Free Republic

    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...

Our WWII Veterans are dropping like flies. I lost my Dad in February. I thought I would pass on some of the information that I found when I inherited a photo album of his experiences. He was stationed on Guam in 1944 and 1945. He arrived on the day the Staff declared the island won, when there were still 5000 hostile Japanese on the Island. This album is amazing--it shows an accurate picture of that conflict (about 300 photos.) He was a SeaBee and apparently spent most of his time at Agana. There was a poem that he posted at...

D-DAY HISTORY AND LINKS D-Day: It is hard to conceive the epic scope of this decisive battle that foreshadowed the end of Hitler's dream of Nazi domination. Overlord was the largest air, land, and sea operation undertaken before or since June 6, 1944. The landing included over 5,000 ships, 11,000 airplanes, and over 150,000 service men. After years of meticulous planning and seemingly endless training, for the Allied Forces, it all came down to this: The boat ramp goes down, then jump, swim, run, and crawl to the cliffs. Many of the first young men (most not yet 20...

WWII vets reunite on sunny Norfolk By HEATHER McCRACKEN - Auckland City Harbour News | Monday, 4 June 2007 SUNNY SERVICE: Albie Griffiths, far right, with fellow New Zealanders on Norfolk Island. OLD MATES: Albie Griffiths, left, recalls his World War Two stint on Norfolk Island with friend Colin Armiger. He spent the last 15 months of World War Two on tiny Norfolk Island, a key airbase and refuelling stop between Australia and New Zealand. The 82-year-old returned last month for the first time in 61 years. And while the island has changed dramatically, he says Kiwi servicemen have...

In World War II, it wasn't just young men who gave their all. It was women and children. It was W.A.C.s, W.A.S.P.s, and Rosie the Riveter. Kids collected scrap rubber and aluminum for recycling into aircraft parts. There were War Bonds and Civil Air Patrols. The whole nation joined the fight, convinced they'd be speaking German or Japanese if we didn't defeat Nazi tyranny or Japanese Imperialism. Now we have The Cindy Sheehan Traveling Circus, and Dick Durbin equating the interrogation techniques of US troops to those of Nazi Germany and the Khmer Rouge. We have John Murtha calling Marines...

Marc Deneen has lived in the same two-story brick home in the quiet western Dane County hamlet known as Riley for all of his 81 years - almost. Like so many Americans his age, a little something called World War II interrupted. It was during the war, somewhere on a German tank trail that would hopefully in the weeks ahead lead all the way to Berlin, that a bazooka blast ripped 35 holes in Deneen's body, burned him in several spots and destroyed the hearing in one of his ears. Nevertheless, he was the lucky one. Two of his combat...

'Greatest' legacy being destroyed By: RAY HAYNES - Commentary A lot of comments have been directed at this country's "Greatest Generation," those who suffered the Great Depression, fought World War II, and then rebuilt this country from the ruins of those catastrophic events. I remember, as my generation attended college and entered the work force, a lot of debate among my peers as to what we would do when we take over. We all thought we would "do it right," make this country a better place to work, live and raise a family. I think I can say, having inherited...

A lot of comments have been directed at this country’s “greatest generation,” those who suffered the Great Depression, fought World War II, and then rebuilt this country from the ruins of those catastrophic events. I remember, as my generation attended college and entered the workforce, a lot of debate among my peers as to what we would do when we take over. We all thought we would “do it right,” make this country a better place to work, live and raise a family. I think I can say, having inherited a sizable legacy from the “Greatest Generation,” the baby boomers...

A member of the greatest generation will be honored Friday for service to his country during World War II. A flag will be raised in memory of Daniel Norkunas, a longtime Chaffey resident, in front of the Richard I. Bong World War II Heritage Center at 9 a.m. Friday as part of the Flags of Honor program. During WWII, Norkunas served in the U.S. Navy. Aboard the USS Laub (DD-613) he participated in convoys across the Atlantic. In July 1943, while bombarding the shore during the invasion of Sicily, Laub downed an enemy aircraft attacking the invasion fleet. He recalled...

America's WWII generation is often called the "greatest generation". Not to denigrate that appellation at all, especially after it went through in sequence the 26% unemployment of the Great Depression followed by the disruption of almost every family in the U.S. with a World War. We have no idea today what hardship is. However, our losses by no way compare with other world participants in the conflict. Countries are ranked by deaths per thousand based on 1939 population. Rank, deaths per 1,000 (1939 population), actual deaths during the conflict (military, civilian, Holacaust), and country. 1 ; 160.9 ; 5,600,000 ;...

LAKE CHARLES, La. (AP) — Jesse Knowles, whose decades of public service ranged from being a World War II prisoner of war to a longtime member of the state Legislature, has died. Knowles, of Lake Charles, died Sunday night at an area hospital. He was 86. During a lifetime spent in the public eye, Knowles won the Purple Heart, co-wrote the Lake Charles city charter, led the local Armed Forces Committee and was a familiar figure at school programs and veterans ceremonies. As a member of the U.S. Army Air Corps, Knowles was a survivor of the Bataan Death March....

Slighting This Greatest Generation We Focus on the Bad Apples and Ignore the Courageous Heroes By Bing West Recently the refractory city of Fallujah reemerged as a front-page story. Fallujah first leaped to national attention last November when it became the scene of the fiercest urban combat in the past 35 years. During that battle, 100 Marine squads engaged in more than 200 firefights inside small, dark cement rooms against suicidal jihadists. A single such ferocious gunfight between police and gangs anywhere in America would receive overwhelming and immediate press attention. The Marines did that 200 times in one week...

Eulogy for my father, Albert A. Morel, CDR, USN (Ret.) Life is full of the unexpected. I guess it’s one of the facets of life that make it so enjoyable. Most of the time, at least. So when I was asked to eulogize my father, I didn’t think twice. I had plenty to say, and I’m not someone who gets tongue tied when writing things down on paper. Or so I thought. After about three or four variations that were aborted when they were nearly done, I realized how difficult this was going to be. After all, I only have...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: (Story) "A Republican congressman has called for a deadline to pull US troops from Iraq, while other members of President George Bush's party urged his administration to revamp Iraq policy. Republican Walter Jones, a North Carolina conservative, said on ABC's This Week that he would offer legislation this week setting a timetable for the US withdrawal from Iraq. 'I voted for the resolution to commit the troops, and I feel that we've done about as much as we can do,' said Jones, who coined the phrase 'freedom fries' to lash out at the French for opposing...

Splashed across the top in block letters were the words "This Is the Army." It was an original cast recording of a Broadway musical revue produced in 1942, America's first full year of World War II, produced by Irving Berlin to raise money for the war effort. The cast members were all soldiers. … I was awestruck, looking through this window to the heroic times my parents' generation had known.… Today, their optimism seems quite logical, because we know who won the war. But America wasn't winning then… After the slaughter at Pearl Harbor in late 1941 had come the...

JOHNSTOWN -- Sen. Rick Santorum launched a 10-stop tour of Pennsylvania yesterday to advocate for changes to the Social Security system, but landed -- even at his very first stop -- at the center of an already-roiling debate about the proposals. This week, Santorum and other Republicans members of Congress are hosting a series of town hall events around the country at which they hope to convince the public that Congress must act this year to address the Social Security program's long-term financial difficulties. . . . But minutes into Santorum's first presentation at Duquesne University, jeers and skeptical questioning...

Save American, Spank A Liberal trentonrevolution Being underreported in the Liberal media, which is basically all media, there's a little spoiled brat offensive being conducted in Ohio regarding the 2004 Election. The same people who prevent their children from being letter grades and everybody gets a home run little league, are continuing their poor sportsmanship.They are carrying on with their tantrum to get a recount in Ohio. They are whining about electronic wizardry, vote suppression, and other means the Democrats have been using for decades. They are stomping their feet, pounding their fists, pouting and holding their collective breaths until...

I would like to take this moment to thank ALL the members of The Greatest Generation (born 1901 - 1927) for their service to us. This thank you isn't just for them but for ALL who served this Great Nation!!!