WASHINGTON — They battled Hitler and Hirohito, and on Tuesday they had to fight their way into the World War II Memorial.
As the federal government ground to a halt, creating havoc and hardship from the Beltway to Battery Park and beyond, 91 grizzled veterans from Mississippi did something that eluded the politicians — they got something done in Washington.
Walking on canes and sitting in wheelchairs and helped by some members of Congress of both parties — they surged past barricades and signs that declared the memorial closed because of the government shutdown.
“I find it disappointing and disgusting for our country to have to go through this,” said Bob Hunter, 90, of Gulfport, Miss., who survived a plane crash and climbed the Eiffel Tower to post a radio transmitter on top as a member of the Army Signal Corps in World War II.
“I feel like we deserve better,” Hunter said. “Somewhere, somehow, somebody screwed up.”
The vets refused to leave until they were ready.
Tom Lucas, of Pontotoc, Miss., one of five brothers who fought in World War II, said the memorial’s closure “hurt us.”
“I crossed the North Atlantic 20 times on convoy duty,” said Lucas, 87, a former Navy signalman, “and ended up in Tokyo Bay for the signing of the surrender.”
“We did our share, and the last thing people should do is not let us in and not let people open the gate,” he railed.
“We took on the Germans and the Japs and we whipped them, and then we have to take this sort of thing? It makes you wonder if these people work for the U.S government or for themselves.”
The government shutdown began at midnight after the Democratic-controlled Senate and the Republican-controlled House could not resolve their bitter deadlock over Obamacare.
An estimated 800,000 “nonessential” federal employees were thrown out of work, and national parks, tourist attractions and federal offices were closed from coast to coast.
Congress made no real effort to end the shutdown, the first in 17 years, dashing hopes of a quick resolution.
At the White House, President Obama repeatedly called the crisis the “Republican shutdown.”
He accused the GOP of “holding the economy hostage” by refusing to approve any new spending in the budget year that began Tuesday unless Democrats agree to delay or defund parts of his signature health care law.
“Nobody gets to hurt our economy and a whole bunch of hardworking Americans over a law you don’t like. That’s not how adults operate. It’s certainly not how government operates,” he said.
“Congress generally has to stop governing by crisis,” he added. “It is not worthy of this country.”
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Republican leaders accused Obama and the Democrats of refusing to consider any changes in the health care law.
“The President isn’t telling the whole story,” House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) wrote in an op-ed for USA Today. “The fact is that Washington Democrats have slammed the door on reopening the government by refusing to engage in bipartisan talks.”
On Capitol Hill, the rhetoric on both sides grew heated.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Democrats were to blame and are “praying the American people will think it’s somebody else.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) compared McConnell’s claims to George Orwell’s “1984,” where “up is down and east is west.” He branded the Republicans who have been pushing for the shutdown as “anarchists.”
Standing on the House floor, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Queens) chided Republican “poli-tricks” as he held up Tuesday’s Daily News front page with the headline “House of Turds.”
At Battery Park, the huddled masses yearning to visit the Statue of Liberty had the golden door slammed in their faces. “The government shut down,” a tour guide from Statue Cruises told a bunch of baffled Chinese tourists. “There is no government today.”
“I’m so disappointed,” said Cecilia Zhou, 23, of Shanghai. “I came to the city to see the statue.”
Aussies Lynne Snel and her husband bought two $20 tickets to visit Lady Liberty’s crown in August, and they were only good for Tuesday — their final day in New York City.
“These were the very last tickets available,” Snel, 60, said. “We had it all planned.”
“We wish we could swim across to the island,” said her husband, Bart, 62.
Officials said the shutdown will force the National Institutes of Health to turn away the 200 patients who enroll in experimental treatments each week at its famous hospital.
NASA said 97% of its employees were furloughed — including the office that searches the heavens for asteroids that might be hurtling toward Earth. NASA also pulled the plug on TV and Web updates from astronauts Karen Nyberg and Michael Hopkins, who are orbiting in the International Space Station.
The much-loved “Panda Cam” at the National Zoo in Washington also went dark. In Philadelphia, tourists were not allowed to get close to the Liberty Bell.
Down in North Carolina, anglers were barred from the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
Tardy taxpayers got a break when the IRS announced it would suspend audits for the duration of the shutdown.
The Pentagon warned that football games by the teams at the Army, Navy and Air Force academies might be canceled.
And even goats were affected by the shutdown. More than two dozen poison ivy-eating Nubian goats were moved from the Gateway National Recreation Area in Sandy Hook, N.J., and Staten Island, where they have been “working” since July devouring a poison ivy infestation.
In Washington, at the World War II Memorial, a rare show of bipartisanship helped save the day for the visiting veterans.
Democrats like Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa and Republicans like Rep. Steven Palazzo of Mississippi helped to move the barriers, enabling the vets to enter the site to the strains of a bagpiper.
One of the archconservative Tea Party politicians responsible for the budget impasse, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), showed up at the park after the veterans had taken over the site.
“America is not shutting down,” she declared. “If we have anything to say about it, we’re going to keep this open.”
The National Park Service police made no attempt to kick the veterans out.
“They came a long way, apparently decided to come see it, and someone made a decision to open the barricade,” said Park Service spokeswoman Carol Johnson, who was working without pay Tuesday.
At day’s end, it was not clear how the impasse in Congress would end.
Obama and top congressional Democrats were in no mood to offer olive branches to the Republicans, convinced the GOP will get the brunt of blame from the public and eventually cave under pressure.
That left deeply divided House Republicans searching for a a face-saving way out of the mess.
Late Tuesday, House Republicans sought swift passage of legislation aimed at reopening small, but popular, slices of the federal establishment.
The bills covered the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Park Service.
The bills failed, with Senate Democrats saying Republicans shouldn’t be permitted to choose which agencies should open and which remain shut.
