Gathering of Eagles: 30,000 Patriots Hit D.C.

Reports are in and it appears the Gathering of Eagles (GOE) in Washington D.C. on March 17 was an unqualified success. Timed to coincide with International A.N.S.W.E.R.'s annual antiwar protest on the date of the start of the Iraq war, the Gathering of Eages consisted of a grassroots coalition of Vietnam veterans, military family members, conservative activists and just plain folks. All manner of patriots gathered in D.C. to protect the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial from vandals and express the opposition of the once "silent majority" to a repeat of the self-induced defeat of the Vietnam War.

Despite mainstream media efforts to downplay attendance or ignore the event altogether, blogosphere reports count 30,000 GOE participants vs. 5,000-10,000 antiwar protesters. This may mark the beginning of the end of mainstream America's complacency in the face of a vastly outnumbered but vocal (and overreported) antiwar movement whose platform spells disaster for the United States and Iraq.

Never again will America's brave warriors and their cause be abandoned and the people our country has pledged to liberate be left to perish at the hands of tyrants. Those days are most definitely over.

What good is a free press, if it is a false press? That question has been bouncing around in my head all weekend long. I have been dismayed at the lack of coverage of the “Gathering of Eagles” that occurred on St. Patrick’s Day in Washington, D.C.. Think of it this way: how many of you would continue to play in or watch a sporting event in which one team had control of the scoreboard and kept subtracting points from one team and adding them to the other team? I would immediately quit the game. Maybe that is why for about two years now, I have not subscribed to the local papers and quit advertising my business in them.
The Gathering of Eagles came about as the Vietnam veterans realized that the war protesters planned to begin their march near the Vietnam War Memorial, “the wall”. They looked at the previous protests and realized that graffiti and desecration was often done as a part of the protest. Earlier this year the steps of the Capitol were spray painted and a statue of a sailor was defaced. Additionally, on some of the websites there were threats to desecrate the wall, just to show “those baby-killers”. By the way, isn’t it about time that we quit insulting the heroes of America and respect the fact that they risked their lives for their country? They were all that stood between the people of South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia and the spread of communism. We read about “The Killing Fields” in Cambodia, and we know that 2 million people were killed there. Guess the “domino theory” about communism was true after all. Anyhow, about 6 weeks ago Vietnam vets began contacting each other and planning to go to DC, just to form a human chain around the wall. Several people that I talked to and have read about since, had less than a week’s notice of the event and pretty much dropped everything and came running. One soldier standing next to me was just back one week ago from Iraq. He and his wife drove 12 hours through the New England blizzard to be there. My last words to him were, “Soldier, when you get back to Iraq, tell them about us. We came here to support you guys and as you can clearly see, there are more of us, than there are of them.”
That brings me to the main reason for writing this and posting it for the people of Venango County to read. With only 6 weeks to organize, hardly any advertising, and no promotion from conservative talk radio, the Gathering of Eagles drew what the park police unofficially estimate to be 30,000 people. This information is found on the main page of the official website: www.gatheringofeagles.org . I could tell that we outnumbered the war protesters, but I didn’t realize how badly until afterward. Eagles were everywhere!! On the other hand, the protestors had been planning their event for nearly a year and they were well financed and organized; yet they could only muster less than 10,000 people.
Let me briefly talk about who the war protesters were. They were organized by ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism). According to the New York Times, this group was initially associated with the Workers World Party (communist) and now affiliated with a breakaway faction of that party called the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Many in the crowd carried Answer Coalition signs bearing the image of the Latin American revolutionary Che Guevara (again communist). The New York Times article went on to say that many in the crowd said that they were unfamiliar with the Answer Coalition and were puzzled by the many signs about socialism (These clueless followers are often referred to as useful idiots.) Many in the war protest crowd looked as bizarre as possible, some wore masks, others covered their faces with bandannas. Some of them were bussed in from Philadelphia since they would be receiving high school credits for attending a protest! Wow. If I were in a crowd and found out that many in that crowd were socialists, that would be a good time to get out while the getting was good...they had that choice! The war protesters had and still have the right to free speech, but under communism/socialism, guess what happens to the right to free speech ... that’s right, it is gone! Many people who seem to favor communism would not last a year under communism.
Now, let me describe what I saw at the Gathering of Eagles. I saw raw patriotism. The Eagles were primarily comprised of some of the greatest men this country has to offer. These guys didn’t just say they loved their country, they have proved it. What I saw at “the wall” was indescribable. It was more, much more than a family reunion. There were greetings between total strangers who had a common bond...they were there, they know what it really was. There were tears at that wall; I’m not ashamed to say that I wept there, also. 58,000+ brave soldiers are named on the wall. There is a reverential spirit there that can only be experienced. I know of no other experience that even comes close to the feeling of being at the wall. Being there with thousands of heroes is something that may never happen again in my lifetime, but it was worth staying up all night driving to be there. The Park Police had taken adequate measures to protect the memorial: you had to empty your pockets; no backpacks were going in; you went through metal detectors plus the wand, as well as a pat down. Even if they had not taken those steps, every time I looked over at the Vietnam wall, there were thousands of patriots who were not going to allow the communist-backed useful idiots a chance to do damage. This was real, this was serious to them...make no mistake, they are awakened and they are angry about the war protesters. Some of them have sons and daughters currently in Iraq and Afghanistan and their thought is: you may have disrespected me when I came back but YOU WILL NOT DO IT TO MY KIDS!!
We met people who jumped into Holland during World War II; we met one Swift Boat Vet; we stood shoulder to shoulder with some very fine people who love their country. We had the chance to meet Michelle Malkin, a conservative blogger, who posted a lot of pictures on her website: www.michellemalkin.com One of the pictures shows the two men from Franklin who accompanied me to Washington, D.C. Mr. Wade Rogers and Mr. Dan Reinsel were with me and saw the same things I saw. At one point, I stepped back and looked at the Eagles gathering on one side of the street and compared them to the other side of the street. On our side, I could see hundreds and hundreds of American flags. On the other side of the street, I saw 4-5 flags -- and one of them was desecrated. When the Eagles chanted, “where’s your flags, where’s your flags?”, the protestors realized their mistake. So they hastily found 6 flags and brought them up to the front row...that, my friends, was telling. You hold a rally in the capital of the USA and bring less than a dozen American flags??? I guess that makes sense if your sponsors belong to the communist party.
During the about an hour face-off, I was approached by a German reporter who asked why I was there. My reply was something along the lines of this, “I love our troops and my country!”
And I have a very compelling reason to be here. A young man who used to work for me, my oldest son’s best friend, gave his life for his country in Iraq. The memory of Jonathan Kephart is probably the biggest reason why I am here. Make no mistake, I am 100% behind our troops. If the war protesters think they are helping our troops, they are sadly mistaken. If the park police had not been directly between him and the protesters once they began their march, one of the soldiers fresh back from Iraq really -- and I mean really -- planned to go out and knock some heads. Maybe then, if these protesters were given a reality check from some of the troops that they are putting in harm’s way by encouraging the enemy, they might get the message that our troops do not appreciate their stupidity!!!
Getting back to that German reporter ... he reminded me about a similar march 40 years ago and asked if I thought that this march would have the same effect. My immediate answer was a loud “NO”.
He seemed startled and then asked why. I said, “Look around you. We outnumber them here at their staging ground. Look over at the wall. Almost everyone that you see over there is a part of our group--there are thousands over at the wall. Furthermore, there is our staging area over the knoll. There are thousands over there who cannot bring themselves to go to the wall but they are meeting old friends over there as well as listening to our speakers.” Most of us came here to confront the war protesters, though. Additionally, 40 years ago, there were people who were here in support of our troops. If you are a Vietnam vet, it is important to me that you read the rest of this paragraph. Either one or two weeks after the war protesters marched in 1967, Rev. Carl McIntire organized a March for Freedom. I was an 7 year old boy at the time. Why did I go? I was going because my dad was going. He said that there were young men from our church ( I’m still in contact by email with one of them; you can bet he will see this essay!) who were far away in a place called Vietnam fighting against communism and it was important to stand up for them. I told some of the vets during the day that back then, we filled up the lawn in front of the Washington Memorial. There were speakers who addressed the crowd. One memory I have is of Uncle Sam on stilts. Also, I can remember a man dragging the communist flag with its hammer and sickle, through the crowd. He was giving us the opportunity to spit on the commy flag, so I did! In telling of our rally back then, one woman said, “I was there, too, as a 13 year old girl. Welcome back to Washington!”
The soldiers who heard me said that was the first time they had heard about it. No wonder they thought all their country hated them; they were never allowed to hear the voice of those who loved them. When the soldiers from our church came back, they were welcomed back as the heroes that they are. So, let me tell you this, I supported the troops back then and I still support them today!
There was a group in D.C. on Saturday called Moving America Forward. They started in San Francisco, Ca. one week before the rally. They stopped at 25 places and held Support the Troops rallies. (Surprised to have not heard about it???) Their goal was to collect hundreds of USA flags to send to the troops in Iraq and Afganistan. They were given 10,000 flags from people all across the United States. Do not tell me that patriotism is dead in America!
One veteran posted his encounter with a young female British reporter. Their conversation turned to the fact that America is not imperial, but has liberated many countries in our history. This reporter asked what countries has America ever liberated? The veteran began to list: France, Spain, Belgium, and the reporter stopped him with a question that made his jaw drop: “When did America ever liberate France?” He said, “Have you never heard of Normandy?” This is who we are dealing with -- and uneducated public.
The confrontation: One radio station, WTOP in Washington, DC. said that “at one point the war protesters encountered counter-protesters” At one point??? I was there. We faced off for at least an hour across the street from them, voicing our displeasure with them. When it came time for them to march, they had to walk past thousands of us. There were only 2 lanes and a lot of police protecting them. They heard our voice and they heard it loud and clear. The term ‘communist’ came up often; so did ‘useful idiots.’ Indeed, they heard from us nearly half of their parade route. Many of us let them know that they were making Al Quaida strong and making our troops weak. On one side were the heroes, on the other side were the zeroes. They got a chance to hear what patriots think of their cowardice. We were not just a speed bump.
Lastly, often I have seen the term “barking moonbats” applied to this crowd. Until I see that they do know their history, the term stands. Their highest insult is to call someone a Nazi. The nazis killed their millions but the communists have more than tripled that body count in the number of their own people that they have massacred. The current threat that we face is from Islamo-Facists. Because of their willingness to obtain and use chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons, this group has the potential to kill more millions than nazism and communism combined! Would they do that? Well, in the Sudan over a 10 year period, they have killed over two million with just conventional weapons.
Until this crowd shows some respect for the heroes, dead and living, they deserve the term “moonbats.” But they are protected and propped up by our news media. The boo’s resounded for the press as they advanced in front of the march. Reporters were asked by many of us to just tell the truth, give the score accurately. At the time, they promised to do that. But we see that most are not interested in accuracy, only agenda. This was the first Gathering of Eagles, but I believe it won’t be the last. Just as surely as I believe that Americans will never let another plane be hijacked without fighting back, so I believe that wherever the moonbats gather, the Eagles will gather together to soar above them and let their voice be heard!

Rev. David Foote

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