As the daughter of a WWII Pacific Theater veteran and the niece of an Army medic who treated Bataan Death March survivors, I can understand the deeply personal context in which Frei’s statement was made. However, the problem is that Frei was fulfilling his professional responsibilities as a reporter for the DP at the time and, as such, his words represented his employer as well. Perhaps a suspension 
would have been more appropriate under the circumstances, but, as a long term subscriber, I regret to observe that there is not much left of the DP anyway.