This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
I was surprised when I went this morning to the Utah Veterans Memorial Park in Bluffdale to see a crowd of people gathered to protest against the National Security Agency.
I went to visit the grave of my son who is buried there. He received the Air Force Commendation Medal for his work at the NSA. He learned Vietnamese and Chinese in good faith to uphold the oath he took to support and defend the Constitution of the United States from enemies foreign and domestic — the Constitution that guarantees these protesters the right of free speech.
The irony of the protesters' meeting at the cemetery is that the many people buried there were soldiers who protected the rights of these same people. I believe in free speech to a point, but these people were over the line when they used the cemetery for a meeting place (even if they were directed there by Camp Williams). Common decency would have told them to find a more appropriate place to protest the NSA.
Madeline Quayle
South Jordan