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George Watkins worked through the weekend on his Eagle Scout project. His project was to place pavers that were donated as a fundraiser for the Historical Soldiers Memorial Cemetery section at the Southern Arizona Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Sierra Vista. He placed more than 4,000 pavers, a job that took two days to complete with the assistance of several Scouts and adult leaders. Photo by Mark Levy, Herald/Review

The eternal flame is not living up to its name — again. The Prison Ships Martyrs Monument in Fort Greene Park, a tribute to the nearly 12,000 prisoners of war who died on British ships in the East River during the Revolutionary War, has dimmed — and residents’ tempers are burning bright. “The monument is not getting the justice it deserves,” said Michael Molfetas, a Clinton Hill resident who was appalled that it had taken less than a year since the November, 2008 rededication ceremony for the supposedly eternal flame to go out. “It is here to show America’s strength...

The desecration has begun. A ground-breaking ceremony was held at the Shanksville crash site on Saturday. Bulldozers will start reshaping the land this week. Never mind that the only rule for the Flight 93 memorial's design competition was that the landscape had to be left as it was. In order to complete the full arc of the Crescent of Embrace (now called a broken circle, but still a giant Islamic-shaped crescent), an earthen causeway will have to be built across the wetlands that lie about 50 vertical feet below the crash site. A contractor posted recently about his decision...

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In 1973, Canadian broadcaster Gordon Sinclair (CFRB) gave a message over the air that we should remember today. This was during the end years of Vietnam. Ford was president, the oil embargos had not yet taken place, and the US was in turmoil because of the unpopular war.

We hail those that wore the uniform of the US Armed Forces every November 11. We honor the Greatest Generation, we finally honor those that fought the Cong, we honor those that have fought in the Middle East. But more times than not, we as a people, tend to forget those of another conflict. Korean War Vets, it seems, get lost in the shuffling of history.

HARTFORD, Conn. – A memorial to honor a Sept. 11 victim from a small northwestern Connecticut town has been halted by the unexpected conflict arising from his father's insistence it say his son was murdered by "Muslim terrorists." Town officials in Kent are balking, saying it would be inappropriate to single out a religious group in a project on town property and paid for with taxpayers' money. The memorial plaque to be erected outside the town hall is on indefinite hold. Peter Gadiel is criticizing town leaders for being too politically correct, and says he's frustrated about what he calls...

HARTFORD, Conn. - An effort to honor a Sept. 11 victim in the small Connecticut town of Kent has unexpectedly became a contentious debate. That’s because the victim’s father has insisted his son’s memorial say he was murdered by "Muslim terrorists." Town officials say it would be inappropriate to single out a religious group on a project on town property that’s paid for with taxpayers’ money. The memorial is on indefinite hold.

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The original Crescent of Embrace memorial to Flight 93 faced less than 2° from Mecca. That made it a mihrab, the Mecca-direction indicator around which every mosque is built. (Some mihrabs are pointed-arch shaped, but the classic mihrab is crescent shaped.) The Park Service dismissed concern about the Mecca-oriented crescent on grounds that the construction drawings had not yet been finalized. “Those trees could move fifty feet, or three hundred feet,” said Project Manager Jeff Reinbold in the Spring of 2006, as if this kind of "tweaking" would make any difference (Crescent of Betrayal Ch.8 p.145-6). The construction drawings...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 6, 2009 – Veterans of the Korean War, both American and Korean, gathered here yesterday with current U.S. Army and South Korean leaders to pay tribute at the National Korean War Memorial. Army Gen. Walter L. Sharp, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, left, and Jung-ki "Rocky" Park, Korean Corporate Members of the Association of the United States Army, render honors during a wreath-laying ceremony at the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., Oct. 5, 2009. DoD photo by Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Members of the Korean War Veterans...

Soldiers fight for desert cross By Bill Hess Published/Last Modified on Sunday SIERRA VISTA — “On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,” goes the opening of an old hymn. But for Sgt. Zachary Thomson, a cross on a hill in California’s Mojave Desert has a different meaning. It’s not a religious symbol to the 26-year-old Sierra Vista resident, who is serving with a Military Police unit at Fort Polk, La. It’s a war memorial, put up in 1934 by veterans of World War I, to honor Americans who died in that conflict. But now the memorial is...

Tom Burnett Sr. and his wife Beverly did some 9/11 interviews the last couple of days, remembering their son Tom Jr., who was murdered by Islamic terrorists aboard Flight 93. Mr. Burnett has been trying for several years to stop the Park Service from planting a giant Islamic-shaped crescent on the Flight 93 crash site. In their interview with WSAU radio in Wisconsin, the Burnetts were joined half-way through the hour by Alec Rawls (the author of this blogburst post), who has written a book about the terrorist memorializing Crescent of Embrace design. Mr. Burnett's words are always heartfelt,...

.... Plans for a monument on Parliament Hill to honour the estimated 100 million or so innocent men, women and children killed at the hands of Communist regimes around the world, on the other hand, have hit a snag, with the NCC worried that a "Memorial to the Victims of Totalitarian Communism" risks giving offence to communists. At a public meeting last week in Ottawa, members of the NCC's board approved the plans for a monument "in principle," allowing that the submitted application for the memorial "largely meets" the commission's criteria for a public exhibit on capital land. But several...

BKOBarbara K. Olson1955 - 2001Member since 11/5/1999 Tributes                                Homepage   BCMJohn Moran1959 - 2001Member since 9/28/1998 Tributes                                Homepage  

Please join us in Studio City to commemorate those lost on September 11, 2001. Let us never forget! SE corner of Ventura Blvd at Laurel Canyon Blvd in front of First Republic Bank. 6:30 pm - Parking in the lot or behind CVS. If you park in lot, please make a purchase at either Coffee Bean & Tea, or the yogurt shop. We have flags and candles, but feel free to bring yours. Dinner to follow.

The federal government will pay about $9.5 million to acquire land so the Flight 93 National Memorial can be built by the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Monday. With the National Park Service reaching agreements with eight landowners, construction is expected to start in November, Salazar said. Salazar called the site where the plane crashed, near Shanksville in rural southwestern Pennsylvania, hallowed ground and said the nation was "eternally grateful for the heroes of Flight 93." United Flight 93 was traveling from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco when it was diverted by hijackers...

One of the more controversial of all the 9/11 memorials is an artwork originally entitled "Tear Of Grief", a forty-foot stainless steel teardrop suspended within a 100-foot-tall, 175-ton, bronze-clad tower that is now officially entitled "To the Struggle Against World Terrorism". This extraordinary work is a gift to the United States from the people of Russia and from its creator, renowned sculptor Zurab Tsereteli. Mr. Tsereteli first envisioned the image of the "Tear Of Grief" on September

NEW YORK, Aug. 17 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton and ex-astronaut Buzz Aldrin are to attend a memorial service for Walter Cronkite, officials said. Cronkite died July 17. He was 92. His funeral was July 24 in New York. The New York Post said the luminaries are scheduled to speak at the Sept. 9 event at Manhattan's Lincoln Center. Also reportedly on the guest list are television personality Nick Clooney, CBS executives and newspeople Les Moonves, Sean McManus and Bob Schieffer, veteran broadcast journalist Tom Brokaw and media mogul Howard Stringer. The Post said Wynton...

After denying for 4 years that the Crescent of Embrace memorial to Flight 93 will contain 44 inscribed memorial panels (equaling the number of passengers, crew, AND terrorists) the Memorial Project has announced a new design that appears to collapse three of the panels into one: Artist's depiction of the slightly altered design for the Sacred Ground Plaza. [If you are a newcomer, the Plaza sits in the position of the star on architect Paul Murdoch's giant Islamic crescent and star flag. They call the giant crescent a broken circle now, but the unbroken part of the circle--what symbolically...

After a complaint from one person to the ACLU a Federal judge has ordered a memorial cross atop a hill removed. Watch the youtube video here or click source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeuBB_mOFIA

Please watch this video and sign the petition against this being torn down. Veterans stood for us the least we can do is stand for them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeuBB_mOFIA http://www.donttearmedown.com/

Michael Jackson is dead, the world mourns and our loss is heaven's gain...so sez Al Sharpton.

In 2007, Flight 93 Advisory Commission member Tim Baird told me that everyone at the meetings he attended is fully aware that the giant crescent, originally named the Crescent of Embrace, really does point almost exactly at Mecca. Professor Baird says they all just assume (himself included) that the Mecca orientation must be an innocent coincidence. Pretty crazy, when they have also been told the meaning of a crescent that Muslims face into to face Mecca. Every mosque is built around a Mecca-direction indicator called a mihrab, and the classic mihrab is crescent shaped. Geometrically, the Crescent of Embrace...

Why aren't the Sheila Jackson-Lee's and the Al Sharpton's of this world trying to commemorate these people with postage stamps?

When the all-star Michael Jackson memorial ceremony in Los Angeles came to an end today, millions of fans watching the event became curious about the woman who sang lead on Jackson’s “Heal the World.” The mystery singer was Judith Hill, a Pasadena, California-based vocalist who was recruited to be one of the backup singers for Jackson’s This Is It! concerts at London’s O2 Arena. Hill wowed the crowd and the millions watching around the world with her rendition of the Dangerous song, but her identity had most viewers baffled — the “We Are the World” and “Heal the World” performers...

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) and his wife Sarah attend a memorial ceremony to Yoni Netanyahu in the military cemetery in Mt. Hertzel, June 28, 2009 in Jerusalem, Israel. Ben Tzion Netanyahu, Bibi and Yoni's Dad.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and his Defence Minister Ehud Barak attend a memorial ceremony for the former's brother, Yoni, at the military cemetery in Mt. Hertzel in Jerusalem on June 28, 2009. Yoni Netanyahu was killed in 1976 during the Antebe operation to free Israeli hostages.Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and wife Sarah, left, gather near the grave of his late brother...

Truly Heroic Victims by: Alana Goodman, June 25, 2009 The atmosphere was somber at the Victims of Communism Memorial on June 16th, as speakers urged attendees to remember those who perished under past communist regimes as well as those who suffer under them still. Lee Edwards, chairman of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, noted that it was the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, but that democratic nations still have a long way to go before we can rid the world of “an ideology that took the lives of an estimated 100 million [people].” Some of...

ANN ARBOR, MI – The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, announced today that it has filed a friend of the court brief opposing the ACLU’s campaign to tear down another war memorial cross. At issue is a small cross originally erected on Sunrise Rock in 1934 by the Veterans of Foreign Wars in memory of the dead of all wars. The cross is located in California’s Mojave Desert, in a remote area where the only visible signs of human activity are off-road vehicles and trail hikers. The ACLU succeeded in...

BRUSSELS, Belgium, June 12, 2009 – NATO officials dedicated a monument here today to personnel killed during alliance operations. NATO officials dedicate a memorial to those who have lost their lives in alliance operations during a ceremony at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, June 12, 2009. DoD photo by Air Force Master Sgt. Jerry Morrison  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the stone marker outside the front door of the alliance’s headquarters will serve as a reminder of the weight of the decisions made in the facility. Danish Defense Minister Soren...

ANN ARBOR, MI – The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, announced today that it has filed a friend of the court brief opposing the ACLU’s campaign to tear down another war memorial cross.At issue is a small cross originally erected on Sunrise Rock in 1934 by the Veterans of Foreign Wars in memory of the dead of all wars.  The cross is located in California’s Mojave Desert, in a remote area where the only visible signs of human activity are off-road vehicles and trail hikers.  The ACLU succeeded in its...

SOMERSET, Pa. -- Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says the U.S. government will not use eminent domain to seize people's land for a permanent Flight 93 memorial and instead will renew negotiations with landowners near the terrorist crash site in Somerset County. U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., and Salazar met with families of victims and landowners on Friday in Shanksville to discuss issues surrounding the planned national memorial for victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, fatal hijacking. Specter's office said Friday's meeting also focused on what still needs to be done for the memorial to be complete in time for the...

David Brenner, manager of Prairie Home Cemetery, reported Tuesday that 39 flags were taken from the graves of military veterans. Brenner said thefts seldom occur at the Waukesha cemetery, but he decided to report the incident to police.

A Stuart man is asking the state to dismantle a roadside memorial that commemorates the death of two young girls. The memorial, along Kanner Highway and Linden Street in Stuart, is posted at the very place where Sarah Stone, age 14, and Alex Quaroni, age 13, were killed seven years ago. They were riding home from the movies when a teenager who'd been drinking - Stephen Bromstrup - plowed into the side of their car, killing them both and injuring a third girl, Jennifer McKinney. "I don't think we intended to create a shrine for her," says Tim Stone, Sarah...

NASCAR's powerful moment of silence drives home the dayBy Jay Busbee Mon May 25, 2009 4:32 pm EDT NASCAR has a long tradition of patriotism and a deep connection with the military, so it's no surprise that they choose to honor our nation's holidays with a variety of tributes. But the moment of silence that was held at Monday's running of the Coca-Cola 600 may rank among the finest in the sport's history. **SNIP** ...NASCAR stopped the entire race. That doesn't happen in sports, ever. This isn't the seventh-inning stretch or a break between quarters; this is stopping play at...

Numbers come precisely from the agile mind and nimble tongue of Frank Buckles, who seems bemused to say that 4,734,991 Americans served in the military during America's involvement in the First World War and that 4,734,990 are gone. He is feeling fine, thank you for asking. The eyes of the last doughboy are still sharp enough for him to be a keen reader, and his voice is still deep and strong at age 107. He must have been a fine broth of a boy when, at 16, persistence paid off and he found, in Oklahoma City, an Army recruiter who...

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama avoided a racial controversy on his first Memorial Day in office by sending wreaths to separate memorials for Confederate soldiers and for blacks who fought against them during the Civil War. Last week, a group of about 60 professors petitioned the White House, asking the first black U.S. president to break tradition and not memorialize military members from the Confederacy, the group of Southern states that supported slavery. "The Arlington Confederate Monument is a denial of the wrong committed against African-Americans by slave owners, Confederates and neo-Confederates, through the monument's denial of slavery as...

President Barack Obama lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier during Memorial Day commemorations at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va., May 25, 2009. DoD photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeleyI yearn to be able to respect a president I have political differences with. To be able to find common ground as fellow Americans and on occasions such as Memorial Day, out of respect for the office of the presidency, applaud his speech and say, "Well done, Mr. President; well done! We may differ politically, but today I stand with you!" So why am...

Since Memorial Day is now best known as the start of summer, and celebrated by many Americans short on history, and long on three day holiday weekends, I thought it appropriate to provide a link to Ernest Everett Blevins' article in the Knoxville news today with the historic skinny. Mr. Blevins is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, Sons of Confederate Veterans, and past commander of Kennesaw Mountain #3 Sons of Union Veterans in Marietta, Georgia. He is past Sr. Vice Commander and current Graves Registration Officer for the newly organized of the Department of Georgia and...

Lincoln's Gettysburg AddressThe Daniel Chester French Victory atop the Memorial to the First Division of the Army, the Big Red One, outside the White House (monument details here). Photo by Mike's AmericaMemorial Day first started as Decoration Day when citizens of the reunited Northern and Southern states began an annual observance of the 600,000 lives lost during the American Civil War. (history of the holiday here) So it is perhaps fitting that we take Lincoln's Gettysburg Address delivered at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863 as the text...

Here's my 2009 Memorial Day video: [video at site] Most of the photos come from DoD, and are focused on the current conflicts. The editing is a bit uneven, as I haphazardly imported pictures without a lot of discrimination; but ultimately, what I decided I wanted to convey is the sense of sacrifice of not just the soldiers, but of the military families they leave behind who dare to support them and their mission. I wanted to juxtaposition those photos of them reunited/leaving their families with photos of what their service and sacrifice away from home have gained back in...

"There was a girl who gave me (Leo Buscaglia speaking here) a poem, and she gave me permission to share it with you, and I want to do that because it explains about putting off and putting off and putting off - especially putting off caring about people we really love. She wants to remain anonymous, but she calls the poem, "THINGS YOU DIDN'T DO" and she says this": == == == == == == == == Things You Didn't Do Remember the day I borrowed your brand new car and I dented it? I thought you'd kill me, but...

WHEN? In at least 10 major wars, in 18+ conflict situations from the 1898 Spanish American War to the Persian Gulf War and even to the present War on Terrorism, which is like no other war.

As America begins to mark Memorial Day, it needs to ask if it has forgotten these moments now that "change" has arrived? I surely hope not. We will never forget.

Widow of Douglas Zembiec 3 years ago, I made a Veterans Day post transcribing a letter Michael Medved read on his radio program, The Three Big Lies About Vietnam. Here is that segment of the show; it requires 3-and-a-half minutes of your time, and I'll be very much surprised if they are 3 minutes you'll want back, after listening. (Excerpt) Read more at Flopping Aces ...

WHEN? In at least 10 major wars, in 18+ conflict situations from the 1898 Spanish American War to the Persian Gulf War and even to the present War on Terrorism, which is like no other war. WHO? More than 670,000 lives in the 10 major wars given up for something of greater value, something having a more pressing claim.

Two Pennsylvanian’s quit the Flight 93 Memorial Commission last week, protesting Park Service plans to condemn five crash-site properties that it never negotiated for in good faith. Consider the case of the Lambert family, who have been on their land for three generations: "It's absolutely a surprise. I'm shocked by it. I'm disappointed by it," said Tim Lambert, who owns nearly 164 acres that his grandfather bought in the 1930s. The park service plans to condemn two parcels totaling about five acres — land, he said, he had always intended to donate for the memorial. "To the best of my...

The last time Rolling Thunder roared into Washington, the president welcomed the riders in the White House driveway with a smile on his face and heartfelt personal greeting. This year, maybe not. "We initially got a call this year saying the president wasn't going to greet us," said Artie Muller, founder of the group.

From the Office of State Comptroller Nancy Wyman Contact: Steve Jensen: 860-702-3308/3301 May 12, 2009 Cell Phone: 860-539-9298 E-mail: Steven.Jensen@po.state.ct.us TWO FALLEN STATE SOLDIERS TO BE ADDED TO WALL OF HONOR Ceremony Also Will Recognize All Connecticut Heroes Killed in Iraq and Afghanistan Two Connecticut soldiers killed in Iraq in 2008 will be added to the Wall of Honor tribute in the State Capitol complex during a ceremony scheduled for Thursday, May 21 at 4:30 p.m. The public is invited to attend the ceremony in the Atrium of the Legislative Office Building, 300 Capitol Ave. The tribute now includes photographic...

Pictures from Opening of Ohio Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall