This is Memorial Day Weekend and I would like to thank all of you that have served our country and for my FReedom and liberty.
This is Memorial Day Weekend and I would like to thank all of you that have served our country and for my FReedom and liberty.
Please take a couple of minutes from your busy weekend to remember the cost of YOUR FREEDOM. Your FREEDOM was paid for in the sweat, blood and LIVES of those we honor every Memorial Day. The men and women who fought and died in defiance of tyranny, and who paid the price willingly, so that their decendants would live FREE.
You and I are their decendants, and it is not just our priviledge to honor them on Memorial Day, it is our PROUD DUTY to keep their memory alive. Because as long as just ONE person remembers their name, and their sacrifice, then they are not truly dead.
So, sometime between the barbque and the beer, or between the picnics and the trips to the mall for "Memorial Day Sales" or outings at the beach or park, take just a minute to say "Thank You" to those who will never again be able to enjoy barbque or picnics or beer or outings at the beach or park, or trips to the mall. Their sacrifice must never be forgotten!
to visit the tribute page
Toward FREEDOM
There is a market there where I may be able to sell the sack of bikinis,
although I hate to be a shoddy dropper.
Is that round antenna called the 'elephant cage'?
This coming Monday is the Memorial Day parade at 10 AM here in sunny Venice, Florida. I'll be working the crowd before the parade starts, wearing my tricorn hat and handing out U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights booklets from my canvas haversack. Should be a fun day.
Today's classic warship, USS Kansas (BB-21)
Connecticut class
Displacement. 16,000
Length. 456'4"
Beam. 76'10"
Draft. 24'6"
Speed. 18 kt.
Complement. 880
Armament. 4 12", 8 8", 12 3-pdrs., 2 1-pdrs., 2 .30 cal., 4 21" torpedo tubes.
Commissioned on 18 April 1907
Sold for scrap on 24 August 1923
USS KANSAS, a 16,000-ton Connecticut class battleship built at Camden, New Jersey, was commissioned in April 1907. After a shakedown cruise off the east coast, she joined the Atlantic Fleet's battleships in Hampton Roads, Virginia, in time to take part in the cruise around the World that began in December 1907. For the next fifteen months, Kansas and her sister battleships cruised around South America to the U.S. west coast, then steamed across the Pacific to visit Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia, the Philippines and Japan. Continuing by way of the Indian Ocean, they called on Ceylon, transited the Suez Canal, passed through the Mediterranean and crossed the Atlantic to return to Hampton Roads in late February 1909.
At the end of this epic voyage, KANSAS began an overhaul that greatly changed her appearance. She emerged with two new "cage" masts and grey paint in place of the previous "white and buff". During the next eight years, she mainly operated with the battle fleet in U.S. and Caribbean waters, but also made three trans-Atlantic cruises. In late 1911, KANSAS called on ports in France and England. The next spring, she went to the Baltic and in 1913 visited Italy. In a diplomatic mission in July 1914, the battleship transported the body of the late Venezuelan Minister back to his country for burial.
After the United States entered World War I in April 1917, KANSAS served in training and escort roles until the conflict's end in November 1918. She made five round-trips to France from then until mid-1919, helping to bring home veterans of the "Great War". In June 1920, KANSAS passed through the Panama Canal to the Pacific, taking Naval Academy midshipmen on a training cruise that reached as far west as Hawaii. Returning to the Pacific in October 1920, she steamed to Samoa and Hawaii. She made a final voyage to Europe on a midshipmen's training cruise in mid-1921. KANSAS was inactive after the conclusion of that trip. Decommissioned in December 1921, she was stricken from the Navy list in 1923 and broken up in 1924.
Thank you for your dedication and sacrifice.
Thank you Snow Bunny, for all your work here. Have a wonderful and safe weekend.
Greetings to all our Armed Forces throughout the world. May God Bless and protect.
Have a safe weekend.
When opportunity rises, thank a vet and all those now in uniform.
Thank you, each and every one who has served or are serving now. We are indebted to you all.
The WTC Flag, signed by the 911 Victims' families and survivors has returned to New York from Afghanistan.
God Bless Our Country, Our Flag, Our Leaders, Our Warriors.....
It is the veteran, not the poet,
Who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the veteran, not the lawyer,
Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.
And lastly ... sadly ...
It is the veteran
Who salutes the flag,
Who serves the flag
Who followed that flag into battle
And whose coffin was draped by the flag
Who gave the right to the protestor to burn the flag.
Somewhere in the Pacific on a lonely island is the tombstone of an American Soldier that says ' Tell them I gave all of my tomorrows, just so they could have today.'
Freedom Is Worth Fighting For !!
Molon Labe !!