Free Republic

Last Saturday, the 13th of May, I posted my article about the day I was wounded in Vietnam. hereBecause I had such wonderful responses and because a flood of memories have come back, I decide to write the next part of the story, my time in the hospitals after that pivotal day all those years ago.As I described before, I had been shot on May 13th, 1967 and underwent surgery that evening in Charlie Med, Danang Vietnam. That following morning I woke up in a Spica cast, a plaster sheath that enclosed my whole body from the top of my...

The United Nations has been serving as an enabler of North Korea’s chemical program The United Nations finds itself in one embarrassing situation after the other. Here are just a handful of recent examples. The United Nations has been serving as an enabler of North Korea’s chemical program, according to a recent exclusive report by Fox News. “For more than a year,” Fox News reported, “a United Nations agency in Geneva has been helping North Korea prepare an international patent application for production of sodium cyanide—a chemical used to make the nerve gas Tabun—which has been on a list of...

People are outraged over photos on social media of a Vietnam War veteran displayed at his wake on a gurney covered in an American flag. No coffin was available for the visitation held at Heritage Funeral Home in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia.

As a new mother, Melania Trump marveled over her son, Barron. "The love. It's unconditional love," she told the Palm Beach Daily News in an interview published on her first Mother's Day. For much of her husband's chaotic presidency so far, Mrs. Trump has stayed out of Washington. Similarly, during Donald Trump's campaign, she remained in the background and did not display deep passion for any particular policy issue. But in the 2006 interview about her baby, she seems in awe. "It's a miracle almost, I could say, that two people can create," she said. "It's very, very special." Her...

A scenic brook in Autumn, and I sing two verses of the hymn, There is a Fountain Filled with Blood, accompanied with, lyrics, and piano music.

A new TV ad from the U.S. Marine Corps focuses on a woman in combat, the first commercial of its kind for the military branch. The woman starring in the new spot, Marine Capt. Erin Demchko, has served in Afghanistan and was a logistics officer on a Female Engagement Team, according to the Marine Corps website. “FETs build trust with local civilians to gather information and improve relations with the community,” says the website. “Capt. Demchko worked side by side with her fellow Marines to complete missions in the region.” The ad follows a young girl who stands up...

God Bless America! Yesterday was the 55th anniversary of General Douglas MacArthur’s famed “Duty, Honor, Country” speech that he delivered to the Corps of Cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, on May 12, 1962. This is considered one of the great speeches in American history. Even if you have read it before, please take time again to listen to the audio and follow along with the text (link below), as it is timely considering our U.S. Military is currently engaged in serious national defense of our country …. throughout the world.

Today in Medal of Honor history (1969): U.S. Army Capt. Kern Dunagan leads an attack to relieve Fire Support Base Professional in Quang Tin Province. Despite taking a serious bullet wound to the face, a broken ankle, and gunshots breaking both of his arms during the intense two-day battle against the North Vietnamese Army, Dunagan refuses medical evacuation and returns to the battlefield to search for soldiers and carries a wounded comrade to the fire base. Click the link above to read Dunagan's Medal of Honor citation

FORT HUACHUCA - Ted Forte, Ken Duncan, and Bob Gent met at Colonel Smith Middle School recently and young astronomers observed the planet Venus, the moon, and the sun through their telescopes. The trio also brought the Planetary Science Institute's meteorite kit, and student scientists studied pieces of Mars and a rare and beautiful Pallasite meteorite. Later that evening, they drove to Faras Elementary School near Douglas, and Rick Burke joined Forte, Duncan, and Gent. “The seeing was good, and we observed the moon, Jupiter and other wonders of the night sky,” Gent said.

On May 13th, 1967, I was shot through my upper right thigh, shattering my femur and almost severing my leg. I celebrate this day every year because it was the day I almost died but through God’s grace, I have lived this half century more. I was a twenty-one year old Lance Corporal (E-3) in the Marines serving as an Artillery Scout (an enlisted Forward Observer) with Golf Company 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines (2/1) about 16 kilometers Southwest of Danang, Vietnam. Our company was on a local sweep a little north of Hill 55, following the edge of the Song...

1780: Gen. Benjamin Lincoln, commanding American forces at Charleston, S.C., surrenders to Gen. Sir Henry Clinton after a six-week siege. Although the fall of Charleston and capture of thousands of Continental Army soldiers is the largest setback of the war for the Americans, British operations in the Southern colonies will quickly prove to be the undoing of the king’s men in North America. 1864: Gen. Ulysses S. Grant orders his forces to assault the Confederate salient known as the “Mule Shoe” during the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. 15,000 Union soldiers break through, but Gen. Robert E. Lee quickly plugs...

SIERRA VISTA — As many opted for a typical car or bus ride to school, others chose more of an environmentally-friendly approach to commemorate National Bike/Walk to School Day on Wednesday. The day is part of National Bike/Walk to School Week, supported by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center and the National Center for Safe Routes to School. “On Bike to School Day, we’re pleased to report that places around the country are celebrating the fun of biking to school and prioritizing children as they look to improve transportation safety for their entire communities,” said Nancy...

Carlo Style Submachine gun found after attack on Israeli Car in January, 2017 In many places around the world, where firearms are very difficult to obtain legally, small shops manufacture simple submachine guns for the black market. They are common in Brazil, Israel, the Philippines, and increasingly in Australia,  Canada, and even the United States, where submachine guns are highly regulated. In Israel, the Israeli Defense Forces have turned their attention from the private owners of black market guns to the small shops that produce them. The crackdown started in 2016. From timesofisrael.com: Save for members of the Palestinian...

It’s said that an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) bomb set off at the correct magnitude and altitude could “fry” the unprotected US power grid and send America back to the 18th Century. This means no electricity, emergency services, food production or delivery, water pumping or delivery, and failure of just about anything else that depends upon electricity, motors, or computers. Millions and millions of people would flat out die within days or weeks: of starvation, dehydration, fever, sickness, riots, and worse. And there are those critics—some seemingly madcap—who poo-poo the idea entirely, saying it can’t be accomplished by either Iran or...

War always leads to destruction. It's supposed to Once wars made presidents popular. Think of Washington and the Revolution, Lincoln and the Civil War, McKinley and the Spanish American War, FDR and WW II. Maybe that was because we used to win wars. Korea ran Truman out of office. Vietnam made LBJ decide not to run. Before the Silent Coup, Nixon (who ended the war) was tarred with the Vietnam brush. With America winning once again, George the First got a bump from the 100 day Gulf One before we all read his lips. Then rounding out the results of...

1846: Three days after Gen. Zachary Taylor’s forces defeat the Mexican Army in the Battle of Palo Alto, Pres. James K. Polk tells Congress: “Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory and shed American blood upon American soil.” The Mexican-American War – already underway – is formally declared within two days. 1863: During the Battle of Yellow Tavern, Condederate Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart is shot by a dismounted Union cavalry trooper north of Richmond, Va. “The greatest cavalry officer ever foaled in America” is mortally wounded and will die the next day. 1943: 3,000...

The seemingly endless saga of convicted traitor Chelsea Manning (formerly Bradley) is moving into its next phase. After serving only a handful of the 35 years he was supposed to do for espionage, he had his sentence somewhat infamously commuted by Barack Obama and will be getting out of the slammer next week. In advance of his freedom, Manning is already busy putting out press releases and the first isn’t particularly newsworthy. (Associated Press) Chelsea Manning, who is scheduled to be released from prison next week, thanked former President Barack Obama, who granted her clemency in the final days of...

Comey has been withholding documents on HR McMaster's illegal contact and sharing of classified information with Patreus.

The Senate confirmed Heather Wilson to be Air Force secretary Monday, making her only the second of President Donald Trump's nominees to be approved for a Pentagon post. The vote was 76-22. Only Democrats opposed Wilson, a former Republican congresswoman from New Mexico. Her confirmation was a rare victory for the Trump administration in its long slog to fill senior vacancies at the Pentagon. Dozens of national security positions remain unfilled, with Obama holdovers or civil servants filling many senior jobs on an acting basis.

After carrying the M16 or one of its cousins across the globe for more than half a century, soldiers could get a peek at a new prototype assault rifle that fires a larger round by 2020. Army researchers are testing half a dozen ammunition variants in “intermediate calibers,” which falls between the current 7.62 mm and 5.56 mm rounds, to create a new light machine gun and inform the next-generation individual assault rifle/round combo. The weapon designs being tested will be “unconventional,” officials said, and likely not one that is currently commercially available. Some intermediate calibers being tested include the...