Loose Lips Sink Ships

That saying was widely publicized during World War II.

I grew up in Kansas City, where there was, indeed, some activity for the war effort. At the confluence of the Missouri River and the Kansas (Kaw) River, an industrialist named Harry Darby built a small shipyard where he manufactured landing craft. I can no longer remember if they were LCPs (Landing Craft, Personnel) or LCTs (Landing Craft, Tank). But they were clearly instruments of war.

A short distance away was North American Aviation's plant where B-25 bombers were built. Crews were brought into Kansas City to match the timing of the completion of each aircraft. I remember formations of these airmen marching down the street in downtown Kansas City, singing in cadence a popular song of the day "In Der Fuehrer's Face", which made fun of Adolph Hitler. When their aircraft rolled off the assembly line, the crews took their planes off to war.

A little farther away was the Pratt & Whitney plant which manufactured engines for military aircraft.

There may have been other wartime industries of which we were aware, but the important fact is that we all realized that anything we may have casually observed must not make its way to enemy intelligence.

My parents were Republicans, as were most of their friends. Our president was a Democrat and Congress was controlled by the Democrat Party. But we would have died before we talked about anything that could leak secret information. We certainly did not want to have Loose Lips.

Further, if some bit of classified military information were learned by a newspaper, magazine or radio station, it is dead certain they would not have made that information public.

Compare that to what is happening today. Leakers, considering themselves "Whistle Blowers" leak classified information to news media on an almost daily basis. The media gleefully publish those portions of this classified information which they feel may support their point of view..

Suddenly some publisher or broadcaster feels the absurd idea of "the public's right to know" trumps the protection of the lives of our military personnel.

Worse, politicians happily use this classified information in any way which may help their re-election chances.

Suddenly partisan politics is more important than winning the war.

The United States was widely admired and respected at the end of World War II. There was one reason, and only one reason for this... the United States had won the war.

America was not admired because we insisted on being "nice" to our enemies. We were admired because we beat them on every front.

The world loves the winner of a tough fight. It has no respect for a loser, even if that loser can stand up and say, "Hey, it was more important to fight fair than to fight to win."

Today, we must describe our war effort by stealing a phrase from professional football... "Winning isn't everything... it is the only thing."