Lauderdale: Trump wouldn't know a hero if it hit him in the mouth

Donald Trump is good at running his mouth, but here are three words you'll never hear him say: "Run with honor."

Honor means you do not dump on America's prisoners of war.

Trump arrived to a hero's welcome in our town this week, still flying high on his viral comments about Sen. John McCain: "He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured."

With any luck, the world won't long remember what Trump says.

But we should care that prisoners of war suffered so that others could vote, speak freely and shake a fist at the status quo.

Being captured is not the point, although that is a lot more than either Trump or I have ever done for our country.

What the prisoners did next is the heroic part, which we dare not disrespect.

Ironically, their greatest contribution was often keeping their mouths shut.

Trump needs to check out the film, "Return With Honor." It tells what aviators like McCain suffered as POWs in order to return home with honor. Do Americans no longer count it as heroism when someone is brutalized physically and psychologically for the sake of our country? Not to mention the collateral damage to their families?

Retired U.S. Air Force Col. George McKnight of Hilton Head Island was a POW in Vietnam "for 7 years, 3 months, 2 days, 4 hours and 3 minutes." Two of those years, he was a cellmate with McCain. I'll take McKnight's word over Trump's.

"I had a character study on him that lasted for two years," McKnight told our newspaper when McCain came through town as a presidential hopeful in 2007. "You can fool a guy for a week, but not for two years."

Trump should have known Davy Booker of Cat Island. The late U.S. Marine Corps Col. Jesse V. "Davy" Booker didn't talk much about being a POW for three years in Korea. He said he wasn't treated well, but didn't have time for hatred. He said he was only doing his job when he held many POWs who died in his arms, a smile on their faces because that was the easy way out.

In 1988, Booker was invited to the White House by President Ronald Reagan, where he was one of the first to receive the POW medal at a South Lawn ceremony.

"It wasn't just me who received that award," he said. "It's a tribute to everyone who was ever a POW -- whether they came home or not."

Booker died of complications from reconstructive surgery. It was the last attempt to fix things broken in a cold and heartless prison because he refused to speak against his country.

Booker is buried in the Beaufort National Cemetery, where his wife, Lil, recently joined him.

His tombstone says he loved God and country and was a true Marine.

That's about all you need to say about a hero who returned with honor.

Follow columnist and senior editor David Lauderdale at twitter.com/ThatsLauderdale and facebook.com/david.lauderdale.16.

This story was originally published July 23, 2015 at 2:25 PM with the headline "Lauderdale: Trump wouldn't know a hero if it hit him in the mouth."