left in tears,” said While, owner of a children’s bookstore on La Mesa Boulevard. “It was a very rough meeting.”

She said some members are not being treated kindly, and “there is rolling of eyes and big sighs and cutting off [of remarks]. I don’t know that everyone gets to say what they want to say because they’re afraid of how they’re going to be reacted to.”

Mayor Art Madrid, a member of the PBID committee representing the city as property owner, responded: “Some of the frustration comes from individuals who can’t have their way or who think they’re not being heard.”

He said committee Chairwoman Lynn McRea has tried to hold the committee to a strict agenda and 90-minute meeting limit—and thus has to crack down on what Madrid termed “side conversations, all kinds of dialogue going on not germane to the point.”

Madrid said the frustration he detects on the committee is from people who “don’t hear what [they] want to hear.”

“Once every 12 years, I buy a Lotto ticket, and I’m really angry that I didn’t win,” Madrid said.

He said the perception that members are being disrespectful and caustic—and that “people don’t have an opportunity to speak”—is inaccurate.

Outside council chambers, While detailed her grievances. Among other things, she said she was frustrated at not being able to make changes in the agenda—driven by city-paid PBID consultant Ed Henning.

“He’s railroading us into this plan,” she said, noting that options put before the committee on maintenance costs, for example, led to only one conclusion. “We’re supposed to nod yes.”

Henning’s loyalties are to City Hall, While said.

Tuesday night, the city telegraphed its support for an eventual PBID.

City Manager Dave Witt told the council: “If we form this other group [the PBID], it can provide an additional structure that promotes the downtown and facilitates this fantastic [downtown] improvement project.”

Although he closed by noting the final say is “up to the community,” Witt said: “I think everybody will be very pleased a year or two from now. So I’m hopeful it’s going forward.”

Earlier, Councilman Allan asked City Attorney Glenn Sabine whether he had looked into allegations of Brown Act violations “regarding [city] staff and how the [PBID] committee was going forward”— as made by Village merchant Bill Jaynes at the April 12 council meeting.

Sabine said: “I asked him if he would [supply details]. If anyone’s going to make allegations, I’m going to evaluate it. I need to know precisely what they are—and the facts behind them. I did not receive any information.”

Early Thursday morning, Jaynes responded to a La Mesa Patch inquiry, writing via email: “The request came at the worst time, what with Easter, the royal wedding and a complete remodel of [my] store,” All Things Bright and British.

“Be assured—I'll have it Monday, along with a voluminous [public records] request.”