Posted on 06/05/2004 10:28:12 PM PDT by redrock
"Ronald Reagan, D-Day.....and the War on Terror"
It is somehow fitting that Ronald Reagan passed away on the day before D-Day.
It is somehow fitting that perhaps the greatest President in my lifetime (and could be argued...in any lifetime) passed away just about the time that 60 years ago...men were parachuting into France...in a beginning of the end of the evil that was the Nazi Empire.
It is somehow fitting that the man who, in an absolute display of faith in the American dream and capabilities almost by himself caused the beginning of the destruction of the evil that was the Soviet Empire , died today.
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Tomorrow will be the 60th Anniversary of "D-Day".
The day that brave men landed on the coast of France...straight into the teeth of the German Army. They died by the hundreds...some by bullets...some by drowning in the sea. But, no matter how brutal it became, they still did their duty....and fought.
Tomorrow....various 'Heads of State' will give speech after speech about what that landing meant...of the courage that was shown on that day. Tomorrow.....various news organizations will drone on endlessly about what it means...and try and show, time after time, that the courage shown by those men, in attempting to defeat evil....somehow doesn't equate to the attempt we are now engaged in to defeat evil.
...and,somehow,tomorrow.....those various speeches...those various news organizations will miss the real meaning of D-Day...and how it ties into the War we are now engaged in.
...and,somehow....perhaps foreordained....they will miss the true meaning of that day.
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".....But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have hallowed it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.
It is rather for us the living, we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."
Abraham Lincoln
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I believe that Ronald Reagan understood this simple salient fact.
That in order to honour those Americans who have gone on before....we must continue the fight egainst evil...against the forces that would enslave other human beings.
Ronald Reagan (perhaps better than anyone of his time) understood this when he stood eye to eye with the Soviet Union....and they blinked first. He took simple American values....faith...honesty....charity....Freedom....and used them to change the world......much as those men who stormed ashore at Normandy did.
Much as American Soldiers are now doing in Afghanistan....and Iraq.
We are in the midst of a War. A war against an evil that rivals that of Nazi Germany....of the Soviet Union. An evil that thinks nothing of killing innocent women.....and small children ...in an attempt to further their political ends. In an attempt at reducing the rest of the world into slavery....of eliminating Freedom...and replacing it with tyranny.
The evil that was Nazi Germany....was torn down and destroyed by soldiers of the Free World.
The evil that was the Soviet Union....was torn down and destroyed by the iron will of Ronald Reagan..(backed up the soldiers of the Free World).
...and the evil that is before us now....is being destroyed by the soldiers of the Free World....and backed up by the iron will of President Bush.
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"You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on Earth, or we will sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness."
Ronald Reagan
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God Bless the United States of America....the last BEST hope of man on Earth.
redrock
Thanks Roger (and Fred)..... HERE
redrock
redrock
redrock
Actually, when the Gipper died, I think it was already June 6 in France.
redrock
thank you.. :)
Okay.
redrock
redrock
redrock
These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war.
President Ronald Reagan
Nice posts, RR.
I think they are 9 hours ahead of the West Coast. Yes, it must have been late June 5 their time.
"Thanks Roger (and Fred)....."
May every day be Memorial Day. May the eyes of all appeasers be opened to duty and truth.
"These are the boys of Afghanistan....of Iraq. These are the men who took the cliffs...who took the deserts...who conquered the towns.. These are the champions who helped free a people. These are the heroes who helped end a war. These are the heroes who helped to keep their Nation, and their families, safe. These are Americans."
Second to none!
Actually it was 10:00 PM in France
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