Posted on 11/09/2003 8:19:59 AM PST by mountaineer
The following is a speech delivered by my late grandfather (1888-1973). He was mustard-gassed in the Argonne on Nov. 11, 1918, returned to the U.S. to raise a family and have a distinguished career as an educator. He was a proud member of various veterans' groups, and it is to the American Legion in his homestate of West Virginia he spoke on Veterans Day 1956. I hope you will find it interesting to see what people were thinking back then, and to consider whether things have changed all that much.
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It is a real honor to be invited to this big, little West Virginia town on this important occasion. As a community, you represent the American way of life at its best in this Mountain State of ours. The spirit of your ancestry still permeates our state and their descendants have been represented on every battlefield in the two great wars.
George Washington, the father of this country, believed in the hardy pioneer of this section of our land when he said during the dark days of the Revolutionary War, “Leave me but a banner to plant on the hills of West Augusta, and I will set this country free.” The motto on our state seal is emblematic of the spirit of West Virginians; that is, the mountaineers are always free. We love freedom and will fight to maintain it.
Our commemorating this 38th anniversary of the end of hostilities in World War I should remind us of the cost and to let the world know that we still are against any “isms” that are not Americanism.
So much has happened since that day when guns were silenced in victory for America and our allies. Tremendous strides have been made in science and research. New inventions and better methods of production have been developed to promote social and economic progress. However, much of that advancement has been used for selfish ends. Too little has been used for cultural and spiritual advancement.
Veterans Day is being celebrated today all over the United States and in many counties of the world. When the firing ceased, 38 years ago at 11 o’clock on the 11th day of November, we gloried in the hope for a world peace.
But instead the most destructive war of history was fought. The battlecry, “Remember Pearl Harbor,” rang throughout the nation and the American people rose as one mighty army to put down another tyrant of a war demon. Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Guadacanal, the Bulge and D-Day will be places in the memory of many an American mother whose son paid the supreme price, with the phantom voice of Tokyo Rose thrown in. It is now 11 years since V-J Day, the end of hostilities, and once more we are striving for peace and good will. But again there is confusion, misunderstanding, selfishness and hatred in the world. National differences among nations should be solved by peaceful means, rather than by force. Force has failed to solve differences among nations. They should be solved by peaceful means, rather than by armed conflict.
Certain ideologies have arisen which seem to make that impossible. One ideology advocates an all-powerful central government, where life is planned from the cradle to the grave. Under that system, the government promises security but takes away all freedom. The symbol of that plan of government is Russia. There, living standards are only a little higher than in China and India.
The symbol of a free government is the United States. Our living standards are the highest in the world. The totalitarian plan would destroy our form of government. They say they have no unemployment in Russia, but their unemployment is taken up by 13 million now living in concentration camps. The others are told where, when and how they are to work. They have no choice such as we have here. They must follow orders or die.
Russia has had the aid of millions of dollars worth of American machinery, airplanes and railroad equipment, yet their production per man hour is small compared to that in the United States. Over here, the American workman has the right to strike but if he were under the Soviet rule in the United States, the workman would not have a job to strike or even be given a chance to raise a protest. He would be rushed off to some concentration camp, follow orders or die. He would be told when to work, how to work and where.
Can you picture that system in the United States, or will we awaken to the dangers that now threaten our country by the fifth column already among us?
There are only six million Communists in Russia, but they are absolute dictators over the 200 million of that great country, which is so rich in natural resources. Here in America we can play the game of politics, mud sling and deride the candidates not of our choice, and then exercise that great American right to vote for whomever we please, even though he might not be the best man for the office. We will not lose our freedom by so doing.
There are those in America who would trade our form of government and our way of life for a mess of pottage - a totalitarian government which offers some security but no freedom.
The greatest threat to this country today comes from those who say one thing and mean another. Those who would trade principles for personal gain. Those who say success is a sin and tell us somebody owes us a living without our working for it, when they know this is unsound and untrue. Those who talk charity and human welfare, but wouldn’t give us a nickel from their own pockets unless they got something out of it for themselves.
The American is willing to surrender some security to enjoy the blessings of freedom. We have brought back the bodies of our men who made the supreme sacrifice on foreign fields. We assemble today to pay solemn tribute to their memory and to honor the men and women who have waged our wars.
This is a proper time to consider what America really means. If everybody in America wanted to go out for a drive, there are enough cars in this country so that we could all go at once. In Russia, it would take years to give everyone a spin around the Kremlin.
This is the greatest country the sun ever shone upon from the pine clad hills to Main to the sunny shores of the Gulf of Mexico, its beautiful rivers, valleys, picturesque mountains, the magnificent Great Lakes, rolling farm lands dotted with homes and loving people, to the Golden Gate of California, where the sun sinks into the West in the evening, kissing a benediction on this great land of ours.
Can you for one minute trade this land for any other ?
What my grandfather said has come to pass in his beloved state. The Byrds and Rockefellers of the U.S. Congress have created this state of dependency, and my fellow West Virginians are content to rely on the handouts of a benevolent dictatorship instead of themselves.
My mother has described growing up in the depression years in W.Va., when this grandfather lost his job as a school administrator because he was Republican and the Dems had come into power in his county. Instead of whining and looking for handouts, or hoping FDR's various programs would save him, he went back to college to earn a master's degree. There were times when my mother and her siblings ate popcorn or corn flakes for dinner, but with that graduate degree Grandpa was able to find work as a college professor.
In answer to your question, Nanook, yes - many of the patriots have disappeared and have been replaced by those who don't want to work. On the other hand, W.Va. has a higher per capita population of veterans than other states, so there still are some with a sense of responsibility.
Except in civil court, where everything he has ever worked for can be confiscated without a jury trial and with only "a preponderance of evidence".
From a sermon by John Hagee; I want you to close your eyes and picture in your mind the soldier at Valley Forge, as he holds his musket in his bloody hands. He stands barefoot in the snow, starved from lack of food, wounded from months of battle and emotionally scarred from the eternity away from his family surrounded by nothing but death and carnage of war.
He stands though, with fire in his eyes and victory on his breath. He looks at us now in anger and disgust and tells us this... I gave you a birthright of freedom born in the Constitution and now your children graduate too illiterate to read it.
I fought in the snow barefoot to give you the freedom to vote and you stay at home because it rains.
I left my family destitute to give you the freedom of speech and you remain silent on critical issues, because it might be politically incorrect.
I orphaned my children to give you a government to serve you and it has stolen democracy from the people.
It's the soldier, not the reporter who gives you the freedom of the press.
It's the soldier, not the poet who gives you the freedom of speech.
It's the soldier, not the campus organizer who allows you to demonstrate.
It's the soldier, who salutes the flag, serves the flag, whose coffin is draped with the flag that allows the protester to burn the flag!!!
"Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they protect us. Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need. I ask this in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Amen."
We who have fought for freedom know how precious it is. Those who never came home gave all of their tomorrows just so you could have today.
I can think of no better prayer for our troops than Dr. Hagee's.
"Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they protect us. Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need. I ask this in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Amen."
Ferris Beuller
You get your thoughtful patriotism from a fine man. Thanks for sharing...for taking the time to post this!!!
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