I do indeed wish to respond to the editorial, "Not all sacrifice earns gratitude" (The World, May 27) with the only apt rejoinder I can think of: "Nor should it."

The article Saturday, May 23, and editorial May 27 has revealed two facts to me. Neither the editor nor Miss Sackett are veterans. Were they, their noses would have been twitching before Mr. McLain got the second sentence out of his mouth.

As a veteran of the Vietnam War, I've listened to scores of "helicopter door gunners" who, it inevitably turned out, were never even in Vietnam and many were never even in the military. As the military and its sister organization, the DVA are nothing if not assiduous record filler-outers and keepers, it is usually the second group of "helicopter door gunners" who have the kind of problems Mr. McLaim is experiencing.

If he was in the military and was lying around in some bunk in Fort Dix or Fort Riley, the military and the DVA will have those charts stored away in breathtaking detail.

To access that information either Miss Sackett, through proper channels, or the newspaper, through the Freedom of Information Act with the Pentagon, can request an abbreviated version of his actual service record that will at least say where he served, when, a list of commendations and "I was there" ribbon and the nature of his discharge.

Please, before you beat the drums any more for this guy, take a few minutes to get his story from anyone but Mr. McLaim or his long-suffering mother.

Daryl Bell-Greenstreet

Coos Bay