To the editor: Two letters published in the Los Angeles Times on June 26 caught my attention. (“Fight an Unjust War or Resist the Draft? Readers on Their Choices During the Vietnam War,” June 26 letters)
Both writers had fathers who served in World War II. When their sons faced duty in Vietnam, one father, feeling that the United States had trampled on everything his generation had fought for in Europe and Asia, encouraged his son to go to Canada to avoid conscription.
The other father instilled in his son the need to serve. The writer served, primarily, to preserve the relationship with his father.
Like the first writer, I got a high number in the lottery draw and didn't have to face that dilemma. But the Vietnam War tore our country apart, and I don't think we ever recovered.
Richard Shafarman, Santa Clarita
