Free Republic

Just after 9 a.m. Thursday morning a good citizen of Toronto saw a dead raccoon on the sidewalk. He alerted the city’s contact centre to come get the animal. The city responded 12 minutes later. Animal Services was notified, they said. But around noon the raccoon was still there. And someone put a note next to it. Six hours after being reported to the city, the raccoon was still on the sidewalk. People had started to create something of a memorial to it. City Councillor Norm Kelly, who is surely one of Canada’s greatest Twitter users, saw the raccoon tweet...

http://ok.ru/video/7348225335 Ukraine Enemies not realize WHAT has awakened in all Ukrainians! Glory to the Heroes! The glory of the nation, death of the enemies. Ukraine above all! https://www.facebook.com/petr.sukhan?fref=nf

The National Park Service says tours on the USS Arizona Memorial are suspended after a vessel struck and damaged the memorial's dock. Spokeswoman Abby Wines said Wednesday that boats are taking visitors to a spot near the memorial where they may view it from a distance, but visitors are not being taken on it. Wines says the ramp and handrails connecting the dock to the memorial are mangled. Park service and Navy divers are expected to assess the damage from underwater Wednesday. The incident occurred when the hospital ship USNS Mercy and a civilian tugboat contracted by the Navy were...

Christian Jacobs, 4, visited his father's tombstone with his mother, Brittany Jacobs, of Hertford, North Carolina Sgt Christopher James Jacobs died in a training accident in 2011, when Christian was just eight months old Christian Jacobs wore a replica Marine Corps Dress Blue uniform with his father's medals pinned to his chest

Do Americans really want to remember their war heroes? Not just to claim to one day per year, but really to do so in a meaningful way? If by remember, we mean it in the same sense in which we remember things like the 2004 World Series, the television show Cheers, or the Ford administration, then sure, we can remember those who have given their lives in war.

There are several ways to make a patriotic garden. My mother-in-law arranged hers as floral tribute around her community's flag. Use this option if you have a flag pole. Or place a flag in the center. Make sure that it is in a solid holder, does not touch the ground and is either lit at night or taken down at dusk. You can create a patriotic garden around a lamp post. Place small flags in and around the perimeter and leave the light on at night.

ARLINGTON, Va. The perfect symmetry of alabaster headstones, majestically holding formation along this national cemetery's pastoral hills, reminds you that our soldiers are sentinels guarding our republic, even in death. On a sunny spring day, a lone figure held a tiny flag blowing vigorously in the wind as he knelt before a headstone. He held a conversation with a lost service member, perhaps a son or daughter, alternating between amusement and grief. Taps played from off in the distance. Only the heartless could fail to be touched by the raw emotion of that moment or by the somber presence of...

This month, Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force News magazine, celebrates the daring role of Operation Jericho by its valiant air force personnel during WWII. Mosquito aircrafts were dispatched despite bad weather in order to breach walls of a Nazi prison allowing French resistance to escape. Compromised British Intelligence officers were amongst the prisoners urging accordingly. On their return home, several pilots were shot down by the Luftwaffe, while many of those escaping were killed. These are the histories of bravery clashing with ideologies the like of Hitler. Nowadays “liberation theologies” competing for recognition against historical record for political...

Law enforcement officers at Washington, D.C.’s annual Police Week tell The Daily Caller that the anti-police climate is taking its toll on the men and women in uniform and that morale is low in departments across the country.

Moscow, May 5, Interfax - The remains of Grand Duke Nikolay Nikolayevich Romanov and his spouse Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolayevna have been reburied in Moscow to the sound of funeral tunes and artillery gun firings. The remains of the princely couple arrived from France on April 27 and were reburied at the Chapel of the Transfiguration at a military cemetery in the Russian capital. "The Duke and the Duchess have returned to their Homeland, their names are acquiring a worthy place in the Russian public memory," State Duma Speaker Sergey Naryshkin, who chairs the Russian Historical Society, said at the...

April 19th has come again this year, but it never quite goes. How can it? It stands out like a scar. It may no longer be the bleeding wound it was on that first April 19th -- except to those who were there and in a way still are. And can never leave. Their lives, their families, even their memories will never be whole again. The explosion that tore through the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, reducing it to a burned-out hulk, left more than an unforgettable stench in the air. It left a gaping hole in...

SIERRA VISTA — A small group of “almost forgotten veterans” were laid to rest during a short, simple ceremony Saturday. Fred Santana, the founder of the Missing in America Project, said those who were honored are like many “who have been on the shelves in America’s funeral homes.” The cremains were brought to Sierra Vista from Tucson. Santana came to the event from California to witness the latest group of soldiers, sailors and airmen — 17 of them this trip — to finally have a military-style burial. He said one time he helped recover 15 Civil War veterans and some...

SIERRA VISTA — The Missing In America Project will have another ceremony Saturday at the Southern Arizona Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery during which the cremains of 17 former service members and one dependent will be laid to rest. Joe Larson, the cemetery administrator, said normally two such ceremonies a year are held in which indigent service members are honored. This year, two of those involved are World War II veterans. Since those being honored may not have family members, Larson said the public is a stand in for them an he hopes area residents will attend the ceremony. People should arrive...

A photographer named Matthew Munson took several photos during a recent visit to Washington, D.C., and one in particular is stirring up conversation about American history, parenting, and respect. Munson shared his photos to Facebook, and there's some standard DC fare—that obelisk called the Washington Monument, some military memorials. But one of Munson's memorial photos speaks volumes without making a sound. It's an image of the Vietnam Women's Memorial, which serves to honor the women who served during the U.S. war with Vietnam, from 1955 to 1975. Atop this statue is a young girl using it like playground equipment. On...

Following in the footsteps of World of Warcraft's magical tribute to the late Robin Williams, Star Trek Online will feature an in-game tribute to veteran Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy, who passed away yesterday at age 83. "I want to once again express my heartfelt condolences to the friends, family, and fans of Leonard Nimoy," said executive producer Steve Ricossa in a statement. "Everyone at Cryptic Studios was saddened to hear of his passing and we want to make sure we never forget the cultural impact of the man or the character he played. To that end, the Star...

GREENSBORO — City employees and contractors may have been exposed to asbestos while working toward the demolition of War Memorial Auditorium. **SNIP** Brandon Hill, a construction project manager with the city, described the problem in an email on Oct. 13, after which work was halted and the building was shut down. “What we found was the worst case scenario of what we tried to warn staff about in August,” Hill wrote. “By allowing the scrappers and everyone else to come into the building before it was abated has caused a rather large issue.” “No one should be allowed in the...

One of the most significant ongoing tributes to the Prophet Joseph Smith is the annual Joseph Smith Memorial Firesides...These...began in 1944 and have been held each year since, as close as possible to December 23, Joseph Smith’s birthday...Brother Chase...published a ...volume titled Joseph the Prophet, As He Lives in the Hearts of His People. SNIP ...William E. Berrett...“It is an appropriate thing to remember the birthday of...Joseph...This is the birthday of our greatest countryman. Joseph Smith is the only American whose birthday is heralded around the world...People of every land and of every race are coming to honor the birthday...

For days, nearly every news media outlet has been consumed with the Ferguson fallout. From coast to coast, pundits and populations have been debating the efficacy of justice and demonstrations. But maybe a true solution for Ferguson -- and every other social skirmish like it -- can only be found in changing the narrative. I think I found it -- or him -- at Pearl Harbor, and just in time for its 73rd anniversary. You know the history. On a quiet Sunday morning, Dec. 7, 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on U.S. military bases on the Hawaiian island of...

Pfc. Due W. Turner is no longer the unknown soldier of Columbia County, Arkansas. At last his name has been added to the monument dedicated to the country's veterans on the courthouse square in Magnolia, Arkansas. That empty space on the list of Columbia County's veterans of World War II had stood waiting to be filled all these years, like a silent sentinel. The committee in charge of the monument, once it learned that one of the county's own had been overlooked all these years, did its duty -- just as Private Turner had done his. At long last, it...

Yesterday, reservist Nathan Cirillo was murdered while guarding Canada’s National War Memorial. Today, Halifax Chronicle-Herald cartoonist Bruce MacKinnon paid tribute to Cirillo — in an absolutely gorgeous way: