This is a story about three guys on a seesaw. That's us at Ocean Beach Park, New London, in the summer of 1942. We grew up together in New London. That's me in the middle. Zeke Plona is to my right and Nobby Nobrega on my left. They're gone now, but in this photo we were just enjoying the day.

Zeke was a grunt, a private in the infantry, the real heroes of World War II, which was raging at that time.

Nobby was a medic with the airborne. He came home with a Bronze Star, a Silver Star and two Purple Hearts. Twice he was shot while crawling to help comrades who had been wounded and called out: "Medic!"

He would say he only did what any of us would do; when a buddy is in trouble, you do what you can to help.

I was a submariner. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, I left my old submarine, the USS R-12 (SS89) and came to Electric Boat in Groton as a plank owner (a member of the crew of a ship when that ship is placed in commission) on the USS Haldo (SS255).

The 1938 Hurricane had destroyed the old honky-tonk beach we knew as kids. After the hurricane the state stepped in, acquired most of the surrounding property through eminent domain and built a new public beach park, turning it over to the city to manage.

The war sent us on our separate ways, but when we came home we all benefitted from the G.I. Bill. Zeke used the very low-interest loans to buy a waterfront cottage and a small fishing boat, which he moored in his backyard.

Nobby went to Georgia, apprenticed in the plumbing and pipefitting trade, then opened his own business.

I went to college and got an engineering degree. I was eligible for five years of college, with tuition and related expenses paid for. I also received a living allowance. All three of us had the option of 52 weeks of unemployment compensation.

The generation before ours paid the full cost of World War II and every dollar of that generous G.I. Bill and thus created a new middle-class for people like Zeke, Nobby, me and all the other guys returning from that war.

In November 1960 John F. Kennedy, a WWII veteran, was elected president. In his inaugural address he said, "The torch has been passed to a new generation." Those wonderful benefactors knew it was time - Kennedy was in his 40s, many members of his team were not yet 40.

Oh, what a feeling that was! We stood tall and strong before the world. This was my America, one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all, a nation that President Abraham Lincoln reminded us was conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all me were created equal.

We were the envy of the world.

Not now. Consider the Iraq invasion. The real truth about that has not been told. Know this: The very wealthy made millions in a greedy contractor flim-flam while our heroic young men and women were ar war, then political leaders refused to pay for that war.

Our first order of business is simple; tell those very wealthy it was their war and they will pay for it. In the next election, demand that commitment from anyone running for office.

It's not the same nation that repaid three guys on a seesaw for serving their country.

Larry Crowley grew up in New London and is a graduate of Bulkeley High School, class of 1938. He now lives in Meriden.