To The Herald-Whig:

My German grandmother used to stand on the steps of our war memorial in the Bavarian village where I grew up. She wept over her sons who were killed in World War I. They fell in Romania and in the Argonne Forest in France. I was small yet and hated to see her cry. She said so often, "We will have these terrible wars until people get wise enough to demand that all those leaders who get us into those awful wars be sent to the front lines themselves."

At that time, I was too small to realize how terrible wars can be. Not many years later, I lived through one of those destructive wars myself.

No, none of them who get us into wars will go to the front line. Such will never come to pass -- neither will a back-seat driver out of gas.

Ann Hughes

Quincy