Posted on 04/06/2007 5:18:57 AM PDT by IrishMike
Edited on 04/06/2007 5:22:56 AM PDT by Sidebar Moderator. [history]
IT WAS a fitting image of the 14 wimps and a sob sister arriving back in the United Kingdom yesterday: skulking away with pink goody bags in hand.
The color was no accident - although yellow would've been more appropriate.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
One girl... and 14 geldings.
I thought all the geldings were in our Congress.
The facts, according to what I recall, the U.S. military aircraft was forced to land because a Chinese interceptor inadvertently collided with their aircraft. The Chinese pilot was killed in the incident. The U.S. plane was forced to make an emergency landing at the nearest airport and barely managed to do so. The authorities at the airfield on the Chinese island of Hainan were startled when the damaged U.S. military put down on their airstrip.
Yup; They’re supposed to take an ax to the equipment if the plane goes down.
Fiddler’s Green
Half way down the trail to Hell
In a shady, meadow green,
Are the souls of all dead troopers camped
Near a good, old-time canteen,
And this eternal resting place
Is known as Fiddler’s Green.
Marching past, straight through to Hell
The Infantry are seen,
Accompanied by the Engineers,
Artillery, and Marines,
For none but the shades of Cavalrymen
Dismount at Fiddler’s Green.
Though some go curving down the trail
To seek a warmer scene,
No trooper ever gets to Hell
Ere he’s emptied his canteen.
And so rides back to drink again
With friends at Fiddler’s Green.
And so when horse and man go down
Beneath a saber keen,
Or in a roaring charge or fierce melee
You stop a bullet clean,
And the hostiles come to get your scalp
Just empty your canteen,
And put your pistol to your head
And go to Fiddler’s Green.
Thank you for that, Yo-Yo.
The crews ALWAYS destroy sensitive material/equipment as fast as they can.
“The British are definitely the ‘Lost generation’ of our day. They know what is right, but have no will left for the fight.”
You mean like this:
Over the years, I have come to understand a critical difference between the world of fear and the world of freedom. In the former, the primary challenge is finding the inner strength to confront evil. In the latter, the primary challenge is finding the moral clarity to see evil – Natan Sharansky.
If they threatened to rape or otherwise torture one of your brothers in arms/a guy would it make you submit to their using you for their propaganda? The problem is with your thinking. You justify the British soldiers placating the Iranians in order to save the woman’s ‘honor’, that indicates to me they could have found your weakness and exploited it to their advantage. As a woman, I wouldn’t want my brothers in arms to use me as an excuse to comply with that crap. Admiral Stockdale beat himself up when in the Hanoi Hilton so he could not be used in this kind of propaganda film. None of these soldiers appear to have thought of that, or any other way to resist...I’m sad for them.
Even sadder that Iran will probably never suffer any consequences for their actions in taking these sailors.
bttt
“Admiral Stockdale beat himself up when in the Hanoi Hilton so he could not be used in this kind of propaganda film.”
Injured himself so badly he nearly died.
Col. Bud Day was so badly tortured he could not perform the simplest task by himself.
Capt. Rocky Versace argued with his captors in French and Vietnamese, refusing to capitulate. He was executed because of his stubbornness.
All 3 earned the Medal of Honor.
Makes me get teary eyed. Thank you.
Same here. And you’re welcome.
I wouldn’t be so harsh on the British Marines. They only stayed 14 days instead of 444 days like us Americans.
Interesting note.
Some of the British Marines were involved in intelligence gathering. The British government told all the British media agencies to keep a lid on this fact until everyone got back on British soil.
If the Iranians knew this....those 15 sailors wouldn’t be released. They would be living in Tehran Hilton for years.
I say the Brits played their cards right. They all came home in one piece and the spooks slipped under the Iranian radar screen.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,91193-1259413,00.html
“I wouldn’t be so harsh on the British Marines.”
Don’t believe I was too harsh. Stated earlier I’m glad they’re safe. Won’t compare them to the men I have mentioned though.
The British were spying on the Iranians.
The Iranians had them for 14 days not knowing they were involved with intelligence gathering!
The Iranians let the Big Fish get away!
Brits got out Scot Free!
http://news.sky.com/skynews/video/videoplayer/0,,31200-p5039_samuels,00.html
Capt. Rocky Versace:
“When Rocky completed his one-year tour of duty, he volunteered for another tour. And two weeks before his time was up, on October the 29th, 1963, he set out with several companies of South Vietnamese troops, planning to take out a Viet Cong command post. It was a daring mission, and an unusually dangerous one for someone so close to going home to volunteer for.
After some initial successes, a vastly larger Viet Kong force ambushed and overran Rocky’s unit. Under siege and suffering from multiple bullet wounds, Rocky kept providing covering fire so that friendly forces could withdraw from the killing zone.
Eventually, he and two other Americans, Lieutenant Nick Rowe and Sergeant Dan Pitzer, were captured, bound and forced to walk barefoot to a prison camp deep within the jungle. For much of the next two years, their home would be bamboo cages, six feet long, two feet wide, and three feet high. They were given little to eat, and little protection against the elements. On nights when their netting was taken away, so many mosquitos would swarm their shackled feet it looked like they were wearing black socks.
The point was not merely to physically torture the prisoners, but also to persuade them to confess to phony crimes and use their confessions for propaganda. But Rocky’s captors clearly had no idea who they were dealing with. Four times he tried to escape, the first time crawling on his stomach because his leg injuries prevented him from walking. He insisted on giving no more information than required by the Geneva Convention; and cited the treaty, chapter and verse, over and over again.
He was fluent in English, French and Vietnamese, and would tell his guards to go to hell in all three. Eventually the Viet Cong stopped using French and Vietnamese in their indoctrination sessions, because they didn’t want the sentries or the villagers to listen to Rocky’s effective rebuttals to their propaganda. Rocky knew precisely what he was doing. By focusing his captors’ anger on him, he made life a measure more tolerable for his fellow prisoners, who looked to him as a role model of principled resistance.
Eventually the Viet Cong separated Rocky from the other prisoners. Yet even in separation, he continued to inspire them. The last time they heard his voice, he was singing “God Bless America” at the top of his lungs.
On September the 26th, 1965, Rocky’s struggle ended his execution. In his too short life, he traveled to a distant land to bring the hope of freedom to the people he never met. In his defiance and later his death, he set an example of extraordinary dedication that changed the lives of his fellow soldiers who saw it firsthand. His story echoes across the years, reminding us of liberty’s high price, and of the noble passion that caused one good man to pay that price in full.
Last Tuesday would have been Rocky’s 65th birthday. So today, we award Rocky — Rocky Versace — the first Medal of Honor given to an Army POW for actions taken during captivity in Southeast Asia. We thank his family for so great a sacrifice. And we commit our country to always remember what Rocky gave — to his fellow prisoners, to the people of Vietnam, and to the cause of freedom.”
I will not compare these Royal Marines with Rocky Versace who would not capitulate to his captors just to get off “scot free.”
http://www.medalofhonor.com/RockyVersace.htm
My thoughts exactly...don't they have a Warner Springs, CA with a bunch of guys running around with red stars on their hats hollering in broken Russian-English? Our SERE program was for 7-days and I lost 6-pounds and wasn't over weight when I started. After about 15-minutes in the POW camp, I was pretty convinced I WAS a POW. Great program.
Cheers,
A Swift Boat Vet
...These people have trained and trained and trained for the rigors of combat...
so in less than 24 hrs, these tough cookies roll over to the side of the ennemy and go on and on about how they were in Iranian waters and that they were being treated so nicely by their captors....
Give me a break...THEY ARE A DISGRACE TO ALL SOLDIERS.
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