They wouldn’t stop reading the names of their fallen brethren “in a timely manner” — and for this, 11 Vietnam veterans and one Purple Heart-holding World War II veteran are on trial in Manhattan.
“It’s disgusting, it’s insulting, it’s outrageous, and it’s unconstitutional,” a WWII vet, defendant Jay Wenk, 87, told The Post of the First Precinct and NYPD anti-terror cops who interrupted a solemn commemorative service at the Vietnam Memorial last fall.
A total of 25 memorial participants — almost all of them silver-haired seniors — had been frisked, flex-cuffed and tossed into a police wagon during the October commemoration, all for refusing to halt reading the names of the dead at 10 p.m. sharp, as ordered.
“We were not going to stop reading the names,” said Bill Perry, a Vietnam Tet Offensive paratrooper and one of 11 vets who are taking their cases to trial before Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Robert Mandelbaum on principal.
“We leave no men or women behind on the battlefield or in our hearts.”
Prosecutors screened video of the takedown as testimony began in the strange case yesterday.
“You guys are traitors to us!” former Vietnam combat medic Mike Hastie, 67, is heard shouting as he is flex-cuffed.