Patriotism

[snafu]

My dad was 15 years old when the invasion happened. He joined the Civil Service to help the evacuation of the civilian population to bomb shelters should that need to occur. He went on drives to collect cans (tin), rubber and other essentials for the war. At the age of 17 the the war was over but he joined the Navy. He finished his enlistment and then joined the Army Air Corp which evolved into the Air Force where he was involved in the Berlin Air drops feeding impoverished Germans unlucky enough to be on the wrong side of the street. He spent the next 25 years in the Air Force. Kids today have no conception what it's like to live in the fear of war or oppression. They don't understand the sacrifices our parents and grandparents endured.

[snafu]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYENO6r5vVo]YouTube - Martina McBride - Independence Day[/ame]

[RoyalOrleans]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghz4_kikLkE]YouTube - America, The Beautiful : Ray Charles '91[/ame]

[snafu]

Just got a chill down my spine.

[snafu]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKGlnl3InfU&feature=PlayList&p=258E6F8B5663D07C&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=61]YouTube - Mariah Carey - Fourth Of July + Lyrics[/ame]

[snafu]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkxnmR7ZcSE]YouTube - 4th of July[/ame]

[snafu]

Audie Murphy

 

 

In 27 months of combat action, Murphy became one of the most highly decorated United States soldiers of World War II. He received the Medal of Honor, the U.S. military's highest award for valor, along with 32 additional U.S. and foreign medals and citations, including five from France and one from Belgium.

 

 

 

 

Thanks hugo for bringing him up.

 

A true American hero!

[RoyalOrleans]

One of my heroes...

 

Lieutenant General Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller (June 26, 1898 ? October 11, 1971) was an officer in the United States Marine Corps. Puller is the most decorated U.S. Marine in history, and the only Marine to receive five Navy Crosses, the United States Navy's second highest decoration after the Medal of Honor. During his career, he fought guerrillas in Haiti and Nicaragua, and participated in some of the bloodiest battles of World War II and the Korean War. Puller retired from the Marine Corps in 1955, spending the rest of his life in Virginia.

 

[attach=full]2132[/attach]

 

"The mail service has been excellent out here, and in my opinion this is all that the

Air Force has accomplished during the war."

 

"Take me to the Brig. I want to see the "real Marines". "

 

"We're surrounded. That simplifies the problem."

 

"All right, they're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us...they can't get away this time"

 

"Don't forget that you're First Marines! Not all the Communists in hell can overrun you!"

 

Ooo-rah!

[snafu]

.

 

 

Your Shield

The USA KIA/DOW Family Foundation (USAKIA) began Your Shield to demonstrate the strength of families with killed in action (KIA) or died of wounds (DOW) from our U.S. Armed Forces. Spartan mothers told sons before battle, "Come back with your shield or on it." We value communication benefiting U.S. KIA families. USA KIA families and other helpful souls began our unique tax-deductible and tax-exempt organization to remember. Every day is Memorial Day for us. "All gave some... Some gave all."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

USA KIA/DOW Family Foundation (USAKIA)

Edited April 2, 2016 by rem

[snafu]

Fort Rich Memorial: Slideshows | adn.com

[snafu]

MIA

 

 

Fort Richardson soldier held in Afghanistan

 

Fort Richardson soldier held in Afghanistan: Military | adn.com

 

 

Pray and hope for the best for our MIA's

[Old Salt]

Ask a Marine what's so special about the Marines and the answer would be "esprit de corps", an unhelpful French phrase that means exactly what it looks like - the spirit of the Corps...but what is that spirit? and where does it come from?

 

The Marine Corps is the only branch of the U.S. Armed Forces that recruits people specifically to Fight. The Army emphasizes personal development (an Army of One), the Navy promises fun (let the journey begin), the Air Force offers security (its a great way of life).

 

Missing from all the advertisements is the hard fact that a soldier's life is to suffer and perhaps to die for his people and take lives at the risk of his/her own.

 

Even the thematic music of the services reflects this evasion. The Army's Caisson Song describes a pleasant country outing. Over hill and dale, lacking only a picnic basket. Anchors Aweigh...the Navy's celebration of the joys of sailing could have been penned by Jimmy Buffet. The Air Force song is a lyric poem of blue skies and engine thrust. All is joyful, and invigorating, and safe. There are no land mines in the dales nor snipers behind the hills, no submarines or cruise missiles threaten the ocean jaunt, no bandits are lurking in the wild blue yonder.

 

The Marines' Hymn, by contrast, is all combat. "We fight our Country's battles," "First to fight for right and freedom," "We have fought in every clime and place where we could take a gun," "In many a strife we have fought for life and never lost our nerve."

 

The choice is made clear. You may join the Army to go to adventure training, or join the Navy to go to Bangkok, or join the Air Force to go to computer school.

 

You join the Marine Corps to go to War! But the mere act of signing the enlistment contract confers no status in the Corps. The Army recruit is told from his first minute in uniform that "you're in the Army now, soldier". The Navy and Air Force enlistees are sailors or airmen as soon as they get off the bus at the training center. The new arrival at Marine Corps boot camp is called a recruit, or worse, (a lot worse), but never a MARINE. Not yet, maybe never. He or she must earn the right to claim the title of UNITED STATES MARINE, and failure returns you to civilian life without hesitation or ceremony.

 

Recruit Platoon 2210 at San Diego, California trained from October through December of 1968. In Viet Nam the Marines were taking two hundred casualties a week and the major rainy season and Operation Meade River had not even begun yet Drill Instructors had no qualms about winnowing out almost a quarter of their 112 recruits, graduating 81. Note that this was post-enlistment attrition. Every one of those 31 who were dropped had been passed by the recruiters as fit for service. But they failed the test of Boot Camp! Not necessarily for physical reasons.

 

At least two were outstanding high school athletes for whom the calisthenics and running were child's play. The cause of their failure was not in the biceps nor the legs, but in the spirit. They had lacked the will to endure the mental and emotional strain so they would not be Marines. Heavy commitments and high casualties not withstanding, the Corps reserves the right to pick and choose.

 

History classes in boot camp? Stop a soldier on the street and ask him to name a battle of World War One. Pick a sailor at random and ask for a description of the epic fight of the Bon Homme Richard. Ask an airman who Major Thomas McGuire was and what is named after him. I am not carping and there is no sheer in this criticism. All of the services have glorious traditions but no one teaches the young soldier, sailor or airman what his uniform means and why he should be proud of it.

 

But...ask a Marine about World War One and you will hear of the wheat field at Belleau Wood and the courage of the Fourth Marine Brigade comprised of the Fifth and Sixth Marines. Faced with an enemy of superior numbers entrenched in tangled forest undergrowth the Marines received an order to attack that even the charitable cannot call ill-advised. It was insane. Artillery support was absent and air support hadn't been invented yet. Even so the Brigade charged German machine guns with only bayonets, grenades, and an indomitable fighting spirit. A bandy-legged little barrel of a Gunnery Sergeant, Daniel J. Daly, rallied his company with a shout, "Come on you sons a bitches, do you want to live forever?" He took out three machine guns himself.

 

French liaison-officers hardened though they were by four years of trench bound slaughter were shocked as the Marines charged across the open wheat field under a blazing sun directly into the teeth of enemy fire. Their action was so anachronistic on the twentieth-century field of battle that they might as well have been swinging cutlasses. But the enemy was only human. The Boche could not stand up to the onslaught.

 

So the Marines took Belleau Wood. The Germans, those that survived, thereafter referred to the Marines as "Tuefel Hunden" (Devil Dogs) and the French in tribute renamed the woods "Bois de la Brigade de Marine" (Woods of the Brigade of Marines).

 

Every Marine knows this story and dozens more. We are taught them in boot camp as a regular part of the curriculum. Every Marine will always be taught them! You can learn to don a gas mask anytime, even on the plane in route to the war zone, but before you can wear the Eagle, Globe and Anchor and claim the title United States Marine you must first know about the Marines who made that emblem and title meaningful. So long as you can march and shoot and revere the legacy of the Corps you can take your place in line.

 

And that line is as unified in spirit as in purpose. A soldier wears branch of service insignia on his collar, metal shoulder pins and cloth sleeve patches to identify his unit. Sailors wear a rating badge that identifies what they do for the Navy. Marines wear only the Eagle, Globe and Anchor together with personal ribbons and their CHERISHED marksmanship badges. They know why the uniforms are the colors they are and what each color means. There is nothing on a Marine's uniform to indicate what he or she does nor what unit the Marine belongs to. You cannot tell by looking at a Marine whether you are seeing a truck driver, a computer programmer or a machine gunner or a cook or a baker. The Marine is amorphous, even anonymous, by conscious design. The Marine is a Marine.

 

Every Marine is a rifleman first and foremost, a Marine first, last and Always! You may serve a four-year enlistment or even a twenty plus year career without seeing action but if the word is given you'll charge across that Wheatfield! Whether a Marine has been schooled in automated supply or automotive mechanics or aviation electronics or whatever is immaterial.

 

Those things are secondary -- the Corps does them because it must. The modern battle requires the technical appliances and since the enemy has them so do we. But no Marine boasts mastery of them. Our pride is in our marksmanship, our discipline, and our membership in a fraternity of courage and sacrifice. "For the honor of the fallen, for the glory of the dead", Edgar Guest wrote of Belleau Wood. "The living line of courage kept the faith and moved ahead."

 

They are all gone now, those Marines who made a French farmer's little Wheatfield into one of the most enduring of Marine Corps legends. Many of them did not survive the day and eight long decades have claimed the rest. But their actions are immortal. The Corps remembers them and honors what they did and so they live forever. Dan Daly's shouted challenge takes on its true meaning - if you lie in the trenches you may survive for now, but someday you may die and no one will care. If you charge the guns you may die in the next two minutes, but you will be one of the immortals.

 

All Marines die in either the red flash of battle or the white cold of the nursing home. In the vigor of youth or the infirmity of age all will eventually die but the Marine Corps lives on. Every Marine who ever lived is living still, in the Marines who claim the title today.

 

It is that sense of belonging to something that will outlive our own mortality, which gives people a light to live by and a flame to mark their passing.

 

Passed on to a Marine from another Marine!

 

SEMPER FIDELIS.

 

And now passed on by a Navy man who was honored to serve with Marines!

[Ahhlee]

.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

USA KIA/DOW Family Foundation (USAKIA)

 

That is SUCH a poignant picture. OMG...I'm tearing up.

Edited April 2, 2016 by rem

[ImWithStupid]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSfFYxSdKdo]YouTube - the gratitude campaign (full length)[/ame]

[Old Salt]

Pretty long:

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyuVmoycphc]YouTube - Be Good, Smile Pretty[/ame]

[snafu]

Uhh... sad but very good story.

 

 

Some served

Some gave all

[Old Salt]

Quoted from a military forum I'm a member of, Title of the thread was "And then some just don't get it":

 

Jefferson County Sheriff defends soldier's funeral procession - STLtoday.com

 

Jefferson County Sheriff defends soldier's funeral procession

Staff and Wire report

 

Updated: 3:38 p.m. Thursday

JEFFERSON COUNTY ? The Jefferson County sheriff has offered a stern response to a woman complaining she was inconvenienced by a procession accompanying a soldier's casket.

 

The woman wrote an e-mail to Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyer after she had a hard time driving around the procession escorting the casket of Sgt. William Woods, who was killed by Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

 

In his response, Boyer called the complaint self-serving and noted that her inconvenience was of little consequence considering what America's soldiers go through.

 

 

The original email was sent to Sheriff Glenn Boyer on Thursday, August 27. Below is the citizen's email followed by Sheriff Boyer's response.

 

 

I tried to call you earlier this morning, but was unable to obtain your extension from the voice mail system as I was not sure of your first name or correct spelling of your last.

 

I was inadvertently in this procession as I was leaving work on 270 from Creve Coeur and proceeding on Hwy. 30 West. I have some issues and complaints. I called the Sheriff's office last night, but the officer in charge would not speak with me. His name was Corp. Curtis. I am in no way complaining about your officers. I, however, was not treated very fairly when I called last evening because I wanted a ticket/complaint/or at least a slap on wrist for the people involved. Let me explain:

1) This procession should never have been held during rush hour traffic! Hwy. 270 is dangerous and people drive way too fast and there is too much traffic. This soldier's certainly would not have want his family hurt on the interstate taking him to Cedar Hill. People were dead-stopping on the interstate even though the procession was in the far right lane, the other three lanes just stopped. There were many near accidents and possibly were after I drove through. I was in the 2nd to left lane, no way obstructing the funeral procession.

2) I exited off on Gravois (30 W), far right lane. Your police officers went in the left lane to stop any additional on-coming traffic so the procession could exit off 270 into the LEFT lane of 30. Again, I was in the right lane. The St. Louis County officer stopped and turned around at Weber Hill to return on 270 after the procession passed.

3) The road was not closed. (Only for president as far as I know.) Again, the road was not closed. Your officers only had the left lane blocked/closed for the funeral. All other traffic by MO law can proceed as long as they do not interfere (weave in and out )with funeral procession.

Let me say, that I did not know what was happening. I knew the did not have Kennedy coming to STL, at least not yesterday. I was at work all day. No news. Nothing reported on the traffic on the radio driving home.

Anyway, two of these dirty, nasty, renegade, who knows what motorcycle men that were escorting the procession proceeded to stop in front of me in the right lane on Gravois. I had to stop in the middle of an intersection. They proceeded to scream and yell at me about respecting this soldier, etc. One of them climbed off his motorcycle and came over to me and stuck his head in my car continuing to scream at me. I asked him what this was for and he told me I needed to stop as the officers had the road blocked and show some dang respect. #1, the road was not blocked, the funeral was in the other lane. #2, I am proud of our country and sorry for the family, but they had no idea where I was going or anything else. I could have a child at day-care, I could have been sick and racing to the bathroom, I could have a sick parent waiting for me, etc., etc.

#3, They are not law enforcement and had no right to stop in the lane on Gravois and they had no right to scream at me and intimidate and threaten me. If I would have had my pepper spray, I would have used it on this nasty man! He is just a big hoo ha that is not even related to this soldier. The other man did not get off his scooter, but was along side of my passenger window screaming.

I left an abusive husband 1 1/2 years ago and I did not need this intimidation. I was livid and shaking!!

My son is a deputy sheriff in another MO county. I respect police officers. It was not their fault as they were busy with traffic, but I called to make them aware of what was going on during this thing. The St. Louis County officer saw it but of course he was out of jurisdiction.

However, I called last night and your office asked me if I knew about this soldier. Again, I am sorry about him, but I am a taxpayer. I got a speeding ticket a few months ago and paid the fine. I do not deserve to be treated like this. I wanted to let the officer know how these men were acting. Also, they were driving into the turnarounds on Hwy. 30 and then back onto the road. the funeral was much further ahead. One of them nearly got hit by me and other people almost hit him and another as well. I wanted to lodge a complaint about them why they were still there, but no one in your office would take any information or do anything.

This was not a military funeral, even though it was a soldier. There were not military vehicles. It was a funeral and the road was not closed, the lane was closed, I was in the other lane and again, these nasty men had no right to do this and I would have liked them to get a ticket!

I am sorry for the soldier and his family but you cannot let these motorcycle renegades do this. They could have caused several accidents and I really wanted them arrested. If they had any respect for the soldier they would have dressed better and not looked and acted so scuzzy.

 

Thank you.

 

From:

Glenn Boyer/JEFFCO

Date: 08/31/2009 02:05 PM

 

Subject: Re: Fw: Re: Funeral Procession - Yesterday p.m.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Dear XXXXX:

 

Yes, you do deserve a response and I am willing to give you one.

 

I would like to say that I am sorry for the inconvenience we caused you during the funeral procession of Sergeant 1st Class William B. Woods, but I cannot do so. I would ask instead that you take a moment of your time to take into consideration the scope of the event. Your very right to complain was the reason Sgt. Woods fought for his country and ultimately gave his life; thus making the ultimate sacrifice for you and your family.

 

Let me introduce you to him. After high school, Sergeant Woods entered the Marine Corps. After his contract was up, he joined the Army, where he became a Green Beret. He comes from a long line of military members in his family. His Uncle is a Vietnam Veteran and two of his grandfathers were World War II Veterans. His job in the Army was one of the most dangerous jobs - he was a sniper looking for the bad guys to stop before they killed or injured one of our soldiers. He has numerous decorations to include the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.

 

He grew up in Catawissa and was best known by his middle name, Brian. He enjoyed the outdoors, playing sports, and skydiving. He had a wife, Elizabeth, and two daughters, whom he loved dearly. He was a soft-spoken, level-headed young man who was proud to serve his country no matter what the risk. Now, I did not know him, but I wish I did. I am quoting from newspaper articles written about him.

 

At the young age of 31, he was shot during an engagement with Taliban forces in Ghanzi , Afghanistan . He died of his wounds in Germany on August 16, with his family by his side. He did not choose the time of his death, nor did he choose the time his remains would be brought back to his home in Catawissa. He just did his duty. He was quite a young man.

 

While you were being inconvenienced in your car on your way home, there were soldiers just like Sergeant Woods carrying 100+ pounds of equipment in 120 degree heat, up some mountain or in the middle of some desert. They will shower out of a helmet liner if they get the chance. They will eat a cold meal of MRE's; something most people would consider garbage. They cannot text their family or friends, or go to McDonalds, or watch TV. They can only continue the mission and look out after the guy to the left and right of them. They don't complain because they know they volunteered. The only thing they ask is that we do not forget the sacrifices they have made.

 

One of the dirty "big hoo ha" bikers, as you call them, was Brian's uncle, a Vietnam Veteran, like myself. We were not treated with a homecoming. We were spit on and called baby killers by a misguided public. Brian's uncle was giving him the respect that he, himself, never received when he came back and I, for one, am proud of him for doing so.

 

You say that your brother is a deputy in another Missouri county. I am sure he would be proud to escort the casket of a fallen solder, the same as he would that of a fallen officer. I am also sure he would not agree with your complaint about being inconvenienced.

 

My mother recently passed away. She was a World War II Veteran, serving the U.S. Army. She would say, maybe you should pick up Sergeant Woods' ruck sack and carry on where he left off. Then you could see first hand what it really is to be inconvenienced.

 

Per your request, I will forward your complaint to the Prosecuting Attorney's Office for his review. It is my personal opinion that your complaint is self-serving and without merit.

 

Sheriff Oliver "Glenn" Boyer

[RoyalOrleans]

Bulldogs Honor Troops With Special Stickers

[Old Salt]

Today, 18 September 2009, is National POW/MIA Recognition day. Just thought I'd let everyone know.

[Ahhlee]

Today, 18 September 2009, is National POW/MIA Recognition day. Just thought I'd let everyone know.

 

Thank you, OS.

[snafu]

Palin dinner offered on eBay brings in $63,500 for charity that benefits wounded veterans.

 

 

 

 

Palin dinner offered on eBay brings in $63,500 for charity: Former Gov. Sarah Palin | adn.com

[ImWithStupid]

Kelly Clarkson is coming to Lincoln Nebraska. How much would dinner with her be worth to ya, Snaf?

[snafu]

Kelly Clarkson is coming to Lincoln Nebraska. How much would dinner with her be worth to ya, Snaf?

 

Hmmm... let me see what kind of a loan I can get at the bank.

[snafu]

We have had many outstanding hero's in our past such as Douglas MacArthur as one that stands out. Yes he was but we had many many more unspoken hero's too.

Lt. Colonel Ronald Spears may not have been unspoken but was a true hero too . Do we turn our backs on the ones that sacrifices so much and endures so much? Do we criticize those who may have perpetrated so much evil as to over come evil its self? I don't beleive so. I belive evil can only be over become by evil itself. Fight fire with fire.

 

 

Lt. Colonel Ronald Spears my have walked a fine line but he did it in the line of good.

 

.

 

 

Ronald Speirs

 

 

April 20, 1920 - April 11, 2007

 

RIP

Edited April 2, 2016 by rem

[snafu]

. Edited April 2, 2016 by rem