Sophia Wilks, 2 of Freeport, peers out from behind an American flag Saturday afternoon during a rally supporting the troops in Iraq on the corner of West Avenue and Empire Street in Freeport. Photo by Lisa M. Sanders
Posted on 03/24/2003 2:00:50 PM PST by Mr. Silverback
FREEPORT -- Stockton resident Eric Nelson, 31, worked on a sign above the trunk of his car.
"What it's going to say is 'Except for ending slavery, fascism, communism and nazism, war has not solved anything,"' Nelson said.
Nelson was one of over 100 people who gathered at the intersection of Empire Street and West Avenue for the "Rally for America," an event which enabled residents from across the area to show support for American troops currently involved in the war with Iraq.
During the noon hour, the participants held homemade signs and turned the intersection into a sea of red, white and blue. Many passing motorists expressed their approval with a honk of the car horn, a word of encouragement or hand gestures.
Nelson said he attended to event to show the men and women of the military that he and others at the rally cared for them and were standing by President George W. Bush in his action against Iraq. Nelson added he was also present at the rally to "stand against the bleeding heart liberals" that he believed were doing damage to morale of the troops.
"(They're) constantly crying out ridiculous accusations like this is all about oil, which is a bunch of bull," Nelson said. "It's basically, what it really is, is a political campaign against Bush and that's stupid, we should be standing by our troops, standing by our president instead of pushing an agenda."
The rally was organized in part by Christopher Clukey, 32, a Business Administration Student at Highland Community College and veteran of the United States Air Force.
Clukey said the rally was partially an expression of patriotism and partially in response to recent anti-war protests.
"The people of Freeport know that their freedom to protest and do these sorts of things and say what they want, and the freedom of people protesting against the war, is bought with the blood of soldiers and with the willingness to go into harm's way, and we thank them very much," Clukey said.
In DeKalb on Saturday, dozens braved wet, chilly weather for a "Support Our Troops" rally on the campus of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb.
The student-led rally drew flag-draped college students, area military spouses families and local veterans' organizations.
Among the speakers was Rep. David A. Wirsing, R-Sycamore, who talked about his support for the military action, and his concern for those who are serving.
"I've talked this week to Jim Sacia from the Freeport area, who has a son in the service," Wirsing said. "There's great concern when he talks, but there's a pride that comes forth. It's a double emotion I experience with talking to Jim ... and his wife this week."
Sacia, R-Pecatonica, and Wirsing are seatmates in the Illinois House.
In Freeport, many of the signs at the rally included statements such as "Freedom is not Free," "Peace Through Victory" and "Thank God for Our Troops," while others waved American flags.
Frank Tekstar, 52, of Itasca held a sign that on one side said "G.I. Joe and Jane, We are with you" and on the other said "Daschle, et. al. It's about LIBERTY stupid!"
Tekstar said the troops appreciate when people come out and express support, especially in light of anti-war protests that are going on in major cities across the country.
"I think a lot of them think we need to have international support in order to defend ourselves and I think that that's a mistake," Tekstar said. "We're a sovereign nation. We don't need somebody's permission to defend ourselves."
Connie Wescott, 50, of Freeport is the mother of three children who are in service with the 333rd Military Police Unit of the Illinois National Guard.
"I think that it's great that we have all of these people out here showing their support for the troops," Wescott said. "Whether they believe in the war or not, I think it's important to support your troops that are over there. They need to know that they have moral support back here, that people are supporting them and what it is that they're doing."
Wescott said she supports the current action against Saddam Hussein.
"He's just a total nut. I mean, he tortures his own people. He uses them for experiments to see if his biological and chemical warfare is going to work," she said. "He's just another Hitler."
Gary Eisenhower, the President of Freeport Chapter VietNow, said he and other members came out not only to support the troops but out of concern for the country. He also supports the current action in Iraq.
"We're all concerned about living in peace. But living in peace with freedom - that's peace," Eisenhower said. "Living in oppression with peace, that's not freedom of choice, that's not freedom of anything. And I think allowing the Iraqis to regain control of their own country and live in peace with a democratic society - I feel that's important," Eisenhower said.
Clukey said another rally will be taking place at the corner of West and Empire at noon next Saturday.
"We're going to keep doing that for the duration, and I don't mean the duration of the war with Iraq. I mean the duration of the war with these terrorist thugs," Clukey said. "As long as those murders are out there and these kids are putting themselves between them and us, we're going to support them."
Journal-Standard reporter Sharon Boehlefeld contributed to this story.
Sophia Wilks, 2 of Freeport, peers out from behind an American flag Saturday afternoon during a rally supporting the troops in Iraq on the corner of West Avenue and Empire Street in Freeport. Photo by Lisa M. Sanders
Actually, our count was 150 people. Also, ironically, the article mentions a speaker at the NIU rally mentioning our State Rep., Jim Sacia, but it doesn’t mention that Sacia was at our rally and was even interviewed by WREX TV. His son is an Apache driver with the 101st. It was also visited by our mayor, a Democrat and friend of Dick Durbin. BTW, I might post the photos in a second thread to diminish loading time for this thread; if so I will ping you all to it.
It would be too confusing and redundant to go name by name through the list of people represented in this operation and identify the organizations they are part of, so I’ll do it this way: Many of the folks involved may be Freepers in the near future, but those who are currently members of the Freeport chapter are myself, Rambette66 (also known as the lovely Mrs. Silverback), usaf1991 and stars & stripes forever. Members of the Freeport Chapter Rugrat Auxilliary were Silverback Junior, Jetgirl and (Freeping for the first time) Tankboy. Many of the non-Freepers who helped us told folks that I organized this on my own (or that stars & stripes forever and I did) but they were just being modest. I could not have gotten this event off the ground without Frank and Chris Munda, their son Michael, Eric Nelson, Gary and Sue Eisenhower, Scott and Michael Mathieu and many, many others. At a bare minimum, credit for this event goes to major members of the following community service organizations: Stephenson County Republican Women, Stephenson County Right To Life Committee, VietNow, The Knights of Columbus and Operation Homefront and numerous churches and schools.
Most important was Cheryl Hartman of the Stephenson County Republican Women, who inspired me to reach for greatness on this one with her stories of troops she had spoken to who have seen nothing but appeasenik idiots on the news. Though she could not attend, she was with us in spirit, and this rally had 150 people because after her call I couldn’t stop thinking about the folks eating sand in Kuwait for our freedom, or the guys who came home from Viet Nam and got spat on. This thing was for them, too.
I took the title of this thread from a little impromptu speech I kept making to little knots of rally participants as the festivities winded down. I kept telling them that I was shocked and awed at how wonderful they were and how much support we generated from just a few days of promotion, including the fact that we got people from as far as Belvidere and McConnell to come out. This is a great town, we’re on the march, and I want to thank everyone at FR for their support and advice.
Lastly, be sure to congratulate stars & stripes forever on her first Freep!
Dang! Whaddya know, it works! Here's an early shor as we set up.
Mr. Silverback is interviewed by a WTVO reporter. The man in the blue ballcap is Frank “CLG-3 Galveston” Munda and the boy behind him is Silverback Jr.
Silverback stands on the corner with a good chunk of the VietNow Chapter. And no, I have no idea what I’m doing with my arm here, I don’t remember doing the Chicken Dance. Tony Carton of the Freeport Ink and Highland Chronicle (to the left–in the photo, I don’t know about his politics!) Is beginning his interviews of the VietNow guys.
Tony continues his interview. The man with the “Support the Troops” sign is married to stars & stripes forever.
Tankboy runs out of gas. The lady in the urban camo jacket is his mom, Rambette66. The sign is the one I’ve been carrying at the weekly troop support freeps.
Here we have State Rep. Jim Sacia (in black jacket talking to Tyler Vincent in the background) and a good view of the Freeport High School. The lady with the “God and Country” sign is stars & stripes forever and the woman to the right of her is Bernie, one of the founders of Operation Homefront, a ministry organization we’ll be assisting.
A good view of the patriots “lining up support” along the west side of West Ave.
My friend Lewis holds up his excellent sign State Rep. Jim Sacia and Michael Brinkmeier of Operation Homefront are behind him..
Kids for Freedom! There were lots of kids at the rally.
A cluster of patriots, including a local judge and a Navy vet.
Another view across West Ave from in front of the High School.Connie Wescott is the woman in theblack and white jacket.
”...the participants held homemade signs and turned the intersection into a sea of red, white and blue.” The big guy with the plaid jacket and the beautiful eagle Flag is usaf1991, a chapter member.
Another group in front of the High School. The boy in the bottom right corner is holding Eric’s sign.
Another shot across West Ave. This has a good view of Mr. Tekstar’s GI Joe sign and at the right-hand edge of the photo you can see all the folks who were bunched up in a mass at the corner.
Silverback addresses a group of the demonstrators as the rally winds down. Mike Brinkmeier is behind me in the jacket with red sleeves. Please pray for Mike, he has been diagnosed with Gulf War syndrome and has founded Operation Homefront to help today’s troops.
OK, here's the link to the Yahoo Photos site where we're storing the pics. The album they're in is called "Rally For America and there are 16 photos.
Apparently I need to go back to HTML Boot Camp. Anybody got any tips on making sure pics from these photo sites actually show up?
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