USO Canteen FReeper Style ~ Wednesday's Warriors ~ April 9 2003

Friends of the Canteen

[SAMWolf]

Dear Lord,

There's a young man far from home,
called to serve his nation in time of war;
sent to defend our freedom
on some distant foreign shore.

We pray You keep him safe,
we pray You keep him strong,
we pray You send him safely home ...
for he's been away so long.

There's a young woman far from home,
serving her nation with pride.
Her step is strong, her step is sure,
there is courage in every stride.
We pray You keep her safe,
we pray You keep her strong,
we pray You send her safely home ...
for she's been away too long.

Bless those who await their safe return.
Bless those who mourn the lost.
Bless those who serve this country well,
no matter what the cost.

Author Unknown

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FReepers from the USO Canteen, The Foxhole, and The Poetry Branch
join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time.

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Welcome to "Warrior Wednesday",
where the USO Canteen profiles a different veteran each week.
The "ordinary" Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine
who participated in the events in our Country's history.
We hope to present events as seen through their eyes.
To give you a glimpse into the life of those
who sacrificed for all of us - Our Veterans.

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A nation that forgets its past has no future."
Sir Winston Churchill

"Those Who Have Long Enjoyed Such Privileges As We
Enjoy, Forget In Time that Men Have Died To Win Them."
Franklin D. Roosevelt

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Pte Leo Kelly:
The Battle of Vimy Ridge

This Wednesday the Canteen honours the soldiers of our neighbor to the North, Canada.

The victory at Vimy Ridge is celebrated as a national coming of age. For the first time Canadians attacked together and triumphed together.

Four Canadians won the Victoria Cross and Major-General Arthur Currie, commander of the 1st Division, was knighted on the battlefield by King George V.

"They fought as Canadians and those who returned brought back with them a pride of nationhood that they had not known before."



Dear Readers,

I first heard of Vimy Ridge and trench warfare as a high school student sitting in Mr. Stephens' history class. We watched movies like “All Quiet on the Western Front” and attended Remembrance Day services. It would not be until years later however that I came to fully understand what it was I was to be “Remembering”. This epiphany came to me in the form of a letter, a lost piece of family history. My maternal grandfather wrote this letter from his hospital bed where he was recovering from wounds sustained in the battle of Vimy Ridge during W.W. I.

Some historians would say the Canadian victory achieved on Vimy Ridge changed the outcome of the war and helped shape the country we live in today. This letter is my grandfather’s, account of the battle.

Heather Reid, Brampton, Ontario , Canada



Pte Leo Kelly, Fulham M. Hospital
London W., 6, H.1.W.

Mr. P.M. Kelly;

Dear Father,

I am writing to you a short story on what took place in the great battle won by the Canadians on Easter Monday on Vimy Ridge.

On the morning of April 9th between the hour of five-thirty or six o’clock was the time selected for the Canadians to make the big drive on the Germans at Vimy Ridge. All day Easter Sunday and all that night the boys worked hard preparing for the awful work which they had before them still they never faltered but I laughed and sang as if nothing was going to happen. We all spent the night in a tunnel about forty feet in the earth. It was the only safe place around Vimy Ridge then for it was about as much a hell hole as one would want to be in.

About three o’clock that morning we had breakfast which was a very good one. It consisted of bacon, bread, butter, tea and oranges, a meal we do not get very often out here. I guess the cooks opened their hearts for once. They knew the boys would have a hard day and that it would be the last meal for quite a few of them. Never the less our Battalion was very fortunate in the line of casualties, which I think was quite light.

After breakfast we got our issue of rum, which was rather small, but we don’t need rum to fight, all we need is grub and cigarettes. Well, Father, it was getting near the time for work. We got the order “ get ready” which we were not long in doing. We had a heavy load to take across. I was in the Machine Gun Section and had to carry ammunition for the gun. We then lined up in the trench, got into position, fixed bayonets; everything was as quiet as a mouse. The Huns knew we were going over but little did they expect us on that morning.

We did not have long to wait. Our engineers blew two mines that ran under the Hun’s front line. This was a signal for the artillery. The explosion was hardly heard when many thousands of guns both large and small opened a terrific barrage on the Hun front line. The boys waited no longer, they went over the top in a moment, making their way bravely across “No Man’s Land” to meet the Germans. To our surprise when we got there we found the line quite empty as the enemy could not stand our terrific artillery fire and fled for shelter to their dugouts and were taken prisoners. The barrage was now playing on the German’s second line, which was our objective, so we pushed over the shell ploughed ground, mud and water to the waist. Men were falling here and there but still the boys kept on.

Our gun crew got scattered. The man who carried the gun and I we were alone and we did not go far when he fell. I turned him over but he did not move. I could not wait so I picked up the gun hoping to get it to the second line safely, for a machine gun is a great weapon against the enemy. It fires six or seven hundred rounds a minute. But luck was against me for I did not go very far when it was smashed to pieces on my shoulder; it had been struck by sniper fire. I was not hurt and I did not mind the gun only I now had no weapon. I had thrown my rifle away when I had picked up the machine gun. All I had was a revolver but it would not work for mud. I reached the second line safely, I seen Jack and Leo McGuire and they were O.K; they said it was great sport.

Well father, I was looking for souvenirs when I got hit with shrapnel in the left hand. One of our officers sent me out to a dressing station, so they kept me going until I finally arrived in a London hospital. It was a beautiful place and the people were so kind especially the young nurses. Well Father, if the town people of Pembroke had seen the Pembroke boys of the 130th battalion (now the 38) go through the Hun that morning they would not say that they were Kitchener’s last hope. There are quite a few Pembroke boys in the 38 Battalion.

Well father, I guess I will ring off, wishing you all had a Merry Easter and eat some eggs for me.

Your loving son,
Leo Kelly

[tomkow6]

Yeah!

[SAMWolf]

Current Military News

[Bethbg79]

Cool! LOL

whatcha wanna do?

[Bethbg79]

A little while ago, the Iraqi's we're dragging this head through the streets by the rope that they had earlier attached. One man was riding the head waving his arms in the air! I thought it was great!

[snippy_about_it]

WooHoo!
What a great day.
God Bless our Troops!
This Tanks for you!

[Soaring Feather]

Kathy, lookie here what I have found for you!!

[Soaring Feather]

Snippy, are you ready for the Tank Parade????

[snippy_about_it]

I am indeed. If ya'll group up will someone grab me and put me in the group. I have a stinking meeting to attend in abuot 10 minutes. Dang, I can't believe their going to make me work on a day like this! :(

Let's Roll!

[snippy_about_it]

abuot=about. Busy busy.

[tomkow6]

They allow blondes to drive tanks????????????

Of COURSE!

I'm a BLONDE!

[Soaring Feather]

I'll get them lined up Snippy that's my job, tank line up!!

[Bethbg79]

Hey Snippy! Great to see you!

[grantswank]

THE POWER OF PRAYER

If you write well, that is, if you write the truth about the present Cuban crisis, chances are that you will spend years in prison. Castro is resurrecting his heavy hand once again. It is grabbing up some of the brightest minds and most sensitive personalities on the island.

Can it be that Iraqi Freedom is giving the quivers to Fidel Castro? Freedom is contagious; he does not want the ‘disease’ to spread to his domain. Therefore, he puts them away — journalists, economists and those championing democratic rights to the people.

“We are witnessing the harshest political trials of the past decade,” one veteran human rights activist stated today.

Can there be a direct relationship between what is occurring in Iraq and Castro’s increasingly hostile stance against some of his own citizenry? Perhaps.

When a dictator of long standing, such as Castro, witnesses day upon day the liberating of another nation it must be extremely disconcerting. Will despot Castro be next? Will his people somehow come to their free senses so as to topple his regime as Hussein’s has been toppled? Will symbols of Castro’s power come crumbling down into the streets as the statues of Hussein are being bludgeoned into Baghdad marketplaces?

To forestall any sense of freedom increase in his territory, Castro concludes that he must up the iron grip. And that is exactly what he is doing, particularly in making examples of intelligent leaders who henceforth will spend their lives behind bars — one sentence being for 27 years.

Just as believers prayed earnestly for the release of the Iraqis, so believers will continue to pray for every dictatorial pocket on the planet, including Cuba. Prayer is power. Prayer is actual power. United States President George W. Bush believes in that kind of prayer, hence his day beginning with Oswald Chambers’ MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST devotional book alongside his Holy Bible. Mr. Bush reads his God-news prior to opening the daily newspaper.

Believers are now encouraged more than ever to seek God in planetary developments. Prayer is lifted for North Koreans and those being massacred in Congo. Prayer is offered on behalf of Syrians and Iranians who are gripped by national leaders upping nuclear weaponry for mass destruction.

“The Castro government is persecuting journalists for acting like journalists,” State Department spokesman Philip Reeker states, according to the Associated Press. “They’re persecuting economists for acting like economists, and peaceful activists for seeking a solution to Cuba’s growing political and economic crises.”

With that, one recalls quite recently Hussein’s dictatorial hold on his own scientists, forbidding them to speak in depth with the UN inspectors. If they divulged any significant information, it would mean their lives. Parallel that with what is happening now in Cuba under Castro’s fear tactics against the intelligentsia.

This week the shortest prison sentence handed out to the dissidents is 15 years. Such imprisoned citizens are accused of having ties with the United States, thereby setting them apart as enemies to the Cuban government.

"The mass arrests of dissidents that have taken place lately are one more example of the human rights violations being committed in Cuba," said a reliable source.

chap grant

<//><

[grantswank]

I just received this email from a friend who, with his family, once lived in IRAQ:

Hi Pastor-

How are you? I'm doing great this morning/afternoon. I watched history this morning. I watched the fall of the Saddam regime. This is a great moment in time. I have been waiting for this moment for a long time. I knew this day would come.

God Bless America!!! Go Bush!! Go USA!!! Go Free Iraq!!! :-)

Proud to be an American,

Jim
_______________________________

chap grant

<//><

[tomkow6]

Can we play tanks too?

 

[Soaring Feather]

Now hear this!

TANKS ARE US ON PARADE!

Tomkow, I am gonna run over you with my tank if you don't stop picking in me about being Blonde!!!

[Bethbg79]

America the Beautiful!!

[tomkow6]

What does a postcard from a blonde's vacation say?

Having a wonderful time. Where am I?

[Radix]

The beauty of that image is that it is so genuine.

Wankers! LoL!

[SAMWolf]

Current Military News