Free Republic

I have a good mix of liberal and conservative friends... I had to the write this rant and posted it on my Facebook. Comments welcomed.

The Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese surprise air strike on Pearl Harbor and subsequent attacks on American bases in the Philippines dealt U.S. naval and air forces a savage material blow. For six months, Japan maintained what military analysts call "the strategic initiative." Japan acted, the U.S. and its allies reacted. Japanese forces, with their fast aircraft carriers providing the offensive muscle, seized territory and threatened allied lines of communication in the central, western and southern Pacific. Japanese commanders determined when and where major combat action would occur. The heady, fast-paced and sensational days of Japanese offensive superiority lasted until the...

When the April figures on unemployment were released May 4, they were more than disappointing. They were deeply disturbing. While the unemployment rate had fallen from 8.2 percent to 8.1 percent, 342,000 workers had stopped looking for work. They had just dropped out of the labor market. Only 63.6 percent of the U.S. working age population is now in the labor force, the lowest level since December 1981. During the Reagan, Bush I and Clinton years, participation in the labor force rose steadily to a record 67 percent. The plunge since has been almost uninterrupted. Here is a major cause...

Seventy years ago today, America was brutally attacked at Pearl Harbor by an enemy that used planes as suicide bombs. A lesser nation would have been devastated. But America was no lesser nation. America was an exceptional nation. And so President Roosevelt vowed on December 8, 1941 that “the American people in their righteous might” would rise up and “win through to absolute victory.” America’s “Greatest Generation,” in their “righteous might,” turned that day of devastation into the first day of the American Century. A century in which the “righteous power” of America would become the greatest power in world...

Colleville Cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach, looking north towards the English Channel and the southern coast of England. 9,387 American fighting men—representing only about 1/3 of all Americans killed fighting in Normandy in the summer of 1944—are interred here at Colleville. Among them is Brigadier General Teddy Roosevelt, Jr., who was the only General officer to land on any of the Normandy beaches on D-Day (Utah Beach), and whose weak heart finally quit on July 12, five weeks after D-Day. His brother, Lt. Quentin Roosevelt, a pilot who was killed in France in WW1 in July, 1918, was reinterred to Colleville...

On Monday, the nation honored Col. William M. Bower, the last surviving pilot of the April 18, 1942, Doolittle Raid, the risky surprise attack on the Japanese home islands that bolstered American morale in the early, tragic months of World War II. Col. Bower died Jan. 10 at age 93 and was laid to rest Monday at Arlington National Cemetery. The Doolittle Raid was one of the gutsiest calls ever made by a president. Shortly after the Dec. 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor attack, Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a directive that the United States hit the Japanese homeland as soon as...

VJ Day, Honolulu Hawaii, August 14, 1945 from Richard Sullivan on Vimeo.65 Years Ago my Dad shot this film along Kalakaua Ave. in Waikiki capturing spontaneous celebrations that broke out upon first hearing news of the Japanese surrender. Kodachrome 16mm film: God Bless Kodachrome, right? I was able to find an outfit (mymovietransfer.com) to do a much superior scan of this footage to what I had previously posted, so I re-did this film and replaced the older version There are more still images from this amazing day, in color, at discoveringhawaii.com

I post for your consideration the following email and 4th of July speech written and presented by a close personal friend. It is nice to know there are communities in the heartland that still honor our vets and respect this great nation. EMAIL: Here at XXXXXX, the annual Independence Day celebration is a big deal. It has all the expected stuff, parades, speeches, games, fireworks, etc. This year’s theme was “Honoring the Greatest Generation.” There are still about 30 of the WW-II Vets living here, and it was decided that they should be honored for what they did. The planning...

This is a 65 year old film that a man found in his dad's papers. It is perfectly appropriate for Memorial Day Weekend! Enjoy and be thankful for that generation's sacrifices on behalf of us all.

Wow! Read this one. It is really good. And this gentleman says it just like it is..This venerable and much honored WW II vet is well known in Hawaii for his seventy-plus years of service to patriotic organizations and causes all over the country. A humble man without a political bone in his body, he has never spoken out before about a government official, until now. He dictated this letter to a friend, signed it and mailed it to the president. Dear President Obama, My name is Harold Estes, approaching 95 on December 13 of this year. People meeting me...

I just wanted to shout about how fortunate I am! Today my father turned 90! Mom will be 90 next July.

Highlights: * The lessons of America's Greatest Generation * American Exceptionalism - America has nothing to apologize to the world for. On the contrary, America changed the world for the better in ways that are immeasurable. * Connecting youth with the elderly is essential to raising a new generation of Americans who will recognize the accomplishments of our American past and who will therefore see the need to continue the fight for human rights and American decency. * Comprehensive educational reform is the only way to achieve these goals. * National security is a human rights issue and education is...

The word hero is attached to many people in American culture. A Quarterback throws the winning touchdown with 6 seconds left in the game, and he is called a hero. A movie actor makes a political statement while accepting an award, and he is called heroic. A politician takes a stance on an issue based on popularity polls rather than ethics and principle, and he is deemed a hero.

One month before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, a seaman aboard the USS Arizona, Jay Wesley Young, wrote a letter to his sister thanking her for the birthday cake. "I really made a pig of myself," he wrote. Thirty days later, both the cake and Young were gone. The letter is one of 47 million documents now available online through a partnership of the National Archives and Footnote.com. The site, www.footnote.com/wwii, contains 200 terabytes of photographs, enlistment records, and interactive maps relating to World War II. Highlights include a searchable image of the USS Arizona Memorial in Hawaii, 80,000 photographs...

Just heard sad news. Los Angeles TV newsman and talk radio legend George Putnam has died. He was 94. George showed me great kindness, championing my book Invasion and inviting me on his show frequently to talk about immigration enforcement and national security when few outside the border states cared. He penned a weekly online column right up until the last few months of his life. He had a rich, full, colorful career. He was a gentleman and a patriot. And I was glad and grateful to know him. Once, during a live radio interview, my then-two-year-old daughter woke up...

Recently, I reviewed a new American history anthology. I was amused to find included in the book a generous selection of 1960s protest songs. Apparently, lyrics by Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Buffy Sainte-Marie and Country Joe MacDonald are making their way into the academic canon, and at least some professors seem to think these are “must-read” documents for our students. Well, maybe so. But if one really wants song lyrics that reflect the 1960s, I'd point my students instead to some of the songs from math professor and musical satirist Tom Lehrer. In terms of insight into America, Lehrer's “National...

WWII airman recalls series of narrow escapes from behind enemy lines By Bob Bauder, Times Staff Published: Saturday, March 8, 2008 11:38 PM EST Carl Walpusk has a soft spot in his heart for Serbia. In 1944, Walpusk, of Moon Township, parachuted out of a sputtering B-24 bomber into Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia and the hands of a rag-tag band of Serbian guerilla fighters known as Chetniks. For 33 days, the Chetniks escorted Walpusk and nine other members of his crew from one Serbian village to another — risking their lives and those of collaborating villagers — to keep the airmen safe...

    When Sanity Reigned: A Passing Moment In Time January 10, 2008 Last night, while I sat in a neighborhood restaurant and anticipated only two things (a cold beer and a warm meal), I experienced an unexpected moment of sanity. Since the Northeast has been in the grips of a cold wave this past week, I dug some wool sweaters out of the cedar chest (Thank God I didn’t listen to Al Gore and throw all of my winter clothes away).  Yesterday morning I sought warmth in an old Cornell letter sweater which had kept me warm through the Ithaca winters...but...

The "greatest generation" is a term sometimes used in reference to those Americans who were raised during the Great Depression, fought in World War II, worked in farms and factories and sacrificed for the war effort while maintaining the home front. Following the war, these Americans, many of whom were born between the turn of the century and 1930, went on to produce a level of wealth and prosperity heretofore unknown to mankind. There's no question that this generation made an important contribution. Let's look at what else that generation contributed that might qualify them for the generation that laid...

Saturday, November 3, 2007 63 Years Later, Medal-Winner Tells His Story Sun Photo by Bill Jones Delbert Fellers, 85, poses with the medals he won for his World War II military service. Among the medals is the Silver Star medal he received for silencing a Japanese machine gun that was pouring deadly fire on his unit on Angaur Island in September 1944. By: By BILL JONES/Staff Writer Source: The Greeneville Sun 11-03-2007 Sixty-three years ago, Delbert L. Fellers, of Greene County, was a reluctant warrior who had been drafted into the U.S. Army for service in World War II. “I...