Inauguration 2017: El Paso veterans react
Veterans who gather weekly at an East El Paso McDonald’s were eating and talking while watching Friday morning’s inauguration take place on television.
“I don’t think I’ll ever see another inauguration. This’ll probably be the last one for me,” said Ralph Silva, 90. Silva served in World War II from 1944 to 1946. He’s seen his share of political upheaval, but even this election season has thrown him for a loop.
“To me, this election is very different from all the ones I’ve seen,” Silva said. “A lot of controversy.”
Silva didn’t divulge who he supported in the 2016 election — “The vote is secret,” he said, chuckling — but Vietnam vet Jesus Pichardo was less reserved.
“I voted for Donald J. Trump,” Pichardo said. Pichardo was more concerned by what he called the intimidation of people based on their beliefs, and seemed less bothered by the division in our nation’s capital as a new president is sworn in.
“You’re gonna have division,” Pichardo said. “You’ll have people against you and for you and you take it all.”
While the opinions and emotions of the seniors at the McDonald’s on Hawkins Boulevard and Gateway Boulevard East were mixed, the WWII veteran gets the final words on what he hopes the incoming president can accomplish.
“To unite everybody in this country,” Silva said. “We are here from different races, from different parts of the world, and I hope he can unite us all as one country. One strong country.”
