A World War II veteran from Florida shed tears of despair while marking his 100th birthday since he was dissatisfied with what the country had become. Carl Spurlin Dekle, a Marine veteran from Plant City, Florida, says that being part of the struggle against evil in World War II was his greatest pride, but that the nation has deteriorated since then. Although he fought the Nazis more than 80 years ago, he considers hatred to be on the rise in America and thinks that the nation “is going to hell in a handbasket.”
Dekle said that the soldiers who died in World War II and the Revolutionary War did not die for America as it is today.
“People don’t realize what they have,” Dekle said3. “The things we did and the things we fought for and the boys that died for it, it’s all gone down the drain. Our country is going to hell in a handbasket.”
When comparing the country he lives in today to the America of his youth, DeKle broke down in tears. The Marine veteran was being filmed while celebrating his 100th birthday with his family and friends, and his tears were caught on camera.
In a 2009 interview with Plant City Courier & Tribune, Dekle recounted his and other soldiers’ wartime sacrifices.
“‘I want the young kids to realize that freedom comes with a heavy price,” Dekle stated in 2009. “It isn’t given to people out of the goodness of others. It’s something you have to fight and sometimes die for.”
Now, Dekle has spoken out to FOX13, and they captured all of his raw emotions for their viewers.
“I really believe in this whole world and believe everything is beautiful. I mean, if I wake up in the morning and see these plants, and all of those flowers, and the green grass in the ground, that’s beautiful,” he said.
Dekle was a decorated soldier during his time in combat. He earned a Silver Star for his bravery in the First Marine Division during WWII against Adolf Hitler.
“He inspired his unit to exert maximum effort in assisting to capture and destroy the enemy position,” a description of the award on The Wall of Valor Project website reads. “By his personal courage, bold leadership, and staunch devotion to duty, Sergeant Dekle upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.”
Nonetheless, Dekle is greatly disappointed in today’s America.
“We haven’t got the country we had when I was raised, not at all,” he stated. “Nobody will have the fun I had. Nobody will have the opportunity I had. It’s just not the same. And that’s not what our boys, that’s not what they died for.”
Today’s world is surrounded with increasing costs, racial division, frequent shootings, income inequality, and extremely high healthcare expenditures.
