A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day....05-27-05 thru 05-30-05...Remembering Them Then ~ Honoring Them

DollyCali | May 27, 2005 | DollyCali

[DollyCali]

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day

Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 100,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world.

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in need; and congratulate those deserving. We strive to keep our threads entertaining, fun, and pleasing to look at, and often have guest writers contribute an essay, or a profile of another FReeper.

On Mondays please visit us to see photos of A FEW OF FR'S VETERANS AND ACTIVE MILITARY

If you have a suggestion, or an idea, or if there's a FReeper you would like to see featured, please drop one of us a note in FR mail.

We're having fun and hope you are!
~ Billie, Mama_Bear, dutchess, Aquamarine, DollyCali ~

Memorial Day is set apart to remember those now departed who served in the armed forces. This four day weekend at the Finest we shall remember the countless fathers, sons, husbands, brothers, sisters, mothers, daughters and wives who paid the ultimate sacrifice while on active duty as well as our veterans who returned home alive but are no longer with us.

We are also going to honor and remember the men and women currently serving our country and present a very special Marine as a representative of all the members of our armed forces.

Please feel free to share on this thread the stories and pictures of your loved ones in the military currently serving in the Military, retired, deceased…

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." -- Thomas Jefferson

We come, not to mourn our dead soldiers, but to praise them. ~Francis A. Walker

Although no sculptured marble should rise to their memory, nor engraved stone bear record of their deeds, yet will their remembrance be as lasting as the land they honored. ~Daniel Webster

On thy grave the rain shall fall from the eyes of a mighty nation! ~Thomas William Parsons

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.(Psalm 23:4)

To fully understand why strangers across the country are sending well wishes to "Nick Popaditch, a true American hero" they've never met, one must rewind to Operation Iraqi Freedom and the liberation of Baghdad. In a famous event that truly symbolized the liberation, 1st Tank Battalion Marines pulled down a statue of Saddam Hussein. An Associated Press photographer captured then-Staff Sgt. Nick Popaditch grinning, smoking a stogie with the statue falling in the background.

This photo, which ended up on the front page of nearly every major paper in the United States, earned him the title of "the Cigar Marine."

Now fast forward to April 7 2004 -. Popaditch, still a tank commander with 1st Tank Battalion, volunteered to redeploy to Iraq with another company when he found out his own company wasn't slated to go back yet.

One month ago, I was in Iraq, and I assumed I'd watch his first baseball season on video tape after I got home," he said from his red, white and blue canvas chair next to the dugout. "This is a real treat, being here for these games."

A real treat. Those three simple words provide a small preview of Popaditch's endlessly positive all-Marine attitude.

For the 36-year-old father of two, that fateful day in Fallujah was just another day at the office — or in the tank, if you ask him.

"We'd been in constant contact with the enemy for 36 hours," he started, absentmindedly tracing a scar above his right eyebrow. "We were on a street so narrow there wasn't even room to turn my turret."

With the enemy somewhere in front of them, Popaditch and his crew, which included a second tank, his wingman-slowly traversed the narrow streets.

"We passed an alley no wider than those two poles, and I looked down the alley and saw anti-coalition forces fire (a rocket-propelled grenade) straight at us," he continued.

"That RPG hit the side of my turret and it didn't penetrate, but I ordered my driver to stop and as I turned to engage them with my .50 caliber, another RPG was launched from a rooftop in front of us, and I guess that sucker had better aim," he laughed. "I'm not sure if he was aiming at my head, or at the hatch. The best I can figure is he split the difference."

Splitting the difference from a rooftop cost Popaditch his right eye — a fact he refuses to dwell on. Rather he speaks of the heroic actions of his 26-year-old gunner, Cpl. Ryan Chambers, a San Luis Obispo, Calif., native.

"When I got hit, I saw a flash of light and then everything went black. All I could hear was fuzz and static," he recalled, pausing to clap as his son's team brought in another runner, putting them ahead by five runs. "The force of the blast knocked me down into the tank, and I sat up and reached for my radio to start telling the driver we needed to get out of there. But my helmet was gone, so I had no radio."

Blinded, momentarily deaf and not yet feeling pain, Popaditch groped his way around the inside of his tank until he located Chambers.

"That guy, man, he was injured too, and he'd already climbed right up into the cupola — the same cupola I'd just been blown out of — and was assessing the situation," said Popaditch, stopping to laugh. "This is the funny part of the story. I grabbed him and screamed, 'Chambers, we have to get the tanks out of here,' and 'Chambers, you're going to have to call for a medevac.' He didn't answer me, so I shook him and screamed it three or four more times, until I realized he'd probably answered me but I couldn't hear him."

As the tank started moving he could faintly hear Chambers on the radio, he said. "I heard him hollering at both drivers, just doing what tank commanders do naturally," he said, admiration in his voice. "We were blocks and blocks deep into the city, and Chambers simply took control. That was comforting to me, to know that he had taken charge of the situation."

With Chambers in charge, Popaditch focused on himself for a moment and said he suddenly felt very tired."I wanted to lie down right there and go to sleep for a while, but I knew from first aid training that I had to stay awake," he laughed, shaking his head sheepishly. "I stood up, held on, and forced myself to stay awake. I don't remember anything about the trip back to the center of command, but there is a berm near the trestle we were based near, and when I felt the tank cross that berm, I knew we were home."

Popaditch said when his Marines and the medical crew pulled him out of the tank; he knew everything was going to be OK. He said he's still not sure if they were Army medics or Navy corpsmen, and laughingly apologizes for not knowing, saying, "Hey, I'd just been hit in the face with a grenade."

"When they started treating me, I knew I was safe, and I knew my family would never see a picture of me hanging from a train trestle somewhere," he said. "It was such an emotionally charged feeling, such a sense of relief."

He remembers very little about being treated in Fallujah, or being medevaced to Germany, but what he does remember amazes him.

"I was on a cot, and they were working on me. I was very heavily medicated," he recalled, taking off the patch covering his right eye and rubbing his hand across his shaved head.

"All of a sudden, they said, 'Gunny, we're being mortared, so we're going to pile these flak jackets on you,' like it was no big deal."

In Germany, he spoke to his wife and parents on the telephone, and after surgery, the doctors told him his right eye had been unsalvageable.

"I'm sure I left this guy on the floor of that tank," he smiled, gesturing to his swollen and closed right eyelid, surrounded with fresh pink scars and some small scabs peppered across his cheeks, mouth and forehead, "But it was nice of them to tell me I'd lost it. This other one is getting better every day though, and I expect to regain 100 percent of my vision in this eye."

When asked how he would sum up the whole experience, Popaditch thought for a minute and smiled.

"This has been the most motivating experience of my life, and it has restored my faith in the youth of America," he said enthusiastically. "The people I've met along the way are amazing. Corporal Chambers saved my life that day, the doctors are working to give me the best quality of life possible, and people across America are coming forward to support not only me, but all of the guys fighting over there right now."

Along with his eye, Popaditch lost his sense of smell, suffered permanent hearing loss in his right ear, broke his nose and has undergone several surgeries to remove shrapnel from his head, eye and face.

His sense of humor escaped unscathed, as did his love of God, Corps and country.

"My friends and my Marines are still there, still fighting," he said softly. "Any Marine in their right mind would want to be right there with them. All I've really lost is about 10 degrees of peripheral vision, and I'll be OK without that. I'm ready to be with my Marines again."

Nick Popaditch continues to see things in a positive light. Not soon after returning home attended his son's first baseball game of the season

.More treatments along with many special activities have kept him busy. Most recently Nick was awarded a Marine Corps Scholarship by Congresswomen Mary Bono 4/22/05. There is also a story of it in the Desert Sun on Sunday April 24th 2005. The story is ' Labor of love' for Marines.

Nick AKA Ceegar Guy and his wife April are now both FReepers and will join us on this thread over the week-end. TexKat is the FReeper who made the initial contacts with them. Thank you KAT!!! You can address any comments to them directly

Nick – Cee-gar Man US Marine
April -- USMC wife AKA Cee-gar wife

DOLLY,

THANK YOU! MY FAMILY AND I APPRECIATE ALL THAT YOU AND ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS AT FREE REPUBLIC HAVE DONE TO KEEP US MOTIVATED AND IN GOOD SPIRITS DURING THE LAST TWO YEARS.

I AM RETIRING FROM THE MARINE CORPS DUE TO MY LIMITED VISION IN MY REMAINING EYE. I HAVE A 92% LOSS OF MY FIELD OF VISION IN MY LEFT EYE AND THE REMAINING 8% IS CONSIDERED LEGALLY BLIND.

I AM GRATEFUL FOR THAT MUCH. IN THE FIRST DAYS OF HOSPITALIZATION THERE WAS A POSSIBILITY OF HAVING NO SIGHT AT ALL, SO AS YOU COULD IMAGINE I AM GRATEFUL FOR WHAT I DO HAVE AND BLESSED TO MAKE IT BACK HOME TO MY FAMILY. I AM DOING FINE AND LOOKING FORWARD TO NEW GOALS AND DREAMS IN MY LIFE. I AM BY NO MEANS OUT OF THE GAME AND I WILL NOT BE SITTING ON THE SIDELINES OF LIFE, I SHALL FINISH THE GAME.

I AM PROUD OF MY SERVICE TO THIS COUNTRY. I ACCEPTED ALL THAT WAS A POSSIBILITY IN A WAR, EVEN THE POSSIBILITY OF NEVER COMING HOME. MY FAMILY STAYED STRONG FOR ME DURING ALL OF THIS AND ALWAYS UNDERSTOOD THAT SACRIFICE AND HONOR WOULD NOT ALWAYS BE EASY BUT WORTH IT.

MY WISH NOW IS TO BE A HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER, I JOKE AND TELL PEOPLE,” I WILL JUST BE GETTING THEM (THE KIDS)A FEW YEARS EARLIER”.

BACK SOME MONTHS AGO I ATTENDED THE BLIND REHABILITATION PROGRAM IN THE PALO ALTO VA HOSPITAL. THERE I LEARNED TO USE AN ADAPTIVE COMPUTER, LOW VISION AIDES SUCH AS MAGNIFIERS, TELESCOPES AND SPECIAL READING DEVICES. I READ MY FIRST BOOK WHILE I WAS THERE, IT WAS NEARLY 9 MONTHS WHEN I LAST WAS ABLE TO READ, IT FELT GOOD AGAIN.

I HOPE TO ENTER COLLEGE ON THE SAME LEVEL AS THE OTHER STUDENTS WITH MY NEW QUIPMENT.

MY FAMILY AND I ARE NOW LIVING IN THE MONTEREY PENINSULA AREA OF CALIFORNIA. IT IS BEAUTIFUL HERE. MY WIFE AND MY SON ARE ANIMAL LOVERS AND LOVE ALL THE SEA CREATURES THAT SHARE THE SHORES WITH US. I HAVE STARTED KAYAKING AND LOVE IT.

THE SMALLER COMMUNITY WILL BE JUST MY SPEED WHILE I ATTEND COLLEGE HERE, NOT TOO BIG, CROWDED OR COMPLICATED FOR ME TO GET AROUND. I CAN’T COMPLAIN ABOUT A THING.

I FEEL BLESSED, THIS INJURY TOOK ME THROUGH ANOTHER DOOR AND CHAPTER IN MY LIFE WHERE PEOPLE AND EXPERIENCES WERE WAITING FOR ME ON THE OTHER SIDE, I WAS REDIRECTED. I LEARNED THINGS I WOULD HAVE NEVER KNOWN HAD I NOT BEEN WOUNDED. IT TOOK ME ON A JOURNEY THROUGH OTHER LIVES OF GREAT PEOPLE AND MADE ME THE RECEIVER OF SO MUCH GOODNESS IN THEM. YES, SOMETHING WAS TAKEN, BUT SOMETHING WAS ALSO GIVEN. I HAVE ALSO SEEN THE COURAGE AND BRAVERY IN THE OTHER MEN WHO SERVED ALONG SIDE OF ME AND WHO HAVE ALSO BEEN WOUNDED. I AM PROUD TO CALL THEM MY BROTHER.

I AM FOREVER PROUD AND PRIVILEGED TO HAVE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO SERVE MY COUNTRY AND WOULD DO IT ALL AGAIN.

HAVE A BLESSED MEMORIAL DAY

GYSGT. NICK POPADITCH USMC

03-29-05 ~ Hall of Fame #11

THIS WEEK'S THREADS 05-23-05 Military Monday 05-24-05 Still Fontastic! 05-25-05 Doggie Tails ~ River Rendezvous 05-26-05 Facing the Nuclear Option, Dems release 3 hostages

Opinions by our own 'King of Ping' Every Thursday at the Finest The guy's good, folks!

http://domania.us/DollyCali/Memorial05/remeberingthersacrifice.gif

[Billie]

You're not a bid proud, of course.

Not one *bid* bit!

[ohioWfan]

As long as you don't call the new M-i-L a 'biddy,' you're OK, Billie. :o)

Thanks!

[Jackie-O]

Yes the ping is what did the trick...thank you FRiend!
It is nice to see the old gang. I have been MIA for some time here as I am a very Admin at a Victims Advocacy site.
Ya know another o FRiend I often wonder about is Cheneychick....I wonder if she is done with her tour in Afghanistan??? Has anyone seen her lately??

[DollyCali]

Cheney Chick in Forum

whooohooo.. we're talking about you.....

[DollyCali]

wow, look who's here!!! good to see you U... I don't hang out a the political threads in general. i do read daily Texkat's thread with news etc & Prairiebreeze's Tony Snow. New to the Daily Talk show thread. So much want to do but so little time unless I am tied to the computer all day & in nice weather don't want to do that... some days don't get to FR at all.. glad you stopped by

[DollyCali]

Thanks Billie...As always you were a big help when I needed it. That ending was giving me fits.. I was so tired at that point & didn't want to jeaopardize the entire thread (which I did 3 hours earlier & had to restructure)...as you see I got into your toybox

:)

[DollyCali]

Hi there Gail.. I was thinking about you in the middle of the night amidst the "fun with HTML" saga.. Has it been about a year you lost your hubby? was he a vet? Sometimes I recall things & other times my mind is a seive... how is your new job going? I am wondering how many men & women here are vets & how many are/were married to vets...

[Billie]

That 'ending' still puzzles me, because I took out the linebreak and tried it again - still the same mess. Going to just forget what I sent you last night and go back to the bottom links that are tried and true - my mistake in trying to do it for you without using the very format I had set up in the first place - it works. We've all been using it every day for a while now! Do you want me to send it to you again, and you delete anything and everything else you have stored?

[DollyCali]

Is the pope Catholic?

I am still copy/paste material

:)

[Pippin]

Billie, did you read my post at #9?

I'm afraid I'll have to slow my appearances on FR for a while.

I'm not leaving Fr, just taking a bit of a hiatus from it due to PC and scheduling problems.

But read #9 as I had a question that only one person has answered so far.

I'm gonna keep lurking whenever I can to see if it was answered by anyone else.

[LadyX]

"I go to the cemetery several times a year but the big family day is one day of Memorial weekend. We have 10 relatives at this cemetery & 8 at another (and one at a third but we usually don't get there). We clean the stones with brushes (I have a obsessive compulsive aunt), trim around the graves, put flowers around."

It is a joy to see so many here who honor this holiday for what it truly is -- not just a chance for a 3-day holiday, as so many think of it.

Found a good site about Memorial Day, located HERE

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Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service.

There are many stories as to its actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day. There is also evidence that organized women's groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the Civil War: a hymn published in 1867, "Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping" by Nella L. Sweet carried the dedication "To The Ladies of the South who are Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead" (Source: Duke University's Historic American Sheet Music, 1850-1920).

While Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it's difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day. It is more likely that it had many separate beginnings; each of those towns and every planned or spontaneous gathering of people to honor the war dead in the 1860's tapped into the general human need to honor our dead, each contributed honorably to the growing movement that culminated in Gen Logan giving his official proclamation in 1868. It is not important who was the very first, what is important is that Memorial Day was established. Memorial Day is not about division. It is about reconciliation; it is about coming together to honor those who gave their all.

Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873.

By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war).

It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971 (P.L. 90 - 363) to ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays), though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19 in Texas, April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in South Carolina; and June 3 (Jefferson Davis' birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee.

- snip -

Traditional observance of Memorial day has diminished over the years. Many Americans nowadays have forgotten the meaning and traditions of Memorial Day. At many cemeteries, the graves of the fallen are increasingly ignored, neglected. Most people no longer remember the proper flag etiquette for the day. While there are towns and cities that still hold Memorial Day parades, many have not held a parade in decades. Some people think the day is for honoring any and all dead, and not just those fallen in service to our country.

To help re-educate and remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day, the "National Moment of Remembrance" resolution was passed on Dec 2000 which asks that at 3 p.m. local time, for all Americans "To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to 'Taps."

The Moment of Remembrance is a step in the right direction to returning the meaning back to the day. What is needed is a full return to the original day of observance. Set aside one day out of the year for the nation to get together to remember, reflect and honor those who have given their all in service to their country.

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[dutchess]

Dolly...what a touching, beautiful, incredible thread. I'm in tears!!! (((dolly))))

[dutchess]

Thank you so much for allowing Dolly to share your story on our Memorial Day thread. Your attitude is inspiring. (BTW, I used to be a rehabilitation counselor for the visually impaired...and based on your attitude I know you will succeed in where ever life takes you!) Thank you for your service to our country.

[dutchess]

Thanks for the history lesson maggie...and thank YOU for your service to our country.

[dutchess]

Hey pippin. Will miss your smiling face during your "hiatus". Re your question...if it were me I would avoid any political discussions with those from the left. And lurk, lurk, lurk espcially on the positive threads here. We'll miss you while you gone friend. (((pippin)))

[dutchess]

Hi Ohio. What a lovely picture of Eric and his bride. You have freepmail!

[Billie]

Hello, you two on this beautiful Memorial Day weekend tribute to all our brave men and women in the armed forces.

Pip, I will echo both Lakeside's and your co-worker's advice. Mostly because I really hate confrontations and try to just stay away from those who thrive on it. Fortunately, for me anyway, I really don't even know anyone who agrees with those dastardly dems, so I'm not subjected to politically-charged confrontations.

I like what your co-worker said - you're 'on vacation' from discussing politics. :)

We'll miss you until you get your problems solved, but hope you have a wonderful time in Canada - NOT having to defend our President. :)

[Billie]

As long as you don't call the new M-i-L a 'biddy,' you're OK, Billie. :o)

LOL! Deal!

[TexKat]

Beautiful DC, Nick and April. I hope and pray that all have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.

[TexKat]

Marine Gunnery Sgt. Nick Popaditch at American Legion Memorial Post 180 in Highland.