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I am a veteran who served in the Army for two years. It was in 1965 that I received my draft notice, and I spent one year in Vietnam.
I am now 80 years old, and for the last 15 years, I have been imploring the Town of Machiasport to give the veterans who served (and are serving) their town a free commercial clam license. So far, all my imploring has been ignored.
I said to one man on the Machiasport clam committee: “How about giving veterans who represented the Town of Machiasport a free commercial clam license?” He essentially said: “We would lose a lot of revenue.” To which I replied, “If it weren’t for veterans, you would have no revenue to lose!”
Another time, I approached a selectman for Machiasport and asked him about giving veterans a free clam license, and he told me that if I wrote it up, he’d sign it. I did write it up, and sent it to him, and so far — after 10 years of waiting — I have heard nothing from him!! It is apparently a joke to many people, but not to me!!
There are some veterans who suffer from PTSD, and digging clams could be great therapy for them. I am not talking about towns letting diggers from all over the state come into their town and dig clams, but rather a free license for those who answered the call for their particular town.
Thomas Sprague
East Machias