Free Republic

In honor of Veteran's Day, let us remember a soul so brave and so brilliant whose brief life-course flared too briefly across the early 20th century firmament before he met his merciful Maker. To this day, he is best known for his familiar poem entitled Trees which begins: “I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree…” Joyce Kilmer was of a breed of men that seems practically extinct today. He was a New Jersey Catholic husband and father of an artistic and literary bent who, nonetheless, was able to summon courage and charity in the...

They stood to attention, men of duty who are once again answering the call for America, a band of brothers who exemplify how the few are doing so much for the many of this land. These 16 serve in the storied Fighting 69th as members of New York's Army National Guard, and they are deploying on a year's mission that will take them to Afghanistan for some tough anti-terror work. In them, we have much to be thankful for. We who will shop for the holidays, hurry to jobs, walk our dogs, tuck in our children and rest beside our...

The chairman of the nation's biggest St. Patrick's Day Parade marched Friday while sidestepping questions about remarks comparing gay Irish-American activists to neo-Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan and prostitutes. "Today is St. Patrick's Day. We celebrate our faith and heritage. Everything else is secondary," said the chairman, John Dunleavy, who wore a sash of the Irish colors. Dunleavy was blasted by the City Council's first openly gay leader for the remarks, which appeared in The Irish Times on Thursday. He told the newspaper, "If an Israeli group wants to march in New York, do you allow Neo-Nazis into their parade?...

It was a strange St. Patrick's Day for the soldiers of the Fighting 69th. They usually fill a city block when they muster outside for the parade. This year, they filled a fraction of a block. They usually take up several dozen pews at St. Patrick's Cathedral for the cardinal's Mass. This year, they took up maybe 10. They usually finish the parade by riding back to their armory with their M-16's on a private subway, for a regimental cocktail. This year, the train and guns were there, but instead of drinking whiskey and Champagne, some of them drove to...