..A Freeper Vet goes to the Vietnam Wall..

"ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer

[ALOHA RONNIE]

NEVER FORGET

...Over Veterans Day Weekend each year we surviving Veterans of the 1st Major Battle of the Vietnam War held in the Valley of Death that was the IA DRANG of 1965...

...greet the dawn's early light of a beautiful Sunday morning standing at the 3rd Panel of the Vietnam Wall. We go there, under the fresh shadow of the Washington Monument, to pay honor to our fallen U.S. 7th Cavalry Brothers who fell forever in that Valley of Death on behalf of the FREEDOM of Others.

...Though no exception, this year's Veterans Day Weekend in Washington, D.C. was truly unforgettable.

...Fellow IA DRANG Veteran and War Correspondent JOSEPH GALLOWAY, the only civilian who has been awarded a Bronze Star for Valor, writes about our IA DRANG Alumni Conference Weekend and of our obligation drawing us there for our fallen Brothers each year in his outstanding Kight-Ridder Article titled:

..'Remembering brothers on Veterans Day'

...A Link to this outstanding Article follows.

...Present and future U.S. 7th Cavalry Congressional Medal of Honor Recipiants stand side by side with the rest of us former U.S. 7th Cavalry SkyTroopers in unabashed gratitude at The Vietnam Wall to those who gave all they had long ago so that others may live in FREEDOM.

...This year's IA DRANG Alumni Conference Dinner Keynote Speaker was fellow IA DRANG Veteran JACK SMITH, now a retired ABC News Correspondent, who was wounded 4 times in the IA DRANG Valley 38 years ago. JACK SMITH's father was ABC News TV Anchorman HOWARD K. SMITH, the most honest of all American TV Anchormen reporting about our Fight for Freedom during the Vietnam War. This as opposed to former CBS News TV Anchorman WALTER CRONKITE ...who was lying to us on TV for the other side, our Communist Terrorist Enemy.

...JACK SMITH now finds himself in another fight for his life ...in a private war with Pancreatic Cancer.

...How profound it is to see today's Communist Vietnam, under threat from Terrorist Attacks and the encroaching Power of Communist China emerging all over East Asia, move closer to America for its own protection in a new Time of War. And to see an America reaching out to Communist Vietnam for exactly the same reasons..!!! It's a new World.

...Who would have thought so long ago in a land that was so very far away that we would live long enough to see this new world come our way back when...

.."WE WERE SOLDIERS ONCE and YOUNG"..?

Signed:.."ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer / Vet-"WE WERE SOLDIERS" Battle of IA DRANG-1965

NEVER FORGET

[Patangeles]

Freedom is not free. Thanks to all our veterans, we enjoy all the freedoms we do today.

[Brad’s Gramma]

Thanks, Aloha Ronnie. Thanks to you and to EVERY person who's served this great country of ours.

God bless you!

[onyx]

You were soldiers once and young. My heart went with you and I was young. You did our generation proud and your sacrifices were all too many in number. I've loved you guys all of my life, ever since I was young.

[Badray]

"You all should be proud of your service; you did a GREAT job; it was our politicians who failed."

Shout that from the rooftops.

[onyx]

I know you were there with Ronnie and the guys.

[Valin]

"It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it."
Robert E. Lee

[MistyCA]

I will certainly never forget what all of you who went to
Vietnam gave for the rest of us. Thank you.

[Diver Dave]

Thanks Ron.
Salute

[ducks1944]

God Bless all are Vet. and there families and Our Cammander-in-Chief.

[ALOHA RONNIE]

I have indeed been so very blessed.

Last minute opportunity to go to D.C.

Last minute saving of a Dinner Ticket to a Dinner that's the Hottest ticket in Washington, D.C. that week, thanks to JOE GALLOWAY.

Near Last Ticket on Plane Trip going to D.C.

Last Ticket on Plane Trip going home.

Near Last Room at the Hotel of the IA DRANG Alumni Conference.

Last IA DRANG Dinner Seat assigned to a Table surrounded by a table containing JOE GALLOWAY and Gen. & Mrs. General of the Army SHINSEKI on one side, JACK SMITH on another side and IA DRANG Congressional Medal of Honor recipient JOE MARM on another.

Last IA DRANG Dinner Seat at a table containing hero Doctors and Nurses of the 85th Medical Evacuation Team of Qui Nhon who were being loudly thanked profusely all night long by those whose lives they had saved after the Battle of IA DRANG-1965.

T'was all in GOD's Plan 4-Sure.

[ALOHA RONNIE]

.."I don't look at myself as a Hero. I'm just a survivor"..

...stated Pfc. JESSICA LYNCH on tonight's 'Prime Time with Diane Sawyer' ABC TV News Show.

...Blessed was I also to see NBC TV's "Saving JESSICA LYNCH" Movie on my plane trip back home and again on the West Coast when I got there.

...This understated TV Movie of Excellence was almost as good as "WE WERE SOLDIERS" was about our Battle of IA DRANG.

...Heroism is as Heroism does.

[ALOHA RONNIE]

...My, my, what loving Excellence in seeing you have.

[Mo1]

I got this in an email from my Dad in law

.

Subject: It Is The Veteran

It is the VETERAN, not the preacher, who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the VETERAN, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the VETERAN, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the VETERAN, not the campus organizer, who has given us freedom to assemble.

It is the VETERAN, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the VETERAN, not the politician, Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the VETERAN, who salutes the Flag, who serves under the Flag,

ETERNAL REST GRANT THEM O LORD, AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM.

I don't know if you saw this in the news but it really impressed me.

Funny, our US Senate/House took 2 days off as they couldn't work.

On the ABC evening news, it was reported tonight that, because of the dangers from Hurricane Isabelle approaching Washington DC, the military members assigned the duty of guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier were given permission to suspend the assignment.

They refused. "No way, Sir!"

Soaked to the skin, marching in the pelting rain of a tropical storm, they said that guarding the Tomb was not just an assignment, it was the highest honor that can be afforded to a serviceperson.

The tomb has been patrolled continuously, 24/7, since 1930.

I don't usually suggest that many emails be forwarded, but I'd be proud if this one reached as many as possible.

We can be very proud of our young men and women in the service no matter where they serve.

God Bless them.

[ALOHA RONNIE]

...In this most Spiritual of weekends I was afforded an opportunity I never dreamed that I would ever have.

...Those of you know my work here on...

.. http://www.Freerepublic.com ..

...know that I fought Gen. SHINSEKI's decision to take the Black Beret away from U.S. Army Rangers, thru his transferring it to all Army Regular Troops to wear. Not the least of my concerns then was the fact that batches of these Army Berets were going to be made in Communist China, which was later rescinded.

...After my having seen the difference in the Prideful Strut of all Army Troopers wearing these Black Berets, along with their CAMI Fatigues, when we IA DRANG Veterans were at Ft. Benning to see a preview of "WE WERE SOLDIERS".. I had some real apologizing to do to the Man I had targeted, even though I have already expressed my changed impression online and on Talk Radio.

...An Apology I promply made in person after our IA DRANG Dinner with the above explanation to the General. The General explained to me that it was his Army Sgt/Majors that told him that if Beret wearing was going Army wide then they wanted them to be Black so that they wouldn't have to be constantly having to tell troopers to clean their Berets during Army Inspections..!

...Who would have thought that this most Spiritual of nights would have ended with our former General of the Army SHINSEKI and I embracing in the middle of a Room filled with some of America's greatest Heroes..?

...In my yearly IA DRANG Alumni Conference Call into the BOB DORNAN Show Monday BOB DORNAN shared how he would have been 2nd in line behind me making the same apology to General SHINSEKI for the same reason. BOB went on to further explain yesterday that the new sand color Beret of the Army Rangers is now just as honored as their former Black Beret was ..'cause of their recent actions in the Gulf and Iraqi Wars in the Desert. Amazing.

...Esprit de Corps is...

...as Esprit de Corps does..?

[risk]

Rick Rescorla is on a stamp!?

Ronnie, we can't let politicians snatch victory from our brave defenders ever again. Aren't we in dire risk of that today with the war on terror? What can we do to help?

President Bush has described to the National Endowment for Democracy exactly what he intends for us to do. His plan is clear, it is humane, and it respects all peoples. I accept this plan and I think all people who love freedom should study and agree to it, as well. I worried that President Bush wasn't fighting the war as ambitiously it should be earlier. But now I believe he and his cabinet are making the right choices. He simply must be given a mandate by Americans: liberty once again needs defenders as selfless and brave as you and Rick Rescorla (who died saving his coworkers in the WTC on 9/11) were at Ia Drang in 1965.

Thank you.

[onyx]

We'll NEVER FORGET.

[radu]

No, I'll not forget.

Thanks for the ping, Tonk.
And thank you both for your service to our country.

[ALOHA RONNIE]

...President BUSH's promise to bring FREEDOM's Return during a BUSH Presidency to Communist Vietnam, Communist North Korea, Communist Cuba and its Arrival to all the countries of the Middle East as our own best Self Defense against future Terrorist Attacks here at home...

...must be promoted over and over again out there every chance you get.

...With the CLINTON-Supporting Network TV Management keeping replays of the Sept. 11th Attacks on the World Trade Center/Pentagon off our TV's ..we must provide the American People with the proper perspective to look at current events with in our worldwide War on Terrorism.

GOD Speed ...President BUSH.

[risk]

[President Bush's efforts]...must be promoted over and over again out there every chance you get.

I agree. My father, a WWII veteran, assigned me to read the full text of President Bush's speech. He says all the veterans he knows supports the President in the war on terror and in Iraq. It's time we civilians listen to our true defenders. Thank you, Ronnie. I'm listening to both you and my father, men who have made our country's continued existence possible.

We've witnessed, in little over a generation, the swiftest advance of freedom in the 2,500-year story of democracy. Historians in the future will offer their own explanations for why this happened. Yet we already know some of the reasons they will cite. It is no accident that the rise of so many democracies took place in a time when the world's most influential nation was itself a democracy. --full text of Bush's speech to the National Endowment for Democracy

He goes on to say: "The establishment of a free Iraq at the heart of the Middle East will be a watershed event in the global democratic revolution."

Let's roll.

[exnavy]

Thank you for your service to this fine country of ours. Thanks also for the links and posts here. Your stories remind me of the terrible cost of war. I'm thankful to God that I never have been near a combat zone. Thank you again.