In his letter to the editor, printed Sept. 18, John Bean stated an absolute truth known to those who have experienced it: “War is not fun.”

His letter caused a flurry of activity on the Sun Journal blog as several armchair generals mocked his observations.

I was perplexed when several listed their branch of service. I asked myself a rhetorical question: How come they didn’t sign up for the infantry?

I read Bean’s letter to 11 decorated combat veterans. They felt Bean was on target.

But war is fun.

During the last weeks of his life, a friend who served with General Patton during World War II agonized and begged forgiveness over an incident for which he was awarded a Bronze Star. Risking his life to protect his brother soldiers, he took out a German machine gun nest located in a farmhouse. He killed the Germans, along with two children. But, hey, war is fun.

Yes, war is fun.

Ask Bobby Mulholland, a Navy Corpsman who served with the 3rd Marine Division in Vietnam. While rendering medical aid to his wounded and dying Marines, a phosphorous explosion literally caused him the loss of his face. He endured many months of reconstruction at Chelsea Naval Hospital.

To him and countless others, war was not a game simulation, it was reality.

War is a necessary evil.

There are only three groups that think it’s fun – children, the insane, and those who have never experienced it.

Robert Macdonald, Lewiston

Commander, Longley Dionne VFW Post 9150