Posted on 06/05/2005 8:00:05 PM PDT by The Mayor
May God be with his friends and family that grieve for him.
Good Morning JW. Have missed seeing you around here lately, hope everything is going well.
"I have returned many times to honor the valiant men who died on that beach. They should never be forgotten. Nor should those who lived to carry the day by the slimmest of margins. Every man who set foot on Omaha Beach that day was a hero." General Omar N. Bradley
break over, back to work. Going to a mexican party tongiht at Western Reserve Academy.. end of season get together for staff/faculty. I like to dress in thier "themes" but not sure I can rally this time..
 Mr Bush at the American cemetery in Colleville, near Omaha Beach
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It is a strange turn of history that called on young men from the prairie towns and city streets of America to cross an ocean, and throw back the marching, mechanised evils of fascism.
And those young men did it. You did it.
Only those who made that crossing can know what it was like. They tell of the pitching deck, the whistling of shells behind them...and the sound of bullets hitting the steel ramp that was about to fall.
As one GI said, "I became a visitor to hell".
Exactly 61 years ago, Joseph P. Barrett, of Haverford Pa., landed on Omaha Beach as part of an anti-aircraft battalion. Luckily for me, he made it. Joe is the Godfather of two of my sons and he introduced me to my wife.
He never talked much about the death and mayhem that took place on the beach, but he related a priceless anecdote about an U.S.Air Force fighter pilot who was shot down by friendly fire.
The pilot who was told that he was going on a "milk run" had a date with an English nurse that night. But when he entered to forbidden "no fly zone' the crew next to Joe's started shooting at him. They hit his plane causing him to parachute to the beach below.
He landed-- all dolled up in his class 'A' uniform-- yelling. I gotta get back to England; I have a date tonight.
Joe says he doesn't think he made it.
Joe trudged through France and Germany, crossing the bridge at Remagen before coming home. He landed a job as a police reporter on the late beloved Philadelphia Bulletin. I met him while covering the cop house for the Daily News. I later joined him at The Bulletin.
Joe is now in his middle 80s and creaks a little but he still holds a good conversation.
God Bless people like Joe Barrett.
I also know a man who participated in the liberation of Europe, parachuting into France behind enemy lines.
I thank God for all who made it back from the hell that was "D Day", and for all those who made the ultimate sacrifice and didn't. I shutter to think where we would be today without the bravery and sacrifice of these courageous men.
:-) Hi, ((((((((((Dolly))))))))))).
George Washington :
"There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet the enemy."
John Stuart Mill :
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature, and has no chance of being free unless made or kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
And finally, we are reminded war is an inevitable condition of life for Man, given the selfishness of man; and especially the nature of those who do not acknowledge and follow Almighty God.
In the Bible, that is made quite clear:
For everything there is a season,
And a time for every matter under heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to seek, and a time to lose;
A time to keep, and a time to throw away;
A time to tear, and a time to sew;
A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate,
A time for war, and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
Remember that God Himself often sent men into war for His reasons, that a mere mortal often could not necessarily see nor understand...
mrstank, we hold you and mrtank and all who defend America close in our thoughts and our prayers.
I know well - as do many here - the mental and emotional prepartion of the loved ones who wait.
When my husband was fighting in Southeast Asia (67'68), I often scanned the street, looking down to the corner, wondering is a "staff car" would come around it and to my door....
Bottom Line:
I knew all things are in God's hands, and left it at that, ready to accept anything.
Is it not so the next minute in life for any spouse/loved one/friend can bring "The Step over The Threshold"??
That an end might be abruptly brought by illness/accident/etc....??
Live life to the fullest possible, savoring the good things - -
and always thanking and praising our God of love and grace, freely given...
This has to be one of the best I have read today.
I will do that, mrstank.
A mind can be a terrible thing, though, and "on the other hand,"
that of *LadyX" has, well...numerous twists and turns..:))
For example, in locating quotes, I came upon this true gem
based on an oldie, that will make you laugh out loud, as I did!
"How many moveon.org members does it take to change a lightbulb?
Well, how many moveon.org/ communists would it take?
First they would have to do a poll then form a committee and hire more bureaucrats to do studies including environmental impact.
Finally they will hire one liberal and twenty eight delegates representing all the social, sexual, economic, and ethnic communities to change the bulb.
Cost to taxpayers $20 million dollars.
How many conservatives?
One, taking individual responsibility to just do it.
Cost to taxpayers NONE."
- Badgeman in Sean Hannity Forums, May 8, 2005.
Praying for the Family and Friends of Sgt. Jamie Gray, to our Merciful and Caring God. Grant them Thy Comfort, Great King, as we Commit them to Your Loving Hand, through Your Sweet Name.
Remembering all who have served or are now serving with much appreciation, admiration, and gratitude.
"Sure, we want to go home. We want this war over with. The quickest way to get it over with is to go get the bastards who started it. The quicker they are whipped, the quicker we can go home. The shortest way home is through Berlin and Tokyo. And when we get to Berlin, I am personally going to shoot that paper hanging son-of-a-bitch Hitler. Just like I'd shoot a snake!"
General George S. Patton - (addressing to his troops before Operation Overlord) - 5th June 1944
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"We want to get the hell over there. The quicker we clean up this Goddamned mess, the quicker we can take a little jaunt against the purple pissing Japs and clean out their nest, too.
Before the Goddamned Marines get all of the credit."
(sorry - couldn't resist bolding that!!..:))
General George S. Patton - (addressing to his troops before Operation Overlord) - 5th June 1944
==============================================
"Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened. He will fight savagely"
General Dwight Eisenhower - 6th June 1944
==============================================
"At the present time, it is still too early to say whether this is a large-scale diversionary attack or the main effort"
German C-in-C West - Morning Report for the 6th June 1944
Thank you for your posts. I have read them all throughout the day. They were all very sweet, touching, and appreciated.
I don't think I'll ever forget when I got the phone call that something had happened. It took almost a week for me to find out that it had been someone in my husband's convoy, and then I just couldn't get over how close to home it really was. Until that point I had felt kind of disconnected because I was in Maine and the other families were in Vermont. I still wish I'd had the opportunity to go to the funeral.
Thanks for allowing me the opportunity to do something special to honor the memory and provide a bit of peace and closure.
Nearly everyone had a loved one, friend or neighbor involved in the war, and flags with the appropriate stars were hung from many windows all over America, indicating a loved one at war - or one or more who died in action.
My father served in WW I at Kelly Field in Texas, instructing Army Air Corps pilots on airplane engines.
At 42 when Pearl Harbor took us into WW II, he could not enlist, but as an engineer, was based in Atlanta with The War Production Board, responsible over the seven Southeastern States.
Any war production plant with a 'problem,' meant his flying there to "fix it."
At age 7 to 9, many is the time I went to the Miami Airport to meet his plane, home for a weekend, or taking him to fly back to Atlanta.
I vividly remember being tired one day, sitting on the floor and struggling to get on frilly pink socks and my Sunday patent shoes, and Mom hurrying me..:))
The next door neighbor's son was the age of my older sister, and was in the Air Corps -- Bill was sent to England, and had many missions over Europe as a tailgunner in a bomber, trapped in that little bubble with no way to escape enemy fire...just pray and hit the trigger first, and don't miss...
After the war, Bill and Anne married, and he went to work for Eastern Airlines in Miami, eventually promoted to a desk job.
Seven years and two little daughters later, he was stricken with both spinal and bulbar polio, and was treated at Children's Hospital there; after a year, able to be home on a rocking bed they provided. All costs were borne by The March of Dimes, including twice weekly taken by ambulance for treatments.
In November of 1953, however, he worsened and was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami to a ward for seriously ill and totally paralyzed polio patients.
Among several men there, many who had no one or whose loved ones seldom or *never* visited, Bill shared his love of the Lord, and was to many a sustaining force.
A True Hero to the very end, in January 1954, his life was honored by
a full half side of the page editorial in The Miami Herald, dedicated to his life and efforts.
Heroes were the norm then, and I still hold Bill in my memories and heart.
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