Free Republic

A civilized society’s first line of defense is not the law, police and courts but customs, traditions, rules of etiquette and moral values. These behavioral norms — mostly transmitted by example, word of mouth and religious teachings — represent a body of wisdom distilled over the ages through experience and trial and error. They include important thou-shalt-nots, such as thou shalt not murder, thou shalt not steal and thou shalt not cheat. They also include all those courtesies that have traditionally been associated with ladylike and gentlemanly conduct.

Few narrative historians have been able to capture the essence of war quite like Stephen Ambrose. The Eisenhower biographer published several books on the war later in his life, including Citizen Soldiers, Band of Brothers, and perhaps the best one volume treatment of the Normandy invasion, D-Day: June 6, 1944. One theme running through all of those books was the sheer ordinariness of the American GI and how, when confronted by the greatest challenges of their lives, outperformed, outfought, and outsmarted the seemingly invincible Nazi war machine. From a blurb advertising D-Day: They wanted to be throwing baseballs, not hand...

At this hour in 1944 the first of the airborne troops were setting off to invade the continent of Europe. Their sacrifice gave us the freedom we enjoy today. They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, We will remember them.

Seventy years ago today the United States Marine Corp sent waves of teenaged men onto the black foreboding beaches on a Japanese held island called Iwo Jima. Capturing Iwo Jima was essential to the American war against Japan as it offered a place for battered bombers to safely land and save the lives of hundreds of airmen returning from sorties over Japan in barely flyable planes. The average age of these men was just under nineteen. They knew what was at stake and charged up Iwo’s beaches sometimes straight into enemy machine gun fire that would have stopped lesser soldiers....

New York, NY -- You may have heard of World War Two hero Louie Zamperini, whose story is told beautifully in Laura Hillenbrand’s 2010 New York Times bestseller, “Unbroken.” But, this Christmas, audiences will be able to watch his miraculous life unfold on screen. Director Angelina Jolie broke what some have called the ‘movie curse.’ After Zamperini’s life story was tossed around in Hollywood for years, Jolie finally committed to the project and what resulted is the two-hour heart wrenching epic, “Unbroken.” Zamperini’s daughter, Cynthia Garris, spoke with Townhall at a press junket in New York on Friday, sharing how her...

Mario Patruno, a 93 year old World War Two veteran, formerly of the 101st Airborne Division, is featured in this documentary on Operation Market Garden. The short film, produced by the USAF 86th Airlift Wing at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, mixes rarely seen documentary footage with contemporary coverage of the 70th anniversary celebration and jump recreation by combined U.S. and Dutch airborne troops. Private Patruno jumped at Normandy and Eindhoven with the 101st, and was wounded in both operations. He fought in house to house battles with Nazi troops, and was shot in the face, but survived to tell his...

May 23, 2014 Airborne — Cotentin PeninsulaInfantry — Omaha Beach Rangers — Ohama Beach Infantry — Utah Beach Chaplain Corps — Near Utah BeachRangers — Pointe du Hoc A French Civilian — Sainte-Mère-Église  By Bob Wacker Editor’s note: This article originally was published in the June 1994 issue of The Retired Officer Magazine for the 50th anniversary of D-Day. “The war will be won or lost on the beaches. The first 24 hours will be decisive.” — Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, commander in chief, Germany Army Group BOn a single day, half a century ago this month, 156,000 American, British, Canadian, Free French, and Polish troops —...

I discovered this great piece of music from one of my son's video games called "Secret Weapon Over Normandy". I love it so much I thought it very fitting for today. God bless all of those who fought for our freedoms....even to this day. Turn up the headphones....and enjoy. It'll put a lump on your throat and a tear in your eye with pride. http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=Rm_rt2a1Rmk RIMTB

Seventy years after Allied troops stormed the beaches at Normandy, President Barack Obama returned to the hallowed battleground today to remember the soldiers who fought on its shores - and to give an emotional tribute to his own grandfather. On Friday morning, the president spoke at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, where nearly 10,000 white marble tombstones sit on a bluff overlooking the site of the June 6, 1944, battle's most violent fighting at Omaha Beach. 'We are on this Earth for only a moment in time, and fewer of us have parents and grandparents to tell us about...

At a ceremony commemorating some of the bravest Americans of World War II, President Barack Obama reminded the "greatest generation" how the U.S. military has changed under his command, by slipping in references to immigrants and women. "Rock, I want you to know that Staff Sgt. Melvin Sabillo Martin, who is here today, is following in your footsteps. He just had to become an American first. Because Melvin was born in Honduras, moved to the United States, joined the Army. After tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, he was reassigned to the 82nd Airborne. And Sunday, he'll parachute into Normandy. "Wilson,...

Leonard M. Smith served in two wars, was married for 58 years, raised five children, and did not suffer fools. And so, upon is passing, his family honored us with an obituary that – while entirely none of our business – shared with us a sense of the remarkable life and times of their Dad.

One of the great American assumptions — that while individuals and families may rise and fall, each generation will end up on average better off than the one that preceded it — has been the subject of much scrutiny in the past decade. Democrats and their affiliated would-be wealth redistributors have argued that the large income gains enjoyed by the highest-paid workers threaten the American dream of ever-upward generational mobility, while others have worried that the housing meltdown and the Great Recession, which inflicted serious damage on the net worths of many American families, now stand in the way of...

WASHINGTON — Wheelchair-bound elderly veterans pushed aside barricades to tour the World War II Memorial Tuesday morning, in defiance of the government shutdown which closed all of the memorials in the nation’s capital. The four bus loads of veterans — visiting from Mississippi as part of a once-in-a-lifetime Honor Flight tour — ignored National Park Police instructions not to enter the site as lawmakers and tourists cheered them on. “We didn’t come this far not to get in,” one veteran proclaimed. The scene was both emotional and comical at once. After it was clear they had lost control of the...

Over the last seven decades, 115 veterans of World War II have served in the United States Senate. This week, the last of them, Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, died. Two World War II veterans still serve in the House -- Ralph Hall of Texas, who was a Navy pilot, and John Dingell, who joined the Army at 18 and was scheduled to take part in the planned invasion of Japan. There aren't likely to be any more members of what Tom Brokaw labeled the Greatest Generation to serve in Congress. All surviving World War II veterans (except a few...

Shortly after the terror bombings in Boston last week, two different media people made statements that were alarming to say the least. Two days after the attack, McClatchy reporter Amina Ismail asked White House spokesman Jay Carney: "President Obama said that what happened in Boston was an act of terrorism. Do you consider the U.S. bombing on civilians in Afghanistan ... a form of terrorism?" As usual, Carney didn't have an answer and referred the reporter to the Department of Defense. What Carney should have said is this: "Are you kidding me? U.S. policy in Afghanistan is designed to protect...

One thing nearly everybody agrees upon is that the "sequester" is a silly sideshow to the real challenge facing America: unsustainable spending on entitlements. Ironies abound. Democrats, with large support from young people, tend to believe that we must build on the legacy bequeathed to us by the New Deal and the Great Society. Republicans, who marshaled considerable support from older voters in their so-far losing battle against Obamacare, argue that we need to start fresh. Perhaps it's time for both sides to consider an underappreciated fact of American life: The system we are trying to perpetuate was created...

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...