USO Canteen FReeper Style Welcome Warriors Veterans of Foreign Wars September 17,2002

FRiends of the USO Canteen FReeper Style and Snow Bunny

[Snow Bunny]

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If you know a Veteran, someone in your family,
friend of the family, neighbor, who served their
country, take a brief moment of your day to thank them.
Thank them for the sacrifice they made
for the better good of their country.

We at Free Republic, and the USO Canteen FReeper Style,
are thankful for every service member
in our military, who has served our great nation.

So, to the men and women who answered the call,
in both times of war and peace, thank you.

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Message from Snow Bunny to all those who visit the Canteen.

This is how I think of the USO Canteen Freeper Style.
It is like a cottage down a road,
a place where a weary veteran can spend the night.

Since it opened, it is magical how so many
Freepers who post here, feel it too.
It has been so dear how the Freepers
kept making it a cottage - a home-type of place
that had a huge living room
for them to visit in and a dance floor, a library, etc.

Many Veterans have written to me,
saying that the Canteen is like home
to them for the first time since they served.

This is your Canteen -
a respite from our busy
and sometimes troubling world.
Make yourself at home.

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VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS

The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States
came into existence in 1913 as a result of amalgamations
over a period of years since 1899 of five separate foreign
service organizations that had the same ideals and similar
requirements for membership. These organizations came
into being entirely independent of one another and without
the knowledge of one another at the time of their origin.

A brief resume of these unites is as follows:

September 1899,
AMERICAN VETERANS OF FOREIGN SERVICE
organized as a national body in Columbus, Ohio.
Were chartered by the State of Ohio October 10, 1899
and elected J. C. Putnam as their first Commander-in-Chief.
They were organized through the efforts of James Romanis.

December 1899,
COLORADO SOCIETY OF THE ARMY OF THE PHILIPPINES
organized at Denver, Colorado by General Irving Hale.
Became NATIONAL SOCIETY OF THE ARMY OF
THE PHILIPPINES on August 13, 1900 with
Francis V. Greene as their first Commander-in-Chief.
At their Encampment in August 1909 they changed the
name to ARMY OF THE PHILIPPINES. July 7, 1901,
H.O. Kelley organized PHILIPPINE WAR VETERANS in
Altoona, Pennsylvania. In July 1902 reorganized with
C.O. Knighton as President.

October 1901,
PHILIPPINE WAR VETERANS
organized at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with G.H. Smith
being elected Commander. On April 27, 1902 reorganized
as FOREIGN SERVICE VETERANS with Jacques La Belle
as Commander. July 24, 1902, AMERICAN VETERANS OF
PHILIPPINE AND CHINA WARS organized at Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania by Captain Robert S. Hansbury.

The PHILIPPINE WAR VETERANS-Altoona
, PHILIPPINE WAR VETERANS-Pittsburgh, and
AMERICAN VETERANS OF THE PHILIPPINE AND
CHINA WARS-Philadelphia met together
September 10-12, 1903 at Altoona, Pennsylvania and formed
the Eastern society of the AMERICAN VETERANS OF
THE PHILIPPINES, CUBAN, PUERTO RICAN & CHINA
WARS organization. In 1903 the name was changed by plebiscite
to AMERICAN VETERANS OF FOREIGN SERVICE-Eastern Branch.

During the period of September 13-15, 1905,
at Altoona, Pennsylvania, the Eastern Branch of the
AMERICAN VETERANS OF FOREIGN SERVICE,
which was formed in 1903 at Altoona, Pennsylvania,
amalgamated with the original AMERICAN VETERANS
OF FOREIGN SERVICE of Columbus, Ohio to become
one society known as the AMERICAN VETERANS OF
FOREIGN SERVICE. Herbert O. Kelley, of Altoona, was
elected Commander.

In August, 1913, at Denver, Colorado, the
ARMY OF THE PHILIPPINES and the
AMERICAN VETERANS OF FOREIGN SERVICE
united under the temporary name of ARMY OF THE
PHILIPPINES, CUBA AND PUERTO RICO with
Rice W. Means as the first Commander-in Chief.
During the year the organization's name was changed
by plebiscite and General Order No. 1 to the present day
VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS OF THE UNITED STATES.

At the Encampment in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1914,
the name
VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS OF THE UNITED STATES
and a constitution were formally adopted.

On May 28, 1936, Congressional Charter incorporated the
VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS OF THE UNITED STATES.

History shows that the Cross of Malta,
the emblem of the
Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States,
is 1,000 years old.
Nearly ten centuries ago the Maltese Cross was
made the symbol of fighting men who were united
by a solemn pledge of comradeship to fight for freedom
and to aid the sick and the needy.
Those ancient obligations are still symbolized by the
Cross of Malta today, for the more than two million former
servicemen who are the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
The Cross of Malta is the symbol of their battles in time of war
and of their campaign to defend the God given rights of human
beings in time of peace. The Cross of Malta symbolizes the
compassion, or sympathy, of those men and women for the needy.
It is the sign of services which our contemporary veterans render to
help make living a little better for everyone.

The Knights of St. John represented all
walks of life. They were noblemen and priests,
artisans and laborers. Regardless of those
differences, however, they were united by a
solemn pledge of unwavering courage and
compassion. Together they fought against
oppression.

The Cross of Malta had a religious origin
but the Knights of St. John also made it
their battle standard for the liberation of all
men, women and children who suffered
oppression. The ideals for which the original
Crusaders fought parallel the principles of
democracy today, freedom and justice.

Why did the Veterans of Foreign Wars
select the Cross of Malta emblem?

What has been added to the Cross
and what does the symbol mean?

Upon the Cross is superimposed the
Great Seal of the United States,
encircled by the name,Veterans of
Foreign Wars of the United States.
Within the circle is the American eagle,
the emblem of a proud nation whose
warriors of many generations have fought
and sacrificed to preserve the free mans
way of living.

Between the four arms of the Cross,
the Veterans of Foreign Wars has added
the suns rays to emphasize the vigor and
warmth with which the present day
brotherhood defends our ideals.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars is the
worlds oldest and largest overseas war
veterans organization.
It is chartered by the Congress of the
United States.

That charter states specifically that the
objects of the VFW shall be;
fraternal
patriotic
historical educational
that its members shall preserve and
strengthen comradeship
that they shall maintain allegiance to
the government of the United States
and fidelity to its laws
that VFW members shall foster true
patriotism, extend American freedom
and defend this nation from all enemies.

There are 2.1 million members of the
Veterans of Foreign Wars

The VFW is also joined by 750,000 members
of our Ladies Auxiliary.

~Honor the Dead by Helping the Living~

The VFW was the first veterans' organization to adopt the poppy
and develop a national distribution campaign. For more than 75
years, the VFW's Buddy Poppy program has raised millions of
dollars in support of veterans' welfare and the well being of their
dependents. From the very beginning, Buddy Poppy has received
the support of the Veterans Administration and the endorsement
and cooperation of all presidents since Warren G. Harding.

Today, VFW Buddy Poppies are assembled by disabled,
needy and aging veterans in VA Hospitals and domiciliaries
across the country and are sold at VFW Posts and their Ladies
Auxiliaries.

In Flander's Field" describes a battlefield of crosses dotted
with red poppies. The poem deeply touched the nation and
the world, and, from that point on, poppies became known
throughout the world as a memorial flower,
a reminder of the lives lost in wartime.

"In Flanders Fields"
~ by John McCrae~

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow, 
Between the crosses, row on row, 
That mark our place; and in the sky, 
The larks, still bravely singing, fly, 
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. 
Short days ago, 
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, 
Loved and were loved and now we lie, 
In Flanders Fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you, from failing hands, we throw, 
The torch, be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us, who die, 
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow,
In Flanders Fields.

[SassyMom]

Thank you for sharing about your father's life. God bless you and your family during this time.

[SassyMom]

Beat you! NEENER! NEENER! NEENER

[Johnny Gage]

Attention in the Canteen:

THe Mike Gallagher show is calling for all Americans to send Senator Diane Feinstein a American Flag lapel pin.

This Anti-american whore said while overseas:
I am embarrassed to where an American Flag pin.
Here's the FR Thread: Senator Frankenstein is embarrassed

Here's her email address: senator@feinstein.senate.gov

Here's her DC address:
Senator Dianne Feinstein
United States Senate
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Here's her California Office address:
Senator Dianne Fein
1 Post St. - Suite 2450
San Francisco CA 94104

LET'S ROLL!

[Valin]

1864 - Grant approves Sheridan's plan for Shenandoah Valley Campaign




Prelude to Battle

Sheridan's forces had established themselves on both sides of the Valley Pike north of Cedar Creek. Their eastern flank was about 1300 yards from Cedar Creek's confluence with the North Fork of the Shenandoah River. The area east of the Pike was occupied by the VIII Corps. Its First Division was posted considerably forward on a hill almost due east of Hupp's Hill, overlooking the Bowman's Mill Ford across Cedar Creek on the high ground now traced by CR 635. The division entrenched itself on these heights along with three batteries of artillery. Batteries B of the Fifth U.S. and D of the First Pennsylvania, with six guns each, were 400 yards apart on a tongue of land overlooking Bowman's Mill Ford. Battery L, First Ohio Artillery was farther northwest with four guns in a position overlooking the Cedar Creek Bridge and the Pike, now bounded by US 11 and I-81. The Second Division of the VIII Corps, located about 1300 yards to the north in open camp approximately where the Interstate goes over CR 840, was beginning to prepare earthworks south and eastward of its campsite, but they would not be ready in time for the coming battle.

The XIX Corps was entrenched on the west side of the Valley Pike. Its eastern flank was anchored on the Pike overlooking Cedar Creek Bridge beginning where the 128th New York monument now stands. This position was occupied by the corps' Second Division and was further supported by a large portion of the corps artillery. An artillery strong point was set up on the corps' west flank in the First Division area on the high ground immediately southeast of where the Meadow Mills railway trestle now is. This position dominated Cedar Creek and Meadow Brook, a stream flowing parallel to the Pike from north of Middletown and emptying into Cedar Creek. The corps' camps occupied an open, rolling area north of its positions extending almost to Belle Grove Plantation.

The VI Corps went into bivouac west of Meadow Brook when it returned on the 14th. The Third Division overlooked the stream and was oriented southward toward Cedar Creek. The First Division occupied Red Hill farther west while the Second Division was in camp north and east of Red Hill and the modem quarry. The corps' trains (support services units) were on the area between Red Hill and Meadow Brook roughly on a line with Belle Grove and parallel to modem CR 624. The corps was not entrenched at all. By 16 October General Wesley Merritt's Cavalry Division was in bivouac about a mile northwest of Red Hill near Nieswander's Fort, while General George A. Custer's Cavalry Division patrolled possible Cedar Creek crossings on the west side of the Valley in the vicinity of Hite's Chapel, two or more miles beyond.

The Federals were secure in these positions, feeling that Early was too outnumbered to do anything other than harass them. However, evidence that the Confederate commander may have been considering something major continued to accumulate. On 16 October, Sheridan left for Washington and the conference with Stanton, taking the Cavalry Corps with him as far as Front Royal. He intended to send it on a raid to destroy railroads around Charlottesville. But at Front Royal he received information from the acting army commander, General Horatio G. Wright, that a Confederate wigwag message had been intercepted indicating the arrival of reinforcements for Early, led by General James Longstreet. Sheridan suspected a ruse. But true or not, he reasoned that the sending of the message in itself behooved return of the Cavalry Corps to the Cedar Creek camp. The message was actually false, sent by Early in the hopes that it would cause Sheridan to pull farther north. Instead it had the opposite effect. The cavalry returned to be placed entirely on the west side of the Valley by Wright, who was most concerned about a likely attack there. This left one cavalry brigade at Buckton's Ford about two miles east of the VIII Corps and another even farther east near Front Royal. In keeping with Sheridan's concept, the cavalry was concentrated to be used en masse. Divisions and corps were expected to provide their own local security and to send out distant pickets. This had not been the custom in Crook's corps, and the requirement for distant security posts was largely ignored. As a result, it was particularly vulnerable to attack.

By 17 October, Early had reached the point where he had to attack or retreat. The devastation of the Valley made it impossible for him to remain on Fisher's Hill and to sustain his army. His reconnaissances had shown that an attack down the Pike or on the west side of the Valley would have little chance of success. This left the rougher east side which looked so unpromising that the Federals seemed to rely on the terrain alone as their best defense. General John B. Gordon and Early's topographer, Captain Jed Hotchkiss, climbed to a signal station on the top of Three Top, or Massanutten, Mountain to examine the Federal positions. From there, they had a panoramic view of Sheridan's whole camp. In this pre-camouflage era every position, every gun was clearly visible from the Confederate aerie. Gordon said he could even see the color of the piping on the soldiers' jackets and the sores on horses' backs. Thus equipped with detailed information on the Federal dispositions, Gordon and Hotchkiss concocted a plan of attack against Sheridan's weak eastern flank.


Early approved the plan, despite its high risk, as still being promising and feasible with the veteran troops and leaders he had on hand. At its simplest, it was a night attack with four converging columns. Gordon and Hotchkiss had found a small trail passable to infantry south of the North Fork of the Shenandoah at the base of Three Top Mountain. At their urging, Early decided to send Gordon's, General Stephen D. Ramseur's and General John Pegram's Divisions, all under Gordon's command, along this trail to Bowman's and McInturff's Fords across the Shenandoah. Once across, a hike of a mile would get them about a thousand yards to the east of the Second Division, VIII Corps flank. General Gabriel C. Wharton's and Kershaw's Divisions were to move up to Hupp's Hill and wait until Gordon's attack made it feasible to cross Cedar Creek. Rosser was to attack the Federal cavalry in the vicinity of Cupp's Ford on the west side of the Valley. A small brigade of cavalry under General William H. F. Payne, already patrolling the area to be traversed by Gordon's men, was to go with Gordon. Its mission was to raid Belle Grove, known to be Sheridan's headquarters, and to capture the Federal commander. (Early obviously was unaware of Sheridan's absence in Washington.) A larger cavalry force under General Lunsford L. Lomax was to push up the Front Royal-Winchester Road (US 340) to somewhere in the vicinity of Newtown (Stephen's City) and then to interdict Federal trains and any withdrawal. The Confederate artillery, led by Colonel Thomas H. Carter, was to stand by on the Pike between Fisher's Hill and Strasburg until the battle opened, then move forward. It was feared that otherwise the sound of its wheels on the macadamized highway would give the whole attack away.
Confederate engineers immediately began to improve and mark the route Gordon's force was to follow. One modification to the plan of attack was made when General Pegram returned from a reconnaissance and reported more entrenchments in the VIII Corps area. Consequently, Early decided to send Kershaw's Division to the Bowman's Mill crossing of Cedar Creek to attack the positions of the First Division, VIII Corps head on. Since Kershaw had no time to reconnoiter, Early planned to go with the column and give Kershaw instructions on the ground.

Early gave his orders at a commander's conference at 1400 on the 18th. The officers synchronized their watches in order to meet the attack hour of 0500, 19 October 1864, as closely as possible. Although risky, the scheme of maneuver was a good one. It gave Early's outnumbered attackers the opportunity to achieve local superiority of mass, allowing them to defeat their enemy in detail in conjunction with the surprise intrinsic to their approach. Early succinctly explained the need for such a gamble: "I can only say we had been fighting large odds during the whole war, and I knew there was no chance of lessening them.... General Lee . . . expressed an earnest desire that a victory should be gained in the Valley if possible and it could not be gained without fighting for it."

While the Confederates made their final preparations, the Federals continued in a false sense of security. One of Custer's cavalry officers remembered the day nostalgically:

The 18th of October in the Shenandoah Valley was such a day as few have seen who have not spent an autumn in Virginia; crisp and bright and still in the morning; mellow and golden and still at noon; crimson and glorious and still at the sun setting; just blue enough in the distance to soften without obscuring the outline of the mountains, just hazy enough to render the atmosphere visible without limiting the range of sight. As evening closed above the Valley, the soft pleadings of some homesick soldier's flute floated out through the quiet camp, while around a blazing campfire an impromptu glee club of Ohio boys lightened the hour and their own hearts by singing the songs of home.

For more go to
http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/staff-rides/cedarcreek/ccprelude.htm

[Pippin]

Good Morning, Johnny!

[Pippin]

GOOD MORNING TOMKOW!!!!!!!!!!!

HEE! HEE! HEEEEE!

[MeekOneGOP]

I bet Feinstein would proudly hang this on her wall, though!

http://www.info-regenten.de/regent/regent-d/pictures/russia-lenin.jpg

[Pippin]

Hi Meekie!

[GatorGirl]

Hi Snow Bunny!

Thanks again for yet another wonderful thread. Sorry I haven't been around much. The Canteeners and all the Troops and Veterans are always on my mind. God Bless you all! Love, GG

[GatorGirl]

Skooz, please accept my sympathy on the loss of your father. I am sure he is looking down from Heaven upon you and yours. I will include him in my prayers. Love, GG

[SAMWolf]

I wonder if my Repulican Party Pin will do in a pinch, I hate to waste a perfectly good American Flag pin on her.

[Johnny Gage]

Good morning to you Pippin!

Good morning to everyone else too!

I'm calmed down now!

Station #51 is open for tours/rides
and Fresh Coffee and Donuts are in the kitchen

Time Out: 09:18
KMG-365

[Valin]

Senator Dianne Feinstein
United States Senate
I am embarrassed to where an American Flag pin.

Hey that ok babe, because we're embarrassed by you.
You feel more comfortable in europe, plese feel free to move there. I wouldn't want you to feel embarrassed by anything.
You pile of dung!

[Sabertooth]

G'morning, Victoria.

I like to think we've been leader of the free world since 1492.

[MeekOneGOP]

Mornin' !

[zip]

Not a rhetorical question: When do you people sleep??

I know our troops (and those who support them) appreciate every second, minute, hour, day etc of the time you all spend keeping this site up and running. Thx

[tomkow6]

A Sunday School teacher of pre-schoolers was concerned that his students
might be a little confused about Jesus Christ because of the Christmas
season's emphasis on His birth. He wanted to make sure they understood
that the birth of Jesus occurred a long time ago, that He grew up, etc.
So he asked his class, "Where is Jesus today?"

Steven raised his hand and said, "He's in heaven." Mary was called on
and answered, "He's in my heart." Little Johnny, waving his hand
furiously, blurted out, "I know! I know! He's in our bathroom!!!"

The whole class got very quiet, looked at the teacher, and waited for a
response. The teacher was completely at a loss for a few very long
seconds. He finally gathered his wits and asked Little Johnny how he
knew this.

And Little Johnny said, "Well... every morning, my father gets up,
bangs on the bathroom door, and yells 'Jesus Christ, are you still in
there?"

[SAMWolf]

Love the Leader of the Free World Graphic.