Free Republic

EDITOR'S NOTE: Gura writes, "Today I offer something which will make you stand a little straighter, a little prouder to be an American." Do you know who Jason L. Dunham is? How about Paul Ray Smith? You should because they are two of America’s finest sons; they are heroes in the War on Terror. These days the press doesn’t seem to care very much about conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty. No, they’re too busy whining every time some two bit terrorist thug sniffles, or mugging over Paris Hilton’s latest foibles to tell you about...

Charleston was in ruins. The peninsula was nearly deserted, the fine houses empty, the streets littered with the debris of fighting and the ash of fires that had burned out weeks before. The Southern gentility was long gone, their cause lost. In the weeks after the Civil War ended, it was, some said, "a city of the dead." On a Monday morning that spring, nearly 10,000 former slaves marched onto the grounds of the old Washington Race Course, where wealthy Charleston planters and socialites had gathered in old times. During the final year of the war, the track had been...

The Morehead chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans have been denied a request to march in the Ironton Lawrence County Memorial Day Parade. The 5th Kentucky Infantry Camp #2122 received a letter from Arthur J. Pierson, parade grand marshal, rejecting the group’s request to participate in the parade, without giving any reasons why. “Your parade request for SCV, 5th Kentucky Infantry camp #2122 Morehead, KY, has been considered and NOT APPROVED,” the letter stated. The 5th Kentucky wanted to march with a color guard that would feature two Confederate flags – the Kentucky Confederate flag and the Confederate battle...

On Memorial Day, we honor our nation's warriors and their courageous defense of freedom. Their sacrifice is the highest and best, but it comes with an important caveat. Our soldiers defend freedom outside our borders, but it is the rest of us who must constantly strive to build and maintain it within. While America's troops patrol the mountains of Afghanistan, we must guard against encroachments on freedom here at home. It is up to us to ensure that our way of life is worthy of protection by our men and women in uniform. Our mission may not seem dramatic --...

In Memoriam Franklin Patric Willeford HN3 USN NAVY CROSS March 17, 1943 (Lawton OK) — December 14, 1968 (Quang Nam, Republic of Vietnam) Vietnam Memorial Panel 36W, Row 021 Citation The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to Franklin Patric Willeford (3537852), Hospitalman, U.S. Navy, for extraordinary heroism on 14 December 1968 while serving as a Platoon Corpsman in Company C, First Battalion, Fifth Marines, FIRST Marine Division (Reinforced), Fleet Marine Force, in Quang Nam Province, Republic of Vietnam. As Hospitalman Willeford's platoon was participating in a company-sized sweep through an area, the...

In his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday, President Obama said people can honor veterans by sending a letter or care package to troops overseas, volunteering at health clinics or taking supplies to a homeless veterans center

In Memory Of Pearl Rose Tank http://crosshairs.archangelsandwitticism.com/2009/05/23/in-memory-of-pearl-rose-tank.aspx

As we take a moment to sit quietly, pray and give thanks to our veterans for their many sacrifices, let us always remember that freedom is not free. Veterans, from our hearts to yours, THANK YOU. May God bless you and your families always.

Lest We Forget: Screaming Eagles Know Freedom’s Cost The men of the 101st Airborne Division, or Screaming Eagles, train. (Courtesy of US Army) By MICHAEL P. TREMOGLIE, The Bulletin Friday, May 22, 2009 It is said that freedom is not free. The wise person knows this to be true. However, it takes more than wisdom to know the exact value. If anyone knows the price, it is the men of the 101st Airborne Division. They know it all too well because they have paid it many times. They are known as the Screaming Eagles, the men of the 101st Airborne. They are...

I've never thought much of Barack Obama's policies, and I'm starting not to think much of him as a human being. Today he continued his gratuitous and graceless attacks on his predecessor in the inappropriate context of Memorial Day: Our fighting men and women - and the military families who love them - embody what is best in America. And we have a responsibility to serve all of them as well as they serve all of us. And yet, all too often in recent years and decades, we, as a nation, have failed to live up to that responsibility. We...

In his weekly radio address, President Obama took time to commend American fighting forces and to explain how his defense, veterans and even economic programs (which he continues to call the "New Foundation") are part of serving the armed forces. It might have been superior for the president to have offered only a patriotic message and a word of thanks and remembrance for the fallen soldiers, but that's debatable. What seems wholly out of place, though, is the president's swipe at his predecessor, George W. Bush, and others: "Our fighting men and women – and the military families who love...

It is once again time for America to remember the reason why we celebrate Memorial Day... From the current War on Terror, to World War's I & II, along with Vietnam, Korea, Grenada and even the Spanish American and Civil War's we honor the memory of all of those who have died serving America in our Armed Forces so that we might now all be free and safe... To those of us who have survived serving in the Military during combat or peace, we take the time to stop and remember those brave young men and women who served right...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama urged Americans to pay tribute to veterans on Memorial Day, saying the nation all too often has "failed to live up to that responsibility." In his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday, Obama said people can honor veterans by sending a letter or care package to troops overseas, volunteering at health clinics or taking supplies to a homeless veterans center.

Found this video on You Tube tonight. Thought the guy who made it did an excellent job. Thank GOD for all our brave fighting men and women throughout the centuries. Hat tip to TXBubba for posting another Battle Hymn video on her FaceBook page tonight which then led me to finding this video. Happy Memorial Day Weekend.

When I was a girl of 8 or 10, Memorial Day meant a fight over a greased watermelon all the way to the deep end of the neighborhood pool, relay races where the swimmers had to be fully clothed, all while barbecue still on the bone roasted on a spit in the shade. I had two uncles recently returned from Vietnam, and somewhere along those years my grandmother gave me a bright green silk handkerchief embroidered with World War I insignia, a memento from the last Monday in May someone had given to her as a girl. But I must...

America's annual door into summer, Memorial Day, is found at picnics and cemeteries. Spring's brief flowers dance in the same soft breezes that move the Memorial Day flags so many families have planted at the graves of those they love. Families grow stronger, nourished by sensations sweeter and more sour than hotdog relish. This sacred secular holiday, like the drinking glass ritually broken under foot at Jewish weddings, reminds us that joy and sorrow are seasons that come and go and come again in every human life. In Europe, the red poppies are in bloom once again, as they were...

Hot dogs, potato chips, soda and beer are staples of the traditional Memorial Day cookout, but Washington wants to redesign the menu. Just in time for your neighborhood block party, the Obama Administration and Senate Finance Committee are signalling a change in your diet. President Obama has named Thomas Frieden, the New York City health commissioner who championed a ban on artificial trans fats, as the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Frieden's campaign forced McDonald's to change the way it cooks french fries -- you may have noticed the taste -- and he has...

Memorial Day is that special day we set aside every year to honor those who fought and died in our country’s wars. This holiday was established shortly after the Civil War to reflect on the hundreds of thousands of Union soldiers who perished during the conflict. Today, we tend to focus on those soldiers from WW II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. But shouldn’t we also remember those patriots who fought in the American Revolution? In 1775 North Andover and Andover were both part of the town called Andover. There was the North Parish, which later became North...

In alphabetical order U.S. Military European Cemeteries:Copyright limits posting. Photos at link.Never Forget.

WASHINGTON, May 22, 2009 – More than 3,000 servicemembers officially kicked off the Memorial Day commemoration last evening as they placed more than 250,000 miniature flags at every grave at Arlington National Cemetery. Airman Jacob Proffer, a member of the Air Force Honor Guard, pauses to salute a grave after placing a miniature flag at its base during the “Flags In” tribute at Arlington National Cemetery, May 21, 2009. “When I do this, it makes me take a lot more pride every time I put on my uniform, seeing the measure of sacrifice so many have made,” he said....

Hot&sunny, ops 24/7, bad guys regrouping. The brawl will begin again...probably tonight. bad guys redistributing ammo&moving for new cover. We're on the edge of town&hear the imam's rail against us...morale extremely high...extra intensity, friends on the line. senior nco's and officers here, feel the pull. They've trained everyone on the line...Today at the Div. Chaplain office. He waded into Ar Ramadi during the firefight three days ago...to provide ministry at the aid station...where he was needed. Second, coordinating Holy Week Services. A)worry about large numbers in one place. B)organists in short supply and no organ.C)We are going to worship..we need...

The last time Rolling Thunder roared into Washington, the president welcomed the riders in the White House driveway with a smile on his face and heartfelt personal greeting. This year, maybe not. "We initially got a call this year saying the president wasn't going to greet us," said Artie Muller, founder of the group.

On the day when we memorialize those who gave their lives so America would endure, we should ask what it means a citizen of this republic. Here are the thoughts of one American, a credo for the coming millennia. I am an American. I was conceived at Plymouth, born in Lexington and Concord, and reached maturity at Philadelphia. I went through the fires of Shiloh, Gualdacanal, the Chosin Resovoir, Khe Sanh and a thousand other battlefields, and emerged rededicated to the ideals on which America was founded. I am an American. Ever ready to defend my liberty and independence, to...

SAYING WHAT MUST BE SAID Freedom isn't free, and that is why we are gathered here today --- to honor those who gave everything they had to purchase and protect the freedom we enjoy. Our brave soldiers have fought in many times and lands against the governments of rulers and tyrants that controlled and enslaved their people. We have liberated nations, asking in return only enough ground to bury our dead. Sadly, some people today don't understand freedom. Freedom is the right, given to us by our Creator, to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Freedom is opportunity, but...

SSgt Barry Sadler, Ballad of the Green Berethttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH4-tOqLH94

USS RONALD REAGANSeeing it next to the Arizona Memorial really puts its size into perspective... ENORMOUS! When the Bridge pipes 'Man the Rail' there is a lot of rail to man on this monster: shoulder to shoulder, around 4.5 acres. Her displacement is about 100,000 tons with full complement. Capability Top speed exceeds 30 knots, powered by two nuclear reactors that can operate for more than 20 years without refueling 1. Expected to operate in the fleet for about 50 years 2. Carries over 80 combat aircraft 3. Three arresting cables can stop a 28-ton aircraft going 150 miles per...

Rolling Thunder not expecting Obama greeting By Jennifer Harper Friday, May 22, 2009 The last time Rolling Thunder roared into Washington, the president welcomed the riders in the White House driveway with a smile on his face and heartfelt personal greeting. This year, maybe not. "We initially got a call this year saying the president wasn't going to greet us," said Artie Muller, founder of the group that is marking its 22nd annual patriotic motorcycle ride through Washington to draw attention to policy issues influencing veterans, active-duty military, prisoners of war and those still missing in action. But a second...

To those we lost, it is a debt we can never repay. What we can do is try to keep America strong and keep it the country for which they died. Freedom, liberty, capitalism, and our way of life must be preserved or we dishonor them and their sacrifice. SING ALONG, SAY A PRAYER, AND HONOR THOSE WHO HAVE PRESERVED OUR FREEDOM

          CHARACTER A wise person once said, "You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing to him or for him." (author unknown) Columnist Ann Landers put it this way, "The best index of a person’s character is how he treats people who can do him absolutely no good." In the Christian Scriptures, the Apostle Paul talks about entertaining "angels unawares." (Hebrews 13:1) What these writers are talking about here is more than an act. It’s an attitude - about life, about people, and most importantly,...

    The FReeper Canteen Observes ------------------------Memorial Day 2008 ------------------------   HistoryMemorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service. There are many stories as to its actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day. There is also evidence that organized women's groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the Civil War: a hymn published in 1867, "Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping" by Nella L. Sweet (see below) carried the dedication "To The...

FRIDAY, MAY 22, 2009 9:00 pm - Candlelight Vigil, Vietnam Veteran's Memorial, "The Wall" SATURDAY, MAY 23, 2009 9:00 am - 11:00 pm - Thunder Alley Open YOU CAN PURCHASE YOUR RAFFLE TICKETS ON THE ALLEY SUNDAY, MAY 24, 2009 OFFICIAL 22ND ANNIVERSARY OF ROLLING THUNDER® 9:00 am - 11:00 pm- Thunder Alley Open Noon - Rolling Thunder XXII to Washington DC from Pentagon Parking MONDAY, MAY 25, 2009 9:00 am - 5:00 pm - Thunder Alley 3:05 pmRaffle Drawing, Thunder Alley (you need not be present to win)

NESHANIK STATION, N.J., May 18, 2009 – Mike Corrado, the Marine recording artist whose 2005 hit song “On My Watch Tonight” was featured on ABC’s “Extreme Makeover Home Edition” and has become an anthem for servicemembers worldwide, is one of the headliners in Rolling Thunder’s “Saluting the Troops” program in Washington, D.C., May 23. Vietnam Memorial Founder and veterans’ activist Jan Scruggs also will be a featured speaker at the event, which will be held from noon to 5 p.m. at the reflecting pool at the base of the Lincoln Memorial. In addition to Corrado, musical guests include national recording...

Let’s not forget Monday May 25th is Memorial Day!! Once upon a time, school children were taught about great Americans like Jefferson Davis whose 201st birthday is June 3rd. The statue of Jefferson Davis and his two sons, Joe and Jim Limber, is nearing completion and will be placed at Beauvoir, the last home of the Confederate President, on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast. Jim was the Davis’ adopted African-American son. Read more about this Sons of Confederate Veterans project at: http://www.scv.org/pdf/DavisAppeal2008.pdf On Sunday, May 28, 1893, a few days before "Memorial Day", in New Orleans, a story began that overshadowed all...

As a senior at the University of Georgia in 1942, Bill Solms figured there was a battlefield in his future. Turns out, there was a cemetery. Serving his country would take him to a frozen field ankle-deep in mud, tearing holes in the earth for young men who would not be coming home. During his time in the U.S. Army, commanding troops stationed in the Netherlands to bury war dead, a wide expanse of ground became the final resting place for thousands of soldiers from both sides. Now, some six decades later, the government of the Netherlands is producing a...

Being in Israel as it commemorates Memorial Day is something I would recommend for any one of my fellow Diaspora Jews. One needs no more than to walk down the streets of Tel Aviv or pick up the local newspaper to understand the somber feeling that fills this tiny country on the Mediterranean. There is no loud music to be heard, no picnics at the beach, and no Memorial Day sales at the mall. In talking with Israelis, there is a profound sense of introspection and hopefulness for what the future will bring. It is difficult to find anyone in...

Woman In Trouble For Flying American Flag In Neighborhood ROBINSON TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- A local member of the Air National Guard is in trouble with her condominium complex for what she says is a show of patriotism. Master Sgt. Denise James has been fighting her condo association over the right to fly an American flag. She lives in a condo complex on Kenzie Drive in Robinson Township. On Memorial Day, she put up small American flags in her yard to honor past and present veterans. As July 4 approaches, she is still flying the flags, but her condo association says...

Mass in honor of Memorial Day, celebrated by the Most Reverend Timothy Broglio, Archdiocese for the Military Services USA. Mon 05/26/08 12:00 PM ET & 9 AM PT View now on EWTN...

Every Memorial Day Weekend, the city of Columbia has the Memorial parade, and they unfurl Old Glory in the middle of town while the parade goes under it. It's pretty amazing to see Old Glory like this. This year I didn't participate in the parade, so I had a chance to take pictures of the Columbia FD put up Old Glory.

"I was moved by his story, impressed by his bravery," Bambagiotti said on Memorial Day, standing on the lush green lawn among the sea of white headstones that mark the final resting places for 4,202 U.S. soldiers and airmen who perished in Italy fighting in World War II. The emergence of the Internet prompted Bambagiotti to seek out Lang’s surviving kin. Hundreds of searches, and about three years, netted the professor a clue to Lang’s surviving sister, who had supplied information for a research project by high school students in Avon, S.D. Bambagiotti drafted a typewritten letter, in not-so-perfect English,...

Three hundred thousand bikers spent Memorial Day weekend roaring around Washington in tribute to our war dead, and I stood on Constitution Avenue Sunday afternoon watching a river of them go by, waiting for a gap in the procession so I could cross over to the Mall and look at pictures. The street had been closed off for them and they motored on by, some flying the Stars and Stripes and the black MIA-POW flag, honking, revving their engines, an endless celebration of internal combustion. A patriotic bike rally is sort of like a patriotic toilet-papering or patriotic graffiti—the patriotism...

Memorial Weekend – A time to remember and honor our fallen heroes who have proudly served their country and bravely defended our freedoms. Because of their sacrifices, we celebrate this Memorial Weekend. God Bless Our Heroes and the USA! It was a beautiful spring day with plenty of sunshine. We received our share of beeps, waves and thumbs up. We got one salute and a SEMPER FI shout. A man across the street gave us thumbs up. One lady approached us to tell us we were doing a great job. Two ladies on scooters, who are becoming regulars riding by,...

A World War II veteran, closer now to 90 years than 80, told me he once had a dream that he died and was reunited with his fellow soldiers who had perished between Normandy and the Ardennes. They were all as he remembered them, young men. He, however, in the dream appeared as he does today -- well advanced in years. They didn't know him at first, he being now decades their senior. It disturbed him to see himself that way, and to be seen by them an old man.

The Drudge effect on the campaign Pittsburgh Tribune Review By Salena Zito Barack Obama's first mistake on Memorial Day was giving a speech that said his uncle helped liberate Auschwitz concentration camp. Since his mother, Stanley, was an only child that story was not going to hold water with reporters for long. Obama's campaign said Tuesday the candidate meant to say that his great-Uncle, Charlie Payne, was the liberator. And unless great-Uncle Charlie was a Russian that wasn’t true either. The Red Army liberated Auschwitz in 1945, not American forces. Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton stepped in to fix that...

The Drudge effect on the campaign Pittsburgh Tribune Review By Salena Zito Barack Obama's first mistake on Memorial Day was giving a speech that said his uncle helped liberate Auschwitz concentration camp. Since his mother, Stanley, was an only child that story was not going to hold water with reporters for long. Obama's campaign said Tuesday the candidate meant to say that his great-Uncle, Charlie Payne, was the liberator. And unless great-Uncle Charlie was a Russian that wasn’t true either. The Red Army liberated Auschwitz in 1945, not American forces. Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton stepped in to fix that...

It gets funnier by the day unless this guy actually cons enough people to win the Oval Office, then it will be downright scary. Obama and his advisers are making huge mistakes at every at every turn and not just little ones but doozies. Just over the weekend we have him saying this: On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes -- and I see many of them in the audience here today -- our sense of patriotism is particularly strong. The guys at Powerline take him to the woodshed and rightfully so as...

Some veterans I have known Usually, we post something honoring all veterans on Memorial Day. And well we should, because every one of them, going back to Lexington and Concord, deserves remembrance. We remember and thank them all. An experience over the weekend leads me in a different direction this Memorial Day, however. I am thinking about the veterans whom I've personally known, and about some family members who have served. This weekend, I met a great fellow named Concrete Bob. Bob blogs here and here. We first became aware of each other when my article Returning Soldiers Gunning for...

Red and white roses will adorn the graves of two Corpus Christi soldiers buried in the Netherlands today, courtesy of twin Dutch brothers who adopted the graves as thanks to the men who helped liberate their country during World War II. "For me it's an honor to do this," said Jasper van Haren, 32, a credit manager from Kaatsheuvel, Netherlands. "Our granddad was a slave in German factories while our grandmother ate flower bulbs to stay alive. I know without all those American guys who died here in Holland and Europe for our freedom, we wouldn't be here now." On...

At the end of my street the cemetery is busy for a Monday. Of course, a cemetery under all circumstances is seldom thought of as a busy place. We haven't had busy cemeteries since 1945. Since then the long peace and its sleep was only briefly, for a few years every now and then, interrupted by a small war. The cemeteries fill up more slowly now than ever before. And our sleep, regardless of continuing alarms, deepens. These days we resent, it seems, having them fill at all, clinging to our tiny lives with a passion that passes all understanding;...

ARLINGTON, VA., May 26, 2008 – A group of past and present military women gathered at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery here today to commemorate fallen comrades and celebrate women’s contributions to the nation’s defense. Retired Navy Master Chief Petty Officer Anna Der-Vartanian, left, shakes hands with retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Jeanne Holm during a Memorial Day ceremony held at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery, Va., May 26, 2008. Defense Dept. photo by Gerry J. Gilmore  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. WIMSA’s annual...