Letter to the editor: Motto change is not ‘wokeism’

OPINION:

We need a fact check. At church Sunday, the pastor, a West Point graduate and later an instructor there, told us that “Duty, Honor, Country” has always been the U.S. Military Academy’s motto (“West Point deletes ‘duty, honor, country’ from mission statement,” web, March 13). 

The academy’s original mission statement did not include this phrase. Then, some years ago, it was decided to add it. (After all, when did the Army ever boggle at redundancy?) This latest change, as our pastor explained, simply reverts to the original mission statement. The motto remains, separate and in place as always. In short, the story about the mission statement change is a nothingburger. And “wokeism,” this time, had nothing to do with it.

A routine phone call would confirm this, and our media must have made such calls. Don’t they think we the people have a right to know what they know? Do they feel no duty, in all honor, to keep their country informed?

JOHN S. MASON JR.

Irvington, Virginia