Los Angeles nightly TV news: “Activists want to rename Pershing Square because General Pershing led an expedition to undo the Mexican revolution and kill Pancho Villa.”

Facts: In 1916 Mexican revolutionary/bandit (depends on point of view) Francisco “Pancho” Villa raided Columbus, New Mexico,  and killed 10 civilians and 8 US soldiers. President Wilson ordered Brigadier General (later General of the Armies) John J. Pershing to pursue and capture Villa.

After a campaign of several months, US troops withdrew without capturing Villa. Villa’s motive for the raid probably was to embarrass his rival, President Carranza. But the US incursion in response heightened anti-US sentiment and strengthened Carranza.

The US motive was to capture the leader of a raid across the border in which Americans were killed. The effect on the Mexican revolution, if any, was a byproduct of this clearly reasonable motive. In any case, Villa survived to be killed later by rivals.

Pershing went on to lead US troops to victory in World War I, and to serve as an inspiration to such officers as George Patton, his aide in Mexico, who played a key role in our victory in World War II.

The people who want to rename Pershing Square are the same ones who pulled down the statue of Ulysses Grant, who led the Union to victory over the Confederacy and thereby ended slavery. They are the same people who want to rename the iconic General Sherman sequoia tree, supposedly because Sherman was too brutal in fighting the Confederates.

Bottom line: Leftists want to delete the good parts of our history and leave only the bad. They want to defame the memory of all our famous people, regardless of what the facts may be. Alzheimer’s is tragic because it destroys personal memory, which is who we are. Destroying our national memory is equally tragic, and for the same reason.