Honoring Those Who Gave Their Lives For Our Freedom

[FirefightnRick]

I am free. I am free because a brave young man died in a stinking trench in the woods in Ardennes from a horrific mustard gas attack.  I am free because a brave sailor still lies entombed in the Arizona. I am free because some brave 18 year old from a small town in Nebraska scared to death ran off a landing craft on the beaches of Normandy and did not make it ten yards before he was killed. I am free because a man under fed and under clothed against a ferocious Korean winter and faced overwhelming odds in the Inchon valley against communist forces and died there. I am free because a young man decided to obey his country's order to serve in a unpopular war and sit in a foxhole in a miserable jungle fighting a unseen enemy. Only to step on a booby trap and not come home to a country that did not respect he was there to begin with. I am free because men still to this day die in a desert to stop a facist religion intent on taking all that we believe in away from us. This is why i am free and this is why i will not forget today, tomorrow or any time i see the flag presented. This is why my only duty is too make sure my son understands the price that was paid so he too will not forget, because if we do we will cease to exist a free nation.   God bless all who gave their life for me and the families that still live with their memories.

Have A Safe Memorial Day!

 

Rick

Edited June 7, 2016 by FirefightnRick

[EagleMBA]

VERY well said, Rick. Too many of the current generation do not even recognize the significance of this holiday. I know this first-hand from interraction with some of them this past week. May we never forget!

[FirefightnRick]

32 minutes ago, EagleMBA said:

VERY well said, Rick. Too many of the current generation do not even recognize the significance of this holiday. I know this first-hand from interraction with some of them this past week. May we never forget!

Agree.  The fact that this got moved from the most popular forum where most will see it without a link really says a lot.

 

Rick

[Censored by Laurie]

12 hours ago, FirefightnRick said:

Agree.  The fact that this got moved from the most popular forum where most will see it without a link really says a lot.

right. I'm sure it didn't have anything to do with you working your own personal politics and prejudices into your grandstand heart-felt tribute. 

 

[SilverEagle]

You know, I've never been comfortable with "Happy Memorial Day". 

"Have a respectful Memorial Day?"

"Have a reflective Memorial Day?"

And speaking of reflective.  The "freedom isn't free" phrase is much different (and probably very bitter) to people of color in this country, than it is to us who are white/Caucasian. How many people of color have gone off to war, made the same sacrifices, and came back to find that one of the freedoms they bought with their blood, sweat, and tears, was the freedom for the white/Caucasian community to continue to deny them their basic rights. Which included the right to at least be treated with dignity (Black veterans were still called the "N" word and "boy"). After the black veterans returned from WWI, some of them found that their service in that dehumanizing war bought them a lynching by their "appreciative" fellow free Americans.   

And while I'm at it, one of the groups that should be honored more than just about anyone is the Native Americans, especially the descendants of the Navajo code talkers. In light of how the great "land of the free" treating their ancestors, they had every right to tell the government to go screw themselves when they were asked to participate in the code talking program. Yet they did, and how many countless lives were saved as a result.

Edited May 31, 2016 by SilverEagle

[FirefightnRick]

 

17 hours ago, Censored by Laurie said:

right. I'm sure it didn't have anything to do with you working your own personal politics and prejudices into your grandstand heart-felt tribute. 

 

What Grandstanding?  

 

 

Rick

Edited June 1, 2016 by FirefightnRick

[FirefightnRick]

7 hours ago, SilverEagle said:

You know, I've never been comfortable with "Happy Memorial Day". 

"Have a respectful Memorial Day?"

"Have a reflective Memorial Day?"

And speaking of reflective.  The "freedom isn't free" phrase is much different (and probably very bitter) to people of color in this country, than it is to us who are white/Caucasian. How many people of color have gone off to war, made the same sacrifices, and came back to find that one of the freedoms they bought with their blood, sweat, and tears, was the freedom for the white/Caucasian community to continue to deny them their basic rights. Which included the right to at least be treated with dignity (Black veterans were still called the "N" word and "boy"). After the black veterans returned from WWI, some of them found that their service in that dehumanizing war bought them a lynching by their "appreciative" fellow free Americans.   

And while I'm at it, one of the groups that should be honored more than just about anyone is the Native Americans, especially the descendants of the Navajo code talkers. In light of how the great "land of the free" treating their ancestors, they had every right to tell the government to go screw themselves when they were asked to participate in the code talking program. Yet they did, and how many countless lives were saved as a result.

Dont forgot to mention the 180,000 Japanese Americans locked up by FDR too. Where was their freedom?

 

Rick

 

 

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

37 minutes ago, FirefightnRick said:

Dont forgot to mention the 180,000 Japanese Americans locked up by FDR too. Where was their freedom?

Rick

 

Bad moment in history ....  [but we haven't learned much ]  unfortunately there is a guy for President now running that thinks about the same for Hispanics... seems to think they are all drug  dealers and criminals etc.   Seems to want to send them all back. He has made a lot of similar comments about "another group" as well.. Had a "friend" say about the same lately and then I mentioned Eva Longoria claimed to be a 13th generation Texan on a late show the night before ... the "friend" said that is impossible.... I then told him her family came here on a Spanish land grant in the 1600's.  She laughed her family didn't jump the border ... the border jumped them.... hahaha .. the friend ?? --- His family has been in Texas less than 40 years.... not 300+. ....... Guess he had not noticed so many towns and rivers have Spanish Names... even the Trinity was originally named Trinidad.. 

The candidate seems to think we can build a fence along the Rio Grande....ever been there..??? How the do cattle ranchers provide water for cattle and don't forget ... lot of wild animals --  deer, antelope, raccoons and others get their water there also. ... 10,000's would die. .plus how will the  Pecos River and other rivers and creeks  empty ...into a fence?? Daming them all up is ridiculous and impossible. ...... A total non-thinker ...just says what some people want to hear...

 

Edited May 31, 2016 by SCREAMING EAGLE-66

[foutsrouts]

3 hours ago, SCREAMING EAGLE-66 said:

Bad moment in history ....  [but we haven't learned much ]  unfortunately there is a guy for President now running that thinks about the same for Hispanics... seems to think they are all drug  dealers and criminals etc.   Seems to want to send them all back. He has made a lot of similar comments about "another group" as well.. Had a "friend" say about the same lately and then I mentioned Eva Longoria claimed to be a 13th generation Texan on a late show the night before ... the "friend" said that is impossible.... I then told him her family came here on a Spanish land grant in the 1600's.  She laughed her family didn't jump the border ... the border jumped them.... hahaha .. the friend ?? --- His family has been in Texas less than 40 years.... not 300+. ....... Guess he had not noticed so many towns and rivers have Spanish Names... even the Trinity was originally named Trinidad.. 

The candidate seems to think we can build a fence along the Rio Grande....ever been there..??? How the do cattle ranchers provide water for cattle and don't forget ... lot of wild animals --  deer, antelope, raccoons and others get their water there also. ... 10,000's would die. .plus how will the  Pecos River and other rivers and creeks  empty ...into a fence?? Daming them all up is ridiculous and impossible. ...... A total non-thinker ...just says what some people want to hear...

 

Other than a few purchases and such (Alaska etc.), how many borders in the world weren't settled by violence or the threat of violence? That's just the way things were and still are if you ask Ukrainians. Mexico themselves have been accused of bullying Guatemala into ceding lands, and they are even working on the idea of a fenced in southern border a la Donald Trump.

I agree that a full wall won't happen short of a nuclear smuggle-in that puts the country in full panic mode. I've paddled the majority of the Rio Grande border area, and the topography and such would make it very difficult in Texas. What do you do with places like Lake Amistad, Falcon Lake, Big Bend? Build a fence down the middle of the lakes and cut off the national park from the river?

I can see adding more fencing in Texas and maybe building a solid fence in the desert from El Paso through NM and AZ to San Diego, but I suspect that it would be pretty high maintenance no matter how you do it. It would no doubt slow the flow, but I suspect that Texas would end up getting the bulk of the remaining migration and smuggling through weak points including the Gulf Coast.

Expensive serious militarization of the border area is not a very appetizing thought, but that's probably about the only thing that would work. The profit and freedom motives are just too strong. 

[foutsrouts]

6 hours ago, FirefightnRick said:

Dont forgot to mention the 180,000 Japanese Americans locked up by FDR too. Where was their freedom?

 

Rick

 

 

And let us not forget about the several thousand Italian Americans who were interned, surveilled, or otherwise abused in a variety of ways during that war, and unlike the Japanese, they didn't even receive any reparations. Of course we cannot forget the abuse and discrimination that the Irish were subjected to both in the UK and the US for generations. Let's not even get into Jew abuse, Catholic abuse, Protestant abuse, Muslim abuse or the abuse of females across the world since the beginning of time.

I guess every White male with an English surname owes reparations to everyone on the planet. But wait, the Romans enslaved the British for generations, so maybe they are the root of all evil? I guess we could also get into racial statistics on violent crime rates, but anyone who did that would be accused of being Donald Trump. Bottom line? I guess everyone owes apologies and reparations to everyone.

[Coffee and TV]

Well that didn't take long.

[Censored by Laurie]

16 minutes ago, Coffee and TV said:

Well that didn't take long.

in fairness, they were probably on to something with the dagoes 

[GTWT]

On ‎5‎/‎30‎/‎2016 at 6:17 PM, EagleMBA said:

May we never forget!

But we will.  How many of you last March 2nd gave a thought to what that day meant?

[EagleMBA]

1 minute ago, GTWT said:

But we will.  How many of you last March 2nd gave a thought to what that day meant?

I just checked to see what I did then. "Texas Independence Day" was written by me and circled. So I guess that is the hallowed event to which you refer, sir.

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

---- Seems about every group [except British names] has had their turn at being made fun of, mistrusted etc.   My father's family still spoke German as well as English until 1918.... German speakers were not trusted at that point..... because of WWI.  They had been in America since the 1850's. there was at least one of my distant family members that changed the spelling of his last name to make it sound more "American".... I have heard that there are a number of people did the same such as Schneider became Snyder etc. and a lot started used using more American sounding  first names ... Carl not Karl or William instead of Wilhelm...  Read Lou Gehrig's biography and see what he went through... about  same thing in WWI when he was growing up... . I am not sure this related but have heard it was....Stanton, Texas was once Marienfeld, Texas [ Mary's field in German]  .... just not sure.  A street in Midland still has that name referring to that town, a train stop on the MKT RR. . 

There is nothing new about mistrust or making fun of other ethic groups or religions.... ask the Irish, Polish, Spanish, French, Chinese, Japanese,German, Dutch, Jewish, Italians, Mormons, African,  and many others....  Probably the KKK types could name a few more that aren't "real"  Americans. 

 

Edited June 1, 2016 by SCREAMING EAGLE-66

[CMJ]

I was one of the speakers at the Monday service at the LA Memorial Coliseum speaking on WWI and its significance.

 

(Okay go back to the fights)

[GTWT]

16 hours ago, EagleMBA said:

I just checked to see what I did then. "Texas Independence Day" was written by me and circled. So I guess that is the hallowed event to which you refer, sir.

My hat is off to you.  Still, I'd bet you were one of a very small percentage of Texans who remembered that day & the heroes who made it possible..

[EagleMBA]

3 hours ago, GTWT said:

My hat is off to you.  Still, I'd bet you were one of a very small percentage of Texans who remembered that day & the heroes who made it possible..

I have been a life-long financial dude but I enjoyed (and enjoy) my history. Having said that, I will admit that the date should have popped right up to me instinctively. In my defense, I was born and raised as a Hoosier...but I got here as quick as I could and assimilated.

[CMJ]

 

 

That's me speaking on Memorial Day.  Probably a hundred people came - they were prepared for many more.  However, it was the first year they'd really tried to to have a service there in about 40 years.  The Coliseum is a WWI memorial and had commemorative events for Armistice/Veterans Day and Memorial Day for decades after it was built in 1923.  I've been helping them try to restart the tradition as part of my WWI Centennial Commission outreach.

[GTWT]

Most of those at the Alamo, Goliad, & San Jacinto were from Tennessee, the Carolinas, and probably Indiana.  Texas revolutionary heroes actually born in Texas mostly had names like Seguin, Gonzales, & Sanchez.

Texas, like being a Texan, is a state of mind.

 

[MeanGreenTexan]

13 minutes ago, CMJ said:

 

 

That's me speaking on Memorial Day.  Probably a hundred people came - they were prepared for many more.  However, it was the first year they'd really tried to to have a service there in about 40 years.  The Coliseum is a WWI memorial and had commemorative events for Armistice/Veterans Day and Memorial Day for decades after it was built in 1923.  I've been helping them try to restart the tradition as part of my WWI Centennial Commission outreach.

That's awesome @CMJ!

I hope it picks up in the years to come.

[CMJ]

5 minutes ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

That's awesome @CMJ!

I hope it picks up in the years to come.

The Coliseum also asked me to write a summary of their memorial history (which believe it or not, they did not have).  After going through decades of LA Times articles, I typed up a fairly lengthy version, of which they gutted and kept the basics to put on their website if you are interested.  (If anyone wants to read the orginal, I still have that much longer version I can send - Ha!)

 

 

http://www.lacoliseum.com/index.php/the-los-angeles-coliseum-dedicated-to-the-united-states-armed-forces-memorial/

 

 

[Army of Dad]

5 hours ago, CMJ said:

The Coliseum also asked me to write a summary of their memorial history (which believe it or not, they did not have).  After going through decades of LA Times articles, I typed up a fairly lengthy version, of which they gutted and kept the basics to put on their website if you are interested.  (If anyone wants to read the orginal, I still have that much longer version I can send - Ha!)

 

 

http://www.lacoliseum.com/index.php/the-los-angeles-coliseum-dedicated-to-the-united-states-armed-forces-memorial/

 

 

I'm guessing you've been to the national WWI museum in KC. For those who haven't been to it, I highly recommend it.

[FirefightnRick]

Very cool Courtland.  I'd like to try and make it out there for that some year.

 

Rick

Edited June 4, 2016 by FirefightnRick

[UNTLifer]

On ‎5‎/‎31‎/‎2016 at 6:49 PM, SCREAMING EAGLE-66 said:

Bad moment in history ....  [but we haven't learned much ]  unfortunately there is a guy for President now running that thinks about the same for Hispanics... seems to think they are all drug  dealers and criminals etc.   Seems to want to send them all back. He has made a lot of similar comments about "another group" as well.. Had a "friend" say about the same lately and then I mentioned Eva Longoria claimed to be a 13th generation Texan on a late show the night before ... the "friend" said that is impossible.... I then told him her family came here on a Spanish land grant in the 1600's.  She laughed her family didn't jump the border ... the border jumped them.... hahaha .. the friend ?? --- His family has been in Texas less than 40 years.... not 300+. ....... Guess he had not noticed so many towns and rivers have Spanish Names... even the Trinity was originally named Trinidad.. 

The candidate seems to think we can build a fence along the Rio Grande....ever been there..??? How the do cattle ranchers provide water for cattle and don't forget ... lot of wild animals --  deer, antelope, raccoons and others get their water there also. ... 10,000's would die. .plus how will the  Pecos River and other rivers and creeks  empty ...into a fence?? Daming them all up is ridiculous and impossible. ...... A total non-thinker ...just says what some people want to hear...

 

You were spot on with your first four words and then got derailed.  Before going any further, I am not a Trump fan, but I would choose him over either of the two morons the Dems are throwing out there.  Back to topic, Trump does not think the same for all Hispanics.  He is talking about the ones here illegally.  That word means unlawful and reflects those that did not enter the U.S. by legal means...they snuck in.  Gee, I wonder how Mexico treats those that enter its borders illegally?  http://www.nationalreview.com/article/229641/how-mexico-treats-illegal-aliens-michelle-malkin  Yes, Trump says moronic things, but he said nothing about those here legally.

 

Regarding the fence, I have not seen anything stating that he wants a fence along the Rio Grande.  I would be impossible since the border is in the center of the river, thus not hindering wildlife, etc...

 

I could care less if you don't like him and don't believe in his views, but at least be accurate with what you report.