To the editor:

Several people have told me that I should write this letter.

I served in Vietnam as a member of the 3rd Battalion 3rd Marines from early January of 1967 to February of 1968.

The 3/3 served a total of 1,600 days in Vietnam and conducted 48 combat operations — more than any other Marine battalion. Most Marines served about 396 days, and some served more.

Six hundred and fifty-three marines in 3/3 were killed. Nearly 2,800 others were wounded. I was one of those wounded.

When the Marines were drafting in 1966, Donald Trump would have been the right age to be drafted. I served with some of these draftees; some may have opposed the war, but they were willing to give their country a few years of their life. Of course, they were from the land of the free and home of the brave.

The Marines I served with loved their country. Some laid down their lives for their country and fellow Marines.

They were honest. They took an oath to the Constitution, and they meant it.

They were men of character and courage. You could count on them.

I sometimes wonder what it would have been like to serve with Donald Trump, and I always come to the same conclusion: Thank God for bone spurs.

John M. Solbach, III,

Lawrence