Posted on 08/25/2005 6:23:01 AM PDT by Irontank
At the age of eleven, Birch expressed a desire to become a Christian missionary. Upon learning of the violence inflicted upon missionaries by Chinese communists, the youngster selected China as his mission field. When cautioned by his pastor that "more will be killed" in China, Birch replied: "I know the big enemy is communism, but the Lord has called me. My life is in his hands, and I am not turning back."
Birch's labors in China began in 1940, a time when the country was being ravaged by the Japanese military. After Pearl Harbor he dyed his hair black, adopted the garb of the local population, and continued his underground work behind enemy lines. While near the border of Japanese-occupied territory on the evening of April 19, 1942, Birch came upon Colonel James H. Doolittle and members of the raiding party that had just completed a dramatic bombing raid on Tokyo. With his encyclopedic knowledge of the language, customs, and geography of China, Birch was able to convey Doolittle and the crews of 12 American bombers to safety in free China.
Shortly thereafter, Birch became an intelligence analyst as a second lieutenant with the China Air Task Force -- General Claire Chennault's legendary "Flying Tigers." Performing high-risk intelligence-gathering missions on the ground, Birch acted as "the eyes of the 14th Air Force," devising an early warning system that enabled U.S. air units to come to the aid of Chinese units under enemy attack. He also organized a rescue system for pilots who were shot down by the Japanese. Chennault credited Birch with the fact that 90 percent of his downed flyers were rescued.
On August 25, 1945 -- ten days after the end of WWII -- Birch (by then a captain) was part of an official military mission to Suchow that was detained by Chinese communists. Captain Birch and another man were separated from their group and shot. An autopsy later demonstrated that after Birch had been immobilized by a gunshot to the leg, his hands were tied behind his back and he was shot execution-style in the back of his head. The communists had also desecrated Birch's dead body.
In its desire to depict the Red Chinese as innocuous "agrarian reformers," the U.S. government suppressed the news of the unprovoked murder of Captain Birch. It fell upon Robert Welch to rescue the memory of this selfless Christian patriot from the shameful oblivion to which it had been assigned. In December 1958, Welch named the new organization he created the John Birch Society to preserve the memory of this patriotic exemplar. Wrote Mr. Welch, "If we rediscover some of our sounder spiritual values in the example of his life ... and learn essential truths about our enemy from the lesson of his murder, then his death at twenty-six ceases to be a tragedy."
For all of the bad press that the JBS has gotten over the years (some deserved, mind you), I'd take a conspiratorial patriot anyday over a worthless leftie!
The problem is that Gen. Jimmy Doolittle, who knew John Birch well, said in his autobiography that John Birch would not approve of the John Birch Society.
That doesn't help. LOL. But the Birchers I've known love America. That goes a long way in my book!
In his book, did Doolittle mention any specific positions of the JBS that he believed John Birch would have repudiated? So many issues raised by the JBS over the years have been dismissed and ridiculed as conspiratorial, paranoid, racist, etc...but, in almost every case, the passage of time has vindicated the JBS...from the high level Communist influence in the Roosevelt Administration to the global Communist network, to the deeply rooted corruption in the UN (which seems to finally be an acknowledged fact among most Americans) to the government coverup at Waco to the fraud of "free trade" agreements like NAFTA and now, CAFTA. Moreover, the JBS's tireless commitment to limited government, elimination of the federal income tax, to repeal of dozens of federal regulatory agencies to getting the US out of the UN, to disentagling ourselves from foreign affairs that waste American lives, money and dilute our sovereignty, to a strict adherance to the actual words of the Constitution, etc. are all ideals that should unite every American patriot
While that all sounds reasoned and agreeable, there are some serious issues I have with the the JBS, particlarly regarding foriegn policy and the irrational belief that the US politcal leaders are part of some grand conspiracy. Go back and read some of the material from JBS about Reagan during his tenure. IT will piss you off.
"For all of the bad press that the JBS has gotten over the years (some deserved, mind you), I'd take a conspiratorial patriot anyday over a worthless leftie!"
I've noticed over the last several years that many of the things the Birchers have been warning of have come true.
In the long run, communism is untenable; eventually the people will want more, even the most heartless leaders can't afford to eliminate all of its workers.
Socialism is a changing concept and much easier to sell as long as major hardship is avoided.
Most people develop a dislike of government for no better reason than its constant presence.
For some reason, many Birchers I have met have been thinly veiled anti-Semites.
Many Birchers? I've met and known hundreds of members of the JBS over the years and certainly some would be anti-Semitic, but the vast, vast majority are not...and, obviously, that includes the thousands of Jewish members of the JBS. The charges of anti-Semitism, racism, paranoia, etc. have been floated by communists, socialists, leftists, Establishment and MSM types since the very early days of the JBS...I think a lot of people have come to believe these charges based on nothing more than having heard them for so long
Pay no attention to the detractors.
Look at the results of those they defend.
Well, I was feelin' sad and feelin' blue, I didn't know what in the world I was gonna do, Them Communists they wus comin' around, They wus in the air, They wus on the ground. They wouldn't gimme no peace. . .
So I run down most hurriedly And joined up with the John Birch Society, I got me a secret membership card And started off a-walkin' down the road. Yee-hoo, I'm a real John Bircher now! Look out you Commies!
Now we all agree with Hitlers' views, Although he killed six million Jews. It don't matter too much that he was a Fascist, At least you can't say he was a Communist! That's to say like if you got a cold you take a shot of malaria.
Well, I wus lookin' everywhere for them gol-darned Reds. I got up in the mornin' 'n' looked under my bed, Looked in the sink, behind the door, Looked in the glove compartment of my car. Couldn't find 'em . . .
I wus lookin' high an' low for them Reds everywhere, I wus lookin' in the sink an' underneath the chair. I looked way up my chimney hole, I even looked deep inside my toilet bowl. They got away . . .
Well, I wus sittin' home alone an' started to sweat, Figured they wus in my T.V. set. Peeked behind the picture frame, Got a shock from my feet, hittin' right up in the brain. Them Reds caused it! I know they did . . . them hard-core ones.
Well, I quit my job so I could work alone, Then I changed my name to Sherlock Holmes. Followed some clues from my detective bag And discovered they wus red stripes on the American flag! That ol' Betty Ross . . .
Well, I investigated all the books in the library, Ninety percent of 'em gotta be burned away. I investigated all the people that I knowed, Ninety-eight percent of them gotta go. The other two percent are fellow Birchers . . . just like me.
Now Eisenhower, he's a Russian spy, Lincoln, Jefferson and that Roosevelt guy. To my knowledge there's just one man That's really a true American: George Lincoln Rockwell. I know for a fact he hates Commies cus he picketed the movie Exodus.
Well, I fin'ly started thinkin' straight When I run outa things to investigate. Couldn't imagine doin' anything else, So now I'm sittin' home investigatin' myself! Hope I don't find out anything . . . hmm, great God
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