Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) had planned a ceremony to honor 100 year old WWII U.S. Navy veteran Dario Raschio on Saturday at Portland’s Community College Southeast Campus. The ceremony was to present Raschio with a handful of medals.

Shortly after the event began, protestors began shouting from the back of the room. “Hands-up, don’t shoot,” they yelled. More than 100 protestors pushed through the doors and banged on the windows from outside, hoisting signs.

The once smiling veteran, a hero, and his daughter were no longer smiling.

This is just further proof that the asshats out protesting the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown are lacking in class and basic human decency.

After about 15 minutes of unrest, Wyden convinced the protestors to stop and let him continue with the medal presentation.

Wyden presented Raschio with a frame filled with medals: the U.S. Navel Aviator Badge, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, the American Defense Service Medal, the “Ruptured Duck” award, and the U.S. Navy Honorable Discharge pin.

Here we have a man who flew observational planes in the Pacific Theater, who revealed that one harrowing mission from Easter Sunday, 1944, he took on gunfire, and his plane went down. He assumed he would die, but a Navy destroyer came along a few hours later right as sharks were beginning to circle. After his rescue, he revealed the location of an ammo dump he had seen from the sky, and the U.S. Navy destroyed the dump.

On Saturday, though, Raschio seemed far more concerned by the events unfolding around him than the terrifying story he recounted for those gathered. As he took the mic to speak, more shouts came, demanding that the military exit Iraq – as if a 100 year old Navy Veteran has any power over troop movement in 2015.

“Give me a chance,” the feisty old hero said. “Let’s show a little respect for this occasion.”

Raschio accepted the medals on behalf of those who died in WWII and ended his speech by saying these words.

“God Bless America. And you people that are here for a cause, whatever it might be – show respect to Senator Wyden.”

Before the heroic old veteran could even take his seat, though, the protestors started in again.

“I think that the symbolism of having a veteran 100 years old, who fought so gallantly so that those who disagree with government policies and want to exercise their first Amendment rights could be heard, that’s what made today so poignant,” Wyden later said.

I guess, Senator Wyden. Well, except that men like Dario Raschio joined the United States Military in World War II to fight violent regimes that were ACTUALLY systematically killing innocent people based on their races or religions, not protesting because some law breaking thug got shot after attacking a police officer.

“I feel I’m no hero,” said Dario Raschio before the event. “I don’t accept it as being a hero. I accept it as being part of my job.”

This one single thought is why I love our military veterans, past and present. They simply see the heroic things that they do as a part of their jobs. These are words I have frequently heard from my husband and my brother, and they are words I have heard from many Marines, Sailors, Airmen, and Soldiers. It is part of why they are exceptional, and why young men and women continue to serve decades after “The Greatest Generation”.

Thank you for your exceptional service, Mr. Raschio, and like you said, God Bless America!