Free Republic

Although World War I changed the world, in many ways it is the forgotten war that needs to be remembered once again in the 21st Century. One such remembrance is owed Sgt. Alvin C. York of the Upper Cumberland Valley of Tennessee. He did not want to fight in the war due to his religious convictions, but was inspired to do so by his drill sergeant who gave him a Bible and an American history book. On October 8, 1918, in less than fifteen minutes, his life would change forever. He single-handedly captured four German officers and one hundred twenty-eight...

I am a proud, 10-year United States Air Force veteran, a humble servant and defender in a long, noble and inspiring tradition of military service. For generations, from Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill in Massachusetts to Yorktown, Va., to the halls of Montezuma, to the wheat fields of Gettysburg, to the shores of Tripoli, to the trenches of Germany, to now serene Pearl Harbor, to the beachheads of Normandy, to the rocky heights of Iwo Jima, to the rugged coasts of Korea, to the jungles of Vietnam, to the mean streets of Mogadishu, Somalia, to the hills and dunes...

On April 18, 1942 - 75 years ago Tuesday - 80 incredibly brave men in 16 bombers took off from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet to bomb Tokyo and other Japanese cities in retaliation for the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. It was called the Doolittle Raid, after the group’s charismatic leader, Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle, a renowned avaiator even before the war. Doolittle’s B-25 was the first to take off from the Hornet. Sitting beside him was a quiet, lanky young man from Dayton, Ohio, named Dick Cole. On Tuesday, the 101-year-old will be at the National Museum of...

Many of us are gripped with a sense of helplessness in today's chaos-filled world. It seems like terrorism, brutality and unspeakable evil is growing by the day. And it's understandable to think our problems will never be solved by any elected politician or military leader. They won't. In the darkest times in human history, from the days of slavery to the holocaust years of World War II, ordinary people took extraordinary actions to rescue others. In the face of unspeakable evil, regular citizens joined together to build underground railroads and secret passage ways that led people to freedom. Courage was...

The fiery crash on a warm Florida evening on July 4, 2012 left an unconscious man trapped in his burning car. Seemingly out of nowhere, a figure plunged out of the darkness through a sheet of flames to rip open the door and carry the driver to safety just moments before the car exploded. Like a scene from a movie, the Independence Day hero retreated to the shadows of obscurity, but it wouldn’t be the last time he would help someone in danger. A modest man, Sabin Barto, 39, doesn’t talk much about his 10+ years in the U.S. Navy....

Osan honors airman who died after helping rescue family from fire By Kat Bouza Stars and Stripes Published: June 28, 2016 The 731st Air Mobility Squadron at Osan Air Base has honored an airman who died from injuries sustained while helping save a family from a burning building. /snip The dramatic events were captured on cell phone footage, showing a group of airmen and local residents using a blanket to catch a woman and her three children as they leapt from a window in the apartment building. Rogers initiated the rescue when she entered the smoke-filled apartment to kick out...

Coast Guard officials are investigating what caused a boat carrying schoolchildren to sink Wednesday evening after it struck something submerged near a former Navy bombing test site in the Chesapeake Bay.

Benavidez had a total of 37 separate bullet, bayonet, and shrapnel wounds from the six hour fight with the enemy battalion. He was evacuated to the base camp, examined, and thought to be dead. He couldn’t open his eyes because of the amount of blood that had dried over them. He couldn’t talk, because he had been hit in the mouth with a rifle butt and his jaws were locked. As he was being placed in a body bag among the other dead, he was suddenly recognized by a friend who called for help. A doctor came and examined him...

What has gone underplayed in today's widespread outrage over Donald Trump's dismissal of John McCain's war heroism is that the GOP national-poll front-runner's comments, besides demonstrating an idiocratic lack of basic human judgment and decency, are also dead wrong. Because this is Donald Trump, and Donald Trump is a vulgar anti-intellect who cannot string a coherent paragraph together, his full statement contradicts itself several times within 57 short words. So let's just focus on the bolded part from his remarks: He's not a war hero. He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured—OK, I...

1) “In Vietnam, our soldiers came back and they were reviled as baby killers, in shame and humiliation. It isn’t happening now, but I will tell you, there has never been an [American] army as violent and murderous as our army has been in Iraq.” —Seymour Hersh2) “I haven't seen American Sniper, but correct me if I'm wrong: An occupier mows down faceless Iraqis but the real victim is his anguished soul.” – Max Blumenthal3) “Put a man in uniform, preferably a white man, give him a gun, and Americans will worship him. It is a particularly childish trait, of...

Let me see if I understand this: Chris Kyle was not a hero, but Brian Williams was? What do we make of Williams' attempt to snatch some vicarious honor? The response to "American Sniper" should not surprise us. Bill Maher called Chris Kyle a "psychopath patriot." It's more than likely that Maher thinks all patriots are a bit unhinged. Lindy West, writing in The Guardian, called Kyle a "hate-filled killer," and The Atlantic's Megan Garber wondered whether "heroism is still heroism when you're motivated by hatred." Spawned in the Vietnam era, the modern left cut its teeth defaming America. That...

Fifty years ago this Saturday, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill died at age 90. Churchill is remembered for his multiple nonstop careers as a statesman, cabinet minister, politician, journalist, Nobel laureate historian, and combat veteran. He began his career serving the British military as a Victorian-era mounted lancer and ended it as custodian of Britain's nuclear deterrent. But he is most renowned for an astounding five-year-tenure as Britain's wartime prime minister from May 10, 1940, to June 26, 1945, when he was voted out of office not long after the surrender of Nazi Germany. Churchill took over the day...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Saturday evening that he spoke by phone with Celine Charki, who was one of the histages held at the kosher supermarket in Paris Friday. “Celine told me about the terrorist's unfathomable cruelty and the heroism of a Jewish youth who tried to take his gun and shoot him,” he said. The heroic action was apparently taken by hostage Johan Cohen, who was killed. .....

BY THE THOUSANDS they streamed to Yanuh-Jat, Israelis of every description making their way on Wednesday to the remote northern Galilee district, where a fallen hero was to be buried with full honors. Israel's president, Reuven Rivlin, was there to pay his respects; so were the minister of internal security and the nation's top police commissioner. From around the country, hundreds of black-hatted haredi ("ultra-Orthodox") Jews came on chartered buses, disembarking to join throngs of Arabic-speaking Druze in traditional white turbans, police officers in dress blues, and so many other mourners that even the roofs of nearby homes were crowded...

They were some of the driving forces behind creation of the Murray County Veterans Memorial Park, but now the members of Chatsworth American Legion Post 167 have sent a letter to county Sole Commissioner Brittany Pittman asking that the post’s name be removed from monuments at the park and the refund of $10,000 in funds donated for the park. “We can no longer support the park in any fashion or form,” said Bruce Kendrick, a spokesman for the post. Soon after the park, which is off Hyden Tyler Road, was dedicated four years ago, post members discovered problems with some...

The vast majority of Americans have never met Phil Weinberg. But that isn't because he's unimportant. It's because he is important. Like millions of Americans who toil largely in anonymity, participating daily in acts of courage and generosity, Phil has never been on CNN or Fox News; while he subscribes to The Wall Street Journal, he's never had his picture dot pixelated. That's because he, like so many other Americans, is too busy making the country work. Phil was born at the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston in 1951, just down the block from Fenway Park, and grew up a...

I discovered someone this week who embodied the practices that I believe would restore our republic to its former heights of glory. He's not a politician -- no surprise there. He's not a television pundit. He hasn't written a book. He's not a household name. He wasn't a war hero, but he did serve in the U.S. military and was a culture and community warrior who bore a few classic American characteristics that our country needs now more than ever. Charles H. (Chuck) Norris, 88, of rural Mason City, Iowa, was born July 23, 1925 -- just four years after...

There are some days when a column comes easy, when it just flows out in one straight series of fingers tapping on keys, a click on save, and calling it a day. Most days, in fact. Then there are other days when there are so many ideas, so many things you want to say, floating around in your head that the task of organizing them seems impossible. It’s Friday night, June 6th, the 70th anniversary of what I consider to be the most important day in modern history, and I have no idea what to write. The idea of weighing...

"Dad loves #scifi because it's such a great way to explore the things that matter most." "Themes of #hope, #courage, good conquering evil -- why dad loves #comics." These are some of the tweets involving some well-known Hollywood names and faces on Twitter lately. In a forum not always known for bringing people together, a young woman has succeeded in a great adventure of celebrating life, even as her beloved father's comes to an end. Superheroes were the trending theme, and the most powerful of them all is a man named Stratford Caldecott. Since his Marvel comic-collecting boyhood, he's...

The Grassbaugh family has given more than most to America. They keep giving. This is their story. On Veteran’s Day 2007, I was at Arlington National Cemetery representing The American Legion at a solemn ceremony held at the Memorial Amphitheater. After the ceremony I walked down to Section 60, which is the section of the cemetery where many of our fallen from The Global War on Terrorism are buried. While in Section 60 I saw a young Army officer in dress blue uniform, the usual uniform of those personnel with duty at Arlington National Cemetery. I asked the officer if...