Posted on 10/16/2007 7:51:31 AM PDT by PurpleMan
"At the Vietnam Wall we saw something unbelievable. We noticed three small index cards at the base of the Wall.
I knelt down for a closer look and noticed that a 4-star general's rank was pinned to each card.
The cards were personally addressed and said something like:
These are Yours - not mine! With Love and Respect, Your Platoon Leader, Pete Pace 1 Oct 2007
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs had laid down his rank for his boys who died in Nam. Oct 1 was the day he stepped down as Chairman."
(Excerpt) Read more at redstate.com ...
Just WOW!!
Amazing!
Semper Fi to General Pace.
Class act, General Pace!
How could the Washingotn Post, New York Times, Washington Times, CBSNBCNBCABCMSNBCFOXCNN all miss this?
Pelosi and Reid will claim he disrespected our fallen troops by dropping “litter” at Wall.
Hope they can get General Pace to run for Virgina’s senate seat being left open by Warner!
Won’t happen — ever.
He’s a class act
Ping for great honor!
I suspect each addresses that reality in his own way. This is as classy a tribute as any I could imagine.
Bump!
I’ve been looking for a great thread to make my donation on. this is it.
only Rush can cover this class act with class.
The rest of the media will just ask if their hair spray is ok.
A man who stuck up for his principles.
God Bless this great Patriot.
If I could reach through this monitor and hug that man, I would.
Now there, is a leader.
Wow.
While Chertoff still has his cushy Homeland Security job.
Leni
We will ALLWAYS need men of his character and determination. Thank God we still have the Marines.
class is right!
They didn't.
They DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW.
It's that simple. Their purpose is to twist your mind, by slanting the facts you receive.
It seems like something personal for the General, and I bet he is pissed it is in the news.
That’s one helluva man! He needs to be the next Senator from Virginia, at the very least!
Our disgusting Dem run Senate would never have reconfirmed him for a second term. Instead they would have used his confirmation hearing as a circus of accusations, further damaging the war effort.
Have we ever before been in a war with half of the country's leaders taking action to keep us from victory? I will always believe that the war in Iraq would have ended years ago if it were not for our Dem legislators and our DBM encouraging the enemy to keep fighting.
Reading something like this might make a person cry.
Hey Michael! This needs to be publicized throughout the Conservative talk show community. Can you help?
From the National Park Service website:
“Items are left at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial constantly by many, although not all, of the visitors. They are usually collected by NPS rangers at the site two times per day, once during the day shift and once during the night shift. In bad weather, artifacts are collected more frequently. The artifacts are tagged, given a unique identification number, and placed in museum storage bags. Note that Memorial Day (the last Monday in May) and Veterans’ Day (November 11th) tend to be the heaviest days of the year in terms of both visitorship and artifacts left. Independence Day (July 4th), Father’s Day (third Sunday in June), and days on which there is a significant event on the Mall are also fairly heavy. Then, the artifacts are stored on the Mall until a staff member brings them to the Museum and Resource Center (MRCE). Almost everything is saved for the collection. The only things that are not saved are active organic items (such as live plant matter) and U.S. National flags, unless the flags have been altered in some way. The unaltered flags are given by the rangers to Veteran’s Hospitals, Memorial visitors, or civic groups such as the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. Once at the MRC, the artifacts are identified, researched, and eventually cataloged. When items are cataloged, a detailed description is written of them, and a report is prepared on their condition. Cataloging is done for the security of the collections, and in order to have an easy reference on the collection for exhibits, conservation, and the like.”
http://www.nps.gov/mrc/vvmc/faqs.htm
I believe that all messages left at The Wall are collected, catalogued and preserved every day.
General Pace:
In November 2008, the United States of America will arrive at a crossroads. The two paths that lay before the American people could not diverge more sharply. Down one lies bigger government, hostility to traditional values, and the lack of will to face down the great threat of our time: Islamic fascism. The other path leads to greater opportunity, an embrace of the values that have made America “a shining city on a hill,” and a commitment to absolute victory against those who would use terror to prey on innocents.
Moments such as these call for courageous leaders who can rise above the fray and steer the nation through troubled waters. That is why we are asking you to seek the Republican nomination to represent the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States Senate.
We understand that after 40 years of dedicated service and personal sacrifice, that spending time with your family and enjoying a well-deserved retirement are far more appealing than the slings and arrows of Washington. There are rumors circulating that you will never consider a run for the Senate.
It is, however, your reluctance to serve that suggests to us that you must serve. For too long, the halls of power have been filled with self-important politicians who crave public office and the honor that it brings. In Washington, self-interest often trumps the public interest. For six years, you could change all of that. We don’t ask that you begin a second career; we ask that you serve one term at a moment in history that such service matters most.
General, the American people need your leadership in the U.S. Senate. The outcome of even one Senate race could mean the difference between pushing on towards victory and being driven from the field and rendering meaningless the blood that has been spilt in the sands of Iraq and Afghanistan. We cannot afford to be represented by a September 10th politician. We cannot spare you now.
Sir, we respectfully ask you to take on one last mission for your country.
Demonstrate your support for General Pace by donating via the link above. Should General Pace choose not to run, approved donations will be sent to Fisher House, a charity providing housing for veteran and active military families in times of need.
I agree.
Honor.......ping
Don’t turn this into a political run for Senate thread.
I may have seen Gen. Pace close up in September. How many four star generals are there? I saw a four star at the airport in Dublin, but forgot his name.
I may have seen Gen. Pace close up in September. How many four star generals are there? I saw a four star at the airport in Dublin, but forgot his name.
I know it sounds great, but something tells me there is something wrong here.
He KNEW someone would see this and most likely would publicize it.
I doubt he would have done something to public at such a public place that would be so public; ie, he showed his humility by doing something so publicly?
If he did this, GREAT, however, I am not so sure he actually did this. A man of his stature would avoid the public response of it all.
God, you make me ill.
By usung this thread in your seemingly self-serving desire to turn him into a candidate and run his campaign you miss the essence of Peter Pace.
Honor the man. Drop it and start a new thread.
>>>Words can’t express his class.<<<
His own words should have been headlines.
I cannot find a transcript of his speech, but CNN actually did a segment which uses the words that I remember General Pace saying at his farewell ceremony.
HOLMES: I’m T.J. Holmes. So glad you could be with us this morning. Up first this half hour, a final tribute by General Peter Pace, who used his own farewell to remember some of his men. We get this story from CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (on camera): On the day his 40-year military career ended, in part because of the war in Iraq, General Peter Pace remembered the first men he lost in combat in another unpopular war long ago.
CNN has obtained photos from a private moment the day General Pace retired as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on October 1st.
(voice over): After this farewell ceremony with the president, the secretary of Defense, and the new chairman, Pace went to the Vietnam wall and left some notes. Each was addressed to one of the men who died during his command in Vietnam in 1968. Look closely. Each note has a set of his four stars pinned to the card.
This note, to 19-year-old Lance Corporal Guido Farinaro reads, “These are yours, not mine. With love and respect, your platoon leader, Pete Pace.”
He remembered those same men and others when he closed his farewell speech just an hour earlier.
GENERAL PETER PACE, (RET.) U.S. MARINE CORPS.: I made a promise about 38 years ago to Guido Farinaro, Chubby Hale, Whitey Traverse, Mike Witt, Little Joe Arnold, Freddy Williams, Jon Miller that I would serve this country in whatever capacity I could, for as long as I could, and try to do it in a way that would pay respect to the sacrifice that they made following Second Lieutenant Peter Pace in combat.
STARR: Pace, of course, did not get a second term as chairman because of the Iraq war. But we now know he left office that day making one last private stop to say good-bye one more time to the men of his platoon in Vietnam.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
FYI.
That was not my intent. It was simply to illustrate what esteem this man is held in, and what honor he carries.
The Caption for the PHOTO:
U.S. Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, shakes hands with a retired Marine during the Columbus Day Parade along Fifth Avenue in New York City, N.Y., Oct. 9, 2006. Defense Dept. photo by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. D. Myles Cullen
"A year later, after a year at The Basic School at Quantico, which molds all new second lieutenants, he (Peter Pace) was on his way to Vietnam. He arrived in time to be assigned as a platoon leader in Golf Company, 2d Battalion, 5th Marines, then involved in heavy fighting in the Battle for Hue City. It was an experience that marked him forever. He was the third platoon commander in as many weeks. When he joined it, there were only 14 men remaining in the platoon instead of the authorized 43. Under the glass on his desk he keeps a photo of Lance Corporal Guido Farinaro, the first Marine to die while under his command. There would be many more to die. After 37 years he can still reel off their names. He himself escaped unscathed in his 13 months of Vietnam combat."
Respectfully,
I think if it had been a weasely clark he would have called the media BEFORE, he would have had the media there DURING.
He would not have left them there where they might not be noticed.
Did he know the MSM might pick this up? yes absolutly. might is not a guarantee. Did he care either way? no.
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=47507
Above site reports a visit by Pace to Farinaro’s high school, and cites the circumstances of his death and it’s impact on Pace. Very worth reading.
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