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Donald Trump’s attack on a Gold Star military family and his lack of respect for U.S. service members left a sour taste in the mouth of area veterans who spoke out Tuesday against the Republican presidential nominee after his visit to La Crosse.

Vietnam veteran Dan Krehbiel of Black River Falls said unequivocally, “If I were still in the military, I would not want that man as commander in chief,” citing his treatment of Khizr and Ghazala Khan, whose son Capt. Humayun Khan was killed in Iraq, and former prisoner of war Sen. John McCain.

“The Khan family made the ultimate sacrifice, their son, and they had the right to speak out on any forum, whether it is public or private,” Krehbiel said. “They have a right to speak out and they have a right to be heard. Donald Trump just turned around and insulted that because he has too thin of skin to take criticism, and that’s not the sign of a good leader, a good commander in chief.”

Krehbiel pointed to Trump’s statements last year disparaging McCain, when Trump famously said, “I like people who don’t get captured,” while speaking of McCain’s five years in a Vietnamese POW camp.