SOUNDING OFF:

First, let’s get this out of the way: I’m a big Joe Bell fan.

Yeah, I know I’ll probably have to turn in my elephant lapel pin for admitting that — so be it.

I read Joe Bell’s column in the Daily Pilot every week. Sometimes I agree with him, sometimes I don’t.

Most of the time I’m thoroughly entertained by his columns and the skill with which he presents his views knowing full well the bulk of his readership are also wearing that elephant lapel pin, while his pin depicts a donkey (or jackass or mule, depending on your personal viewpoint).

Recently Joe wrote a column (“WWII, Iraq War contrasts grow,” Sept. 13) in which he gave us a brief history lesson with his view of World War II, then contrasted it to his perception of our current conflict in the Middle East.

I’m not comfortable with his description of our current leadership — perhaps because it quietly rings the same tune screamed at the top of the lungs of many Democratic candidates for president these days.

I then read Tom Williams’ venomous letter to the editor (“Columnist fails to see both sides of war,” Sept. 15) in which any point he might have been trying to make was overwhelmed by the vicious invective and name-calling he aimed directly at Bell.

Based on the subsequent array of rebuttal letters published on these pages, I’m not alone in my assessment.

Even though I don’t share most political viewpoints with Joe Bell, I admire his skill and consider him a friend.

He is especially effective when providing us with perspective of the time in which he began his adult life by defending this country as a Navy flier during World War II.

He has plied his trade as a writer for more than a half century and has left an indelible imprint on this country with his coverage of the seven original Mercury astronauts and of Jane Roe, of Roe v. Wade fame.

He covered her story at the beginning and then three decades later. At UCI he taught many of the writers whose bylines appear on articles throughout Southern California and elsewhere.

Joe Bell is a card-carrying member of Tom Brokaw’s “Greatest Generation,” and, after 85 years of living, can still present a story with the best of them.

At a time when, according to one recent account, members of his generation are leaving us at the rate of 1,000 per day, we need to take every opportunity possible to hear their voices and read their words.

They may be the last generation with the skill to mesmerize you with a softly spoken tale instead of trying to overwhelm you by screaming their message.

Unlike too many writers of subsequent generations — mine and those younger — Joe can inform and entertain you with words that cajole and caress you like whispered summer love and tickle your fancy like a lightly placed feather to the nose, without ever having to resort to the litany of four-letter words delivered with all the subtlety of a baseball bat to the skull as is so prevalent in today’s literature.

To my friend, Joe Bell, I say, just ignore the rants of fools like Tom Williams and keep on chugging.

I don’t always agree with you, but I always admire your skill, and I’m grateful that the Daily Pilot provides you a forum from which you educate, illuminate and irritate us.

Thanks.

Geoff West is a resident of Costa Mesa.