Any man-made recognition he will receive here and now will not benefit him, but it will benefit the rest of us he left behind....in that it will (hopefully) refocus our vision on honor, duty, valor, integrity and faith. Therein lies the value in bestowing this particular Medal of Honor.Agreed 1000% Rocky and his Mom and James Rpwe have already passed on to a much ricjer reward, and in my simple faith, they are rejoicing in the fact that Rocky's contribution, valor and actions are soon to be punctuated so that the rest of us, still here in this world, will have something to point to, something to strive for in our own day to day pursuits ... something for the youth in particular to look to.God (doesn't have to be told to) bless Rocky Versace.
I received the following from Duane Frderic, the man who wrote the staff report:
Dear Jeff,The is GREAT NEWS! The deed is done, and a nation and a people will finally pay deserving tribute ot one of its fallen heroes and place his sacrifice, his actions, his patriotism and valor in the hallowed place they are deserving of ... our collective memory and our hearts ... a place where the youth of this nation will have a chance to become aware of them and )hopefully) emulate them.I received a phone call last night from Mike Faber indicating that President Bush signed the Defense Authorization Act of 2001 which included Rocky's MOH.
You can use the file attachment to notify your friends of this good news.
Best to you,
Duane Frederic
Here is the response I sent back to Duane:
Duane,This is a wonderful Christmas present for a nation and to the memory of a fallen hero and those who themselves have passed beyond the vail who worked so long and so hard for it. I am sure they are rejoicing together ... not for their own honor, but for what it can mean to those they loved, and those Rpcky and James fought to protect and what they died to preserve ... our liberties and the knowledge, feeling, commitment and insight of the rising generation who will also have to preserve it.This is GREAT news!
Several hundred people emailed, phoned and wrote the White House as a result of last week's post on FreeRepublic. I doubt it made any difference as this was already a done deal I am sure ... but it never hurts to underscore the support Rocky has.
I hope the President will make a large event of the ceremony ... meaning taking the opportunity to put special emphasis on what Rocky did and how his actions, commitment, valor and patriotism should be an icon for American youth when it comes to heroes.
Thanks again, on behalf of myself and family and on behalf of our nation for your efforts in this regard.
Sincerely,
Jeff Head
Anyone remember the name of the FOX guy that did the specials on the land grabs?
You got that right,Jeff. We can only hope that one day the people of this nation will realize what a gift people like Rocky were to our continued freedoms. Like you,I am hoping Bubba Bush makes a BIG production out of this and gets Rocky some of the public recogonition he deserves. This might even happen,since it is in Bubba Bush's own self-interest to promote the military and heroism at this particiluar time.