Kansas City also had a veterans' convention last week, with parade, outlandish costumes, drum, corps and sore feet. But at the 49th annual encampment of the United Spanish War Veterans (average age: 72), there was little tipping and no water-squirting. The boys of Santiago Bay, San Juan hill and the Philippines just wanted to sit and bat the breeze about their experiences back in '98.*
But when it came to fist-shaking, everything was up to date in Kansas City. The Naval and Military Order of the U.S.W.V., an outfit of former officers, set the tone. Said its retiring commander, 78-year-old Patrick Ratigan:...
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