Harvey Milk destroyed PFC Oliver ‘Billy’ Sipple, the hero who saved a president
Yet the U.S. Navy recently named a ship after him
By Dean Karayanis - - Saturday, November 20, 2021
OPINION:
The U.S. Navy recently named USNS Harvey Milk after the ‘70s gay rights activist. Amid the current fetish of erasing heroes for blotches on their records, it begs the question: If we judge Washingtons and Jeffersons by their worst moments, why don’t we judge Mr. Milk by his?
He destroyed the hero who saved a U.S. president.
You may not know the name of left-wing radical Sara Jane Moore, but it would live in infamy alongside Booth, Guiteau, Czolgosz and Oswald if not for the quick reflexes of PFC Oliver “Billy” Sipple. On September 22, 1975, he acted every would-be time traveler’s dream at a San Francisco hotel.
He knocked away the assassin’s gun. And the 38th president’s quip, “I am a Ford, not a Lincoln,” didn’t go down in history as having eerily tempted fate.
Billy was a decorated U.S. Marine left 100% disabled by the Vietnam War. After Ms. Moore’s first shot missed, he leapt into action. “I lunged and grabbed the woman’s arm,” he said, brushing off praise. “I’m not a hero…It was the thing to do at the time.”
more
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/nov/20/harvey-milk-destroyed-pfc-oliver-billy-sipple-the-/
