"It's Duty [Not BEAUTY!], Honor, Country" Jeffers Dodge protests revision at L.A. Veterans Memorial

"BEAUTY, Honor, Country?" 'MacArthur' miffed at mangled motto; JEFFERS DODGE to rally L.A. vets 7/5 ^ | July 4, 2006 | Jeffers MacArthur Dodge

[RonDog]

From VoteDODGE.com:

MEDIA ADVISORY
"It's Duty, (Not Beauty) Honor, Country"

 

Committee to Elect Jeffers MacArthur Dodge
California State Assembly, District 47
www.votedodge.com

MEDIA ADVISORY                Contact: Jack Cummins
                                                                                     Telephone: (310) 658-9711

June 30, 2006                                                  for Immediate Release

Jeffers MacArthur Dodge begins campaign to end
Desecration at West Los Angeles Veterans Park

WHO: Jeffers MacArthur Dodge

WHAT: "Beauty, Honor, Country" or "Duty, Honor, Country" - Desecration at Veterans Memorial.

Jeffers MacArthur Dodge begins campaign to end desecration of "Duty, Honor, Country - Three hallowed words..." General Douglas MacArthur 1962, at Veterans Park Gateway Plaza

WHEN: Wednesday July 5, 2006, 10:00 AM

WHERE: Wilshire Blvd & San Vicente Blvd, West Los Angeles

Culver City, California

State Assembly Nominee, Jeffers MacArthur Dodge will announce the campaign to end the desecration of "Duty, Honor, Country" which has taken place at the Veterans Memorial Gateway Plaza in West Los Angeles.

The Plaza, a four million dollar project at the Veterans Facility has been posted with what can only be described as a desecration of military tradition and patriotic pride.

Along the east wall of the gateway are posted the words "Beauty Honor Country". The sign located behind the wall states:"Honoring our Veterans and cherishing the land". The desecration of the words "Duty, Honor, Country" does not honor our veterans no matter how applied.

The words immortalized in a speech given by General of The Army Douglas MacArthur in 1962 to the Cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point have held a sacred place in the annals of American Military History.

"Duty, Honor, Country, three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be." General Douglas MacArthur 1962

Jeffers MacArthur Dodge whose 47th State Assembly District includes the location will hold a press conference following the 4th of July to announce the effort to have the word "Beauty" replaced with "Duty". He strives to have the words match those which have been engraved in granite at West Point since 1898.

Jeffers MacArthur Dodge comes about his middle name as a result of family lineage.

Forty four years later he is called into service defending those words so eloquently spoken by his name sake General Douglas MacArthur.

He will enlist veterans groups, members of the Armed Services Committee and Veterans Affairs to return those words to their rightful place in the history of the Armed Services of the United States.

"The unbelievers will say they are but words, but a slogan, but a flamboyant phrase. Every pedant, every demagogue, every cynic, every hypocrite, every troublemaker, and, I am sorry to say, some others of an entirely different character, will try to downgrade them even to the extent of mockery and ridicule."
General Douglas MacArthur 1962

-30-

 

 

[RonDog]

See also, the ORIGINAL version of this motto, in a CLASSIC speech by General MacArthur, from www.americanrhetoric.com:

General Douglas MacArthur: Thayer Award Acceptance Address
delivered 12 May 1962, West Point, NY

"Duty, Honor, Country"

Original Painting © Copyright www.paulsteucke.com (image used with permission)

Audio mp3 Stream of Address

FULL TEXT of this classic speech

[RonDog]

Jeffers MacArthur Dodge whose 47th State Assembly District includes the location will hold a press conference...to announce the effort to have the word "Beauty" replaced with "Duty".

He strives to have the words match those which have been engraved in granite at West Point since 1898.

Calling all southern California FReepers!

Please join our good FRiend Jeffers Dodge for this worthy endeavor!

WHEN: Wednesday July 5, 2006, 10:00 AM

WHERE: Wilshire Blvd & San Vicente Blvd, West Los Angeles

[nothingnew]

4th of July Bump.

Wish I could be there.

FMCDH(BITS)

[RonDog]

Jeffers MacArthur Dodge whose 47th State Assembly District includes the location will hold a press conference following the 4th of July to announce the effort to have the word "Beauty" replaced with "Duty".

He strives to have the words match those which have been engraved in granite at West Point since 1898.

From goarmysports.cstv.com:

[RonDog]

Thanks, NN!

You will be with us there -- IN SPIRIT!

[RonDog]

Culver City -- California State Assembly Nominee, Jeffers MacArthur Dodge will announce the campaign to end the desecration of "Duty, Honor, Country" which has taken place at the Veterans Memorial Gateway Plaza in West Los Angeles.

That would be THIS place, from www.veteransparkconservancy.org:

"BEAUTY, Honor, Country" in the artist's original proposal, at the right.--^

[RonDog]

Along the east wall of the gateway are posted the words "Beauty Honor Country".

That would be HERE:

[RonDog]

See also the PREVIOUS thread:

"BEAUTY, Honor, Country?" 'MacArthur' miffed at mangled motto; JEFFERS DODGE to rally L.A. vets 7/5
	Posted by RonDog On News/Activism 07/01/2006 2:44:46 PM PDT · 27 replies · 456+ views VoteDODGE.com ^ | June 30, 2006 | Jeffers MacArthur Dodge

[eyespysomething]

“Prepare For The Regimental Accolade!”
“CHARACTER ABOVE ALL, SIR!”
“Three Words To Live By!”
“DUTY! HONOR! COUNTRY! SIR!”

[RonDog]

“Prepare For The Regimental Accolade!”
“CHARACTER ABOVE ALL, SIR!”
“Three Words To Live By!”
“DUTY! HONOR! COUNTRY! SIR!”

LOL!

At lease SOMEBODY has heard of this motto!

It must be all of them gummint skools, that ain't learnin' them kids of today no MILITARY history! :o)

[RonDog]

It must be all of them gummint skools, that ain't learnin' them kids of today no MILITARY history! :o)

Here are a few of the "clueless" folks who apparently helped to plan this "gateway with the mangled motto" -- from zev.co.la.ca.us:

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky meets with Rep. Henry Waxman (center) and Westside community leaders
to discuss plans for a new gateway entrance at Wilshire and San Vicente Boulevards
to visit the Los Angeles National Cemetery for veterans in West Los Angeles,
and to express neighborhood concerns about potential commercial development
plans for portions of the adjacent Veterans Administration site.

Participating in the meeting, from the left, are Sue Young, Executive Director,
Veterans Park Conservancy; and VPC Board members Flora Gil Krisiloff and Tom Jones.
(6/23/05)

[eyespysomething]

Where I work ( Jr military college and prep school ) we get to hear it at the Command Retreats, Parades etc and the "Character Above All" and "Duty Honor Country" are on all the lamppost flags/banners hanging all over campus.

I always say "Duty! Honor! Country! Sir!" with the cadets, lol.

I work at a great place!

[RonDog]

Joining Jeffers at this press conference tomorrow will be veteran actor Dennis Leslie, shown here with a friend -- in his full "General MacArthur" regalia, from the Orange County Register:

PAST TIMES: Amanda Hatrick of Santa Ana, dressed as a stewardess for the Southern Pacific Railroad; and Dennis Leslie of Garden Grove, dressed as Gen. Douglas MacArthur, listen to a story on a Pearl Harbor Day trip from L.A. to San Diego. Mark Rightmire, The Orange County Register

[fso301]

I once knew a guy who was there during that speech.

[RonDog]

Wow!

Lucky guy!

[fso301]

Lucky guy!

That he was. He said there wasn't a dry eye in the room. I seem to recall it being the dining hall.

[RonDog]

From the OTHER thread:

To: RonDog

No matter how often I read it, no matter how often I listen to it, I am not dry-eyed at the end.

The conclusion of the speech:

-----

You are the leaven which binds together the entire fabric of our national system of defense. From your ranks come the great captains who hold the nation's destiny in their hands the moment the war tocsin sounds. The Long Gray Line has never failed us. Were you to do so, a million ghosts in olive drab, in brown khaki, in blue and gray, would rise from their white crosses thundering those magic words: Duty, Honor, Country.

This does not mean that you are war mongers.

On the contrary, the soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.

But always in our ears ring the ominous words of Plato, that wisest of all philosophers: "Only the dead have seen the end of war."

The shadows are lengthening for me. The twilight is here. My days of old have vanished, tone and tint. They have gone glimmering through the dreams of things that were. Their memory is one of wondrous beauty, watered by tears, and coaxed and caressed by the smiles of yesterday. I listen vainly, but with thirsty ears, for the witching melody of faint bugles blowing reveille, of far drums beating the long roll. In my dreams I hear again the crash of guns, the rattle of musketry, the strange, mournful mutter of the battlefield.

But in the evening of my memory, always I come back to West Point.

Always there echoes and re-echoes: Duty, Honor, Country.

Today marks my final roll call with you, but I want you to know that when I cross the river my last conscious thoughts will be of The Corps, and The Corps, and The Corps.

I bid you farewell.

-----

He was 82 when he wrote and gave that speech. He would die two years later.

13 posted on 07/01/2006 6:03:51 PM PDT by EveningStar

-- snip --

To: EveningStar

Many people are unaware of the fact that MacArthur gave this speech WITHOUT notes.

He walked among the cadets in the mess hall as he made this marvelous presentation. Amazing! I still get goose bumps every time I hear those perfectly chosen words.

14 posted on 07/01/2006 6:21:51 PM PDT by USMA '71

[VOA]

RonDog...
I could be wrong, but I think MapQuest may have given you a bum steer.
Especially if you're aiming at the VA coplex that is adjacent to
the National Cemetary...and in the area of the I-405 and Wilshire Blvd. intersection.

I suspect that the location you are trying to peg with the map is at
the place where San Vicente (coming out of Brentwood) crosses Wilshire and turns
into Federal.

By using street address of "Wilshire Blvd. and San Vicente" and zip
of 90049, I got mapquest to give me the area you really wanted.
You can see that fits in with graphic/map of post 19 on "the other thread".

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formtype=address&addtohistory=&address=Wilshire%20Blvd%20%26%20Federal%20Ave&city=Los%20Angeles&state=CA&zipcode=90025&country=US&geodiff=1

Soory I can't be there...I've left in flyover country for the time being.

[RonDog]

Please join our good FRiend Jeffers Dodge for this worthy endeavor!

WHEN: Wednesday July 5, 2006, 10:00 AM

WHERE: Wilshire Blvd & San Vicente Blvd, West Los Angeles

From Yahoo! MAPS:

Wilshire Blvd At San Vicente Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90025

and

Wilshire Blvd At San Vicente Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90025