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PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd, federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull, Victorian Premier John Brumby and senior defence chiefs are among hundreds of people who have turned out for the funeral of Ted Kenna, who was Australia's last surviving World War II Victoria Cross recipient. One of Australia's two living Victoria Cross recipients, Vietnam veteran Keith Payne, was also at the service. ..... Nepalese Victoria Cross recipient Limbu Rimbahadur was also among the mourners at St Patrick's Cathedral in East Melbourne. Mr Kenna will be buried with full military honours.

Somebody has placed this incredible documentary on youtube and I commend it to anybody interested in the history of heroism, or the history of war in general. Overall, it's about an hour long and it explores in a fair amount of detail the actions that lead to the award of the Victoria Cross, the British Empire's and Commonwealth's highest decoration for bravery in the face of an enemy (thus given in the same place in our heirarchy of bravery awards that the Medal of Honour occupies in the United States), to Australian's since the dawn of the twentieth century. It...

Mark Donaldson VC shows the way to other Australians MARK Donaldson does not think he is a hero. Heroes generally do not. He believes that everybody would do what he did. But the way SAS Trooper Donaldson earned his VC, on duty with the SAS in Afghanistan, was a rare act of selfless courage. During a Taliban ambush of a coalition convoy, Trooper Donaldson drew enemy fire away from wounded men while they were moved to some semblance of safety. But when Trooper Donaldson realised an interpreter had been left behind, he went back, crossing exposed ground under fire to...

THE first Victoria Cross for Australia has been awarded to a Trooper Mark Donaldson this morning for his bravery in Afghanistan. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Governor-General Quentin Bryce made the historic announcement today at Government House in Canberra. Tropper Donaldson received the award for his actions in Afghanistan on September 2 last year, when, under heavy fire, he ran 80 metres to save an interpreter for the coalition forces and carried him to safety under sustained and accurate shooting. The Victoria Cross is the highest possible award for acts of bravery in wartime, ahead of the Military Cross. Queen...

A Royal Marine who threw himself onto an exploding grenade to save the lives of his patrol has been put forward for the UK's highest military honour. Lance Corporal Matt Croucher, 24, a reservist from Birmingham, survived because his rucksack and body armour took the force of the blast. He was part of a reconnaissance troop in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, in February, when the incident happened. The Ministry of Defence said he could be considered for the Victoria Cross.

Havildar Bhanbhagta Gurung, VC Gurkha who was decorated for his courage and skill in capturing a Japanese position in fierce hand-to-hand fighting Havildar Bhanbhagta Gurung, VC Bhanbhagta Gurung won his Victoria Cross in Burma in 1945. His action was the culmination of a series of extraordinarily gallant actions by this soldier of quite exceptional courage, yet it occurred while he was in disgrace, albeit unjustly. Born in the hill village of Phalbu in western Nepal, he was recruited into the old Indian Army soon after the outbreak of the Second World War, and joined 3rd Battalion 2nd King Edward VII’s...

The medal was awarded to 21 New Zealanders Nine rare and valuable Victoria Cross (VC) medals awarded for acts of extreme bravery in combat have been stolen from a military museum in New Zealand.The thieves managed to evade security patrols, cameras and an alarm when they broke into the Army Museum in Waiouru on North Island early on Sunday. Defence Minister Phil Goff called the raid "a crime against the nation". Military officials estimate the medals are worth millions of dollars, but say they will be difficult to sell. The Victoria Cross, inscribed "For valour", is the highest honour...

New Swedish companies are bursting with ideas in IT and biotech. It's time for international investors to sit up and take notice, says leading entrepreneur Johan Staël von Holstein.

TED Kenna's skin hung from his bones and he stank of rotting flesh when Marjorie Rushberry first laid eyes on him in June 1945. For the young nurse, it was not love at first sight, but horror. The wounded soldier's face was torn apart, with entry and exit holes in the cheek where a bullet had ripped through flesh and then ricocheted off teeth, reversing and entering the young private's chest. It did not strike Miss Rushberry that this could be exactly the kind of Casanova her father had warned her about. "Be careful of those boys, you know what...

A BRITISH soldier posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery in Afghanistan may have been shot dead by his comrades. Father of two Corporal Bryan Budd, 29, of the 3rd Battalion the Parachute Regiment, was killed as he stormed a Taliban position single-handedly in Helmand, trying to protect seven of his colleagues from heavy fire. His widow Lorena, 23, a clerk with the Royal Artillery, is due to collect his posthumous VC from the Queen at Buckingham Palace next month. She has been told his death may have been caused by "friendly fire", The Sun reported last night. She...

A PARATROOPER who came under a ferocious hail of Taliban gunfire as he saved the life of a wounded American sergeant is the first British soldier serving in Afghanistan to be recommended for the Victoria Cross.Private Peter McKinley, 21, a trained first aid soldier, endured 15 minutes of sustained attack from heavy machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades as he treated the US soldier during one of the most intense battles experienced by the 3rd Battalion the Parachute Regiment. Army commanders have described McKinley’s rescue effort in Helmand province as a “massive display of bravery” and have put his name forward to...

June 9, 2006 MESSAGE FROM NATALIE, EMILY & MARTIE: To our Fans: Any reports being made about the cancellation of our upcoming Accidents And Accusations tour are completely false. We have known since March 2003 that our path in this business would have obstacles at every pass. We have enjoyed meeting each one head-on and we will continue to do so. Dixie Chicks fans are as active and dedicated as they come. This time around we are willingly feeling our way through unchartered territory. Things don't come as easy as they might have come in the past, and it makes...

Pointless to put 2006 peace-time values on 1941 battle bravery 12 April 2006 The Battle of Crete took place in late May 1941, when 30,000 Allied troops, including 7700 New Zealanders, plus 12,000 Greek soldiers – driven from Greece by the invading Germany forces – hurriedly dug in against an assault that they knew was as inevitable as it would be ferocious, says the Taranaki Daily News. The Mediterranean island, with its port and airfield, was of huge strategic value – to shore up the German hold on Greece, to protect the Romanian oil fields the Germans had already grabbed,...

Ok guys, this is my first post so please forgive any mistakes I make. I am wondering if any FR's could possibly recommend an Angel investor group or VC that is geared towards non-tech enterprises (still eCommerce, but not software development). Does anyone have experience in securing funding?

A ruse that helped to win a soldier the Victoria Cross during the Second World War was a "war crime" and New Zealand should apologise to the families of the snipers he killed, it was claimed yesterday. Alfred Clive Hulme, the father of Denny Hulme, the late world motor racing champion, was awarded the VC for bravery in killing 33 German snipers over eight days during the Battle of Crete in 1941. He returned home a hero to the town of Nelson. But a new book by two military historians says that, in winning his VC, Sgt Hulme committed "acts...

Victoria Cross winner Keith Payne takes great pride in helping mould Australia's "leaders of tomorrow". So it was a humbling experience for the 72-year-old Vietnam War veteran to learn that he had been honoured in the Australia Day awards for doing just that. Mr Payne has been appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (OAM) for his service to cadet and veterans groups around the country. Mr Payne, from Mackay in central Queensland, said it was important for older generations to guide the country's future leaders. "They're our bread and butter for the future," Mr Payne said. "They've got...

Havildar who fought off three attacks by Japanese infantry and set a supreme example of gallantry AS A havildar (sergeant), Umrao Singh was the only non-commissioned officer of either the Royal Artillery or the Indian Artillery to be awarded the Victoria Cross in the Second World War. Forward observation officers are frequently at great personal risk when in exposed positions so as to direct artillery fire in support of armoured or infantry units. But Singh won his award for valour in what all gunners regard as their near-sacred duty — defence of the guns. By the end of 1944, General...

HAYWARD, Wis. - A Hmong immigrant convicted of murdering six deer hunters and attempting to kill two others after a trespassing dispute was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday with no chance for parole. Judge Norman Yackel ordered Chai Soua Vang, 37, to serve six life prison terms, one after the other, guaranteeing he would never be freed from prison. Wisconsin does not have a death penalty. Yackel described Vang as a "time bomb ready to go off" at the slightest provocation. "These crimes are not isolated acts, but a pattern of anti-social conduct," the judge said. Vang, a truck...

Sergeant “Smoky” Smith, who died in Vancouver on Wednesday aged 91, was the last surviving Canadian holder of the VC. On the night of October 21 1944, two companies of the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada crossed the Savio River in Italy, and seized a shallow bridgehead in drenching rain. In less than five hours, the river rose six feet to become a raging torrent, impassable to supporting tanks and anti-tank guns.Early next morning, the thinly held right flank of the Seaforths was attacked by three Panther tanks, supported by two self-propelled guns and 30 grenadiers of the formidable 26th Panzer...

THE Vietnam War is universally regarded as a disaster for what it did to the American and Vietnamese people. However, 30 years after the war's end, the reasons for its outcome remain a matter of dispute. The most popular explanation among historians and journalists is that the defeat was a result of American policy makers' cold-war-driven misunderstanding of North Vietnam's leaders as dangerous Communists. In truth, they argue, we were fighting a nationalist movement with great popular support. In this view, "our side," South Vietnam, was a creation of foreigners and led by a corrupt urban elite with no popular...

Raw courage and utter selflessnessBy Caroline Davies (Filed: 28/04/2005) Even as the Queen reached up to pin Britain's ultimate award for valour on the khaki tunic of Pte Johnson Beharry yesterday, he was thinking not of himself but of others. Her Majesty had not awarded the Victoria Cross to a living recipient for 40 years. "You're very special," she told the 25-year-old Grenadan, who twice came close to death while saving the lives of colleagues during ambushes in Iraq last year. The modest Pte Johnson Beharry: ‘I wasn't thinking about a medal’ But as the young soldier stood, ramrod straight,...

Jane Fonda talks about how she is 'riveted' by faith and why feminism is what Jesus taughtFrom her longtime political activism to her Oscar-winning acting, Jane Fonda has never done anything halfheartedly, and she brings this characteristic intensity to her faith. When she talks about "feeling the presence of the Almighty," her view of Jesus, and the way she prays, her voice wells from deep within her chest. You may know this voice from her films (among dozens of others: Barbarella, Klute, On Golden Pond, and currently in theaters, Monster-in-Law), or from her aerobics videos ("feel the burn!"), or from...

You save Toppy's VC SUN READERS HELP RAISE $300,000 TO KEEP HIS MEDAL IN CANADA By PETER WORTHINGTON, TORONTO SUN WELL, WE did it. And we did it without Ottawa's help, thank you very much. Or, rather, Toronto Sun readers and other Canadians did it -- raised $300,000 to buy the Victoria Cross won by Paratrooper Fred Topham in World War II, to ensure it remains in perpetuity in the National War Museum. And there's money left over, maybe $30,000, to go into a fund to ensure that when future VCs or medals important to our heritage are put up...

Two days ago it was Tom Daschle's birthday; today is the birthday of John Kerry who was born on December 11, 1943. Birthday wishes, comments, and gloating are welcome.

Kerry slams 'refusal to serve'AP, AFP04sep04 NEW YORK: Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry declared he had taken enough "incoming" yesterday and blasted back at his Republican antagonists by suggesting George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney were draft dodgers. In his toughest counter-punch of the campaign, the decorated war hero said he was not going to have his military qualifications questioned by "those who refused to serve" in the Vietnam War. "For the past week, they attacked my patriotism and my fitness to serve as commander in chief ... well, here's my answer," Senator Kerry said in Ohio. "I'm not...

1. Prior to “Dewey Canyon III” Mike Thelan East Coast Coordinator for the VVAW tells a gathering of possible attendants that the VVAW’s official position is not to encourage anyone to commit acts of violence, but that VVAW activists are not “discouraging someone from “doing it”. VVAW activists are not “discouraging someone from committing acts of violence, pg 4 2. FBI files indicate that “VVAW is under active investigation in view of indications of communist and other subversive infiltration”. indications of communist and other subversive infiltration, pg 24 3. Speaker at VVAW antiwar rally Carl Moore makes following statements, “President...

Kerry vet aide's extremist history Joe Bangert lived in Hanoi, revered Ho Chi Minh -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: September 7, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern WASHINGTON – A John Kerry veterans' organizer lived in Hanoi for five years in the 1990s, testified that American troops skinned and crucified Vietnamese in the 1960s and joined the presidential candidate at an infamous 1971 meeting of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War executive committee in which the assassination of U.S. senators was debated, Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin reports. Joe Bangert, a Massachusetts English teacher and longtime friend of the junior senator, has campaigned with Kerry in...

John Kerry’s Fellow TravellersA 5-part series exposing John Kerry’s Communist connections.Part 2: Forging a Paper Hero: The Mystery of Kerry’s MedalsBy Fedora *NOTE: The term “fellow traveller” as used in this article series refers to someone who is not a member of the Communist Party (CP) but regularly engages in actions which advance the Party’s program. Some apparent fellow travellers may actually be “concealed party members”: members of the CP who conceal their membership. Which of these classifications is applicable to the Kerrys is a question this series leaves unresolved. This series does not argue for any direct evidence of...

As John Kerry gets ready to speak to the American Legion on Sept. 1, during the GOP Convention, it is worth recalling some of his earlier comments on that esteemed organization: We will not quickly join those who march on Veterans' Day waving small flags, calling to memory those thousands who died for the "greater glory of the United States." We will not accept the rhetoric. We will not readily join the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars-in fact, we will find it hard to join anything at all and when we do, we will demand relevancy such...

It's time to turn up the heat on Kerry and his anti war protests.Him and his vile suppoters, then and now, need to be called on what they really stand for.The media still won't cover this aspect.We need to tell his story here, and everywhere. I'm sick of the media ONLY talking about the Swift Boat Vets. Let's see how they cover the mockery in NYC today about our fallen in this war.The mock coffins were out of line!Now that they crossed the line it's time to take off the gloves, once and for all.

Senator Also May Have Set Up Meetings Between Chinese Firms, U.S. Officials (WASHINGTON, D.C.) Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released recently declassified documents showing that Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry accepted laundered contributions for his 1996 re-election campaign from the Communist Chinese government and that, in exchange, he may have arranged meetings between Chinese aerospace executives and U.S. government officials. Obtained from the FBI through Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act requests, the documents are related to the FBI’s “Chinagate” investigation into the Clinton campaign’s acceptance of contributions from Communist...

FBI files indicate that VVAW leader Al Hubbard reported to the VVAW Executive Committee meeting upon returning from Paris the following, “Hubbard indicated that VVAW as an organization had received commitments of support from Leftists throughout the world. He indicated that following the conference he had private discussions with individuals from Laos and Cambodia, the primary topic discussed were tactics in the United States anti-war movement. In his opinion these discussions turned out to be the most important part of the conference for him. He said that during these talks he was able to confirm the fact that a seven...

Recently I have read that John Kerry has told the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth that he was not referring to them in his senate speech in 1971, but to all the other Vietnam War veterans. Well, we should apply the same standard to this that Kerry and his news pals have used, that is; That Kerry did not serve in their tent, unit, team, foxhole, aircraft, patrol unit, or squad so therefore he cannot know what these men were doing or not doing. Therefore, because by his own admission that by these standards the SBVT could not have known...

One more brick in the Kerry wall...... http://teamhouse.tni.net/Misc/Kerry/ChungKerry.htm

Nov. 3, 2004: Vietnam vets - finally, you heroes have come home You were spit on. You were called war criminals. You were called baby killers. You served your country and came home to abuse and to be shunned by your countrymen. Many never came home at all. There were lost limbs, broken lives, broken families, alcoholism, drugs, homelessness, despair, and even suicide. You could not understand why you were so hated. There was no parade welcoming you home. There was nobody to offer you their seat on a full airplane. There was no one wanting to shake your hand...

To: stockpirate I am not sure this is the proper place to put this...but here goes... To All The Vets of Viet Nam, I was born in 1955, a baby boomer...into an alcoholic and abusive family. I was 14 years old when Woodstock rocked this nation. I remember standing in front of a 12" black and white set watching it unfold on the 6 o'clock news. I also remember my father using the term..".long haired hippie pukes" and being totally disgusted with the whole mess. Being 14 with a father who like to use his fists..I naturally rejected anything he...

"...I can cite many, many instances, sir, as in combat when these men refused to fight with us, when they shot with their guns over tin this area like this and their heads turned facing the other way. When we were taken under fire we Americans, supposedly fighting with them, and pinned down in a ditch, and I was in the Navy and this was pretty unconventional, but when we were pinned down in a ditch recovering bodies or something and they refused to come in and help us, point blank refused. I don't believe they want to fight, sir..."

Go to page 21 read to 25 "[redacted] that on April four, one nie seven two, a representive of the North Vietanese Government at the Paris Peace talks telephoned the 'movement' in the United States to be ready to take action, presumably demostrations, to counter expected escalation of bombing by American air forces in South Vietnam as a result of the increased military action of North Vietnamese forces in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam.

What the FBI files and history of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, (VVAW) reveal about, VVAW and John Kerry: 1. VVAW Plan to assassinate seven US senators. 2. VVAW was training to execute a Phoenix plan to decapitate the leaders of the US Government. 3. Member of VVAW arrested in-route to VP Agnew speech with an explosive device (BOMB). 4. VVAW running guns to a black militant group in Cairo IL. Use link 12 page 131, also same as link 10.. 5. VVAW funded by Communist party of America. 6. VVAW receiving funds from the Communist Party of a country...

It only shows Kerry for a second (at around 1:15) but you can get a feel for the radical nature of the event and organization. Listen carefully near the end and you will hear a VVAW member state that the next time he fights will be to take these steps. Referring to the steps at the US Capitol or the WH.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Were John Kerry and the veterans organization he led the real reason the Republicans broke into Watergate in 1972, with information on them the target of the espionage? Was doing so an early onset of Republican political paranoia against his work, a harbinger of the pending campaign against him in 2004? Bob Weiner, the 1971-72 Youth Voter Registration director for the Young Democrats office at the Watergate headquarters of the Democratic National Committee and recently a Clinton White House staffer for six years, is asking these questions after doing a little research to refresh...

Recently I have read that John Kerry has told the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth that he was not referring to them in his senate speech in 1971, but to all the other Vietnam War veterans. Well, we should apply the same standard to this that Kerry and his news pals used, that is; That he did not serve in their tent, unit, team, foxhole, aircraft, patrol unit, or squad so therefore he cannot know what these men were doing or not doing. Therefore, because by his own admission that by these rules above the SBVT couldnot have known, he...

There appears to be concern here about the safty of President Nixon while he is visiting his compound in Fla. The FBI report is from the Miami office of the FBI. Start on page 10 read until bottom of page 13 http://ice.he.net/~freepnet/fbifiles/100-HQ-448092/Section%2013/Section%2013.pdf

I have no views on whether one or more of John Kerry’s bemedalled wounds from the Mekong Delta 35 years ago were self-inflicted — though the Kerry campaign, in its second big concession to his chastisers, now says his first Purple Heart-earning wound might have been ‘unintentionally self-inflicted’. But there’s no doubt every wound from the last 35 days is self-inflicted, beginning with the candidate’s disastrous decision at the Democratic Convention to play up Vietnam and play down Iraq, 9/11 and anything else that happened in the last 30 years. Since then Kerry’s shot himself in the foot so many...

A website for the documentary "Stolen Honor" “Stolen Honor” investigates how John Kerry’s actions during the Vietnam era impacted the treatment of American soldiers and POWs. Using John Kerry’s own words, the documentary juxtaposes John Kerry’s actions with the words of veterans who were still in Vietnam when John Kerry was leading the anti-war movement. Currently in the final stages of production, Stolen Honor will be available for broadcast and on DVD and VHS video. In addition, you will be able to view excerpts from the program on this web site. “In other wars, captured Americans subjected to the hell...

John Kerry's dog, VC, catapults through the air after a mine explodes under Kerry's boat......

WHY THEY ARE PANICKING ! 1. The Cambodia Christmas Story is now a proven Lie. 2. The first purple heart was self inflicted . 3. Kerry's own journal confirms there was no hostile fire when he injured himself. 4. Kerry's own journal proves that the rice in the butt he used for another purple heart was also self inflicted. The only other injury he had was a bruise on his arm. 5. His account of the Rassman pickup has been overwhelmed by multiple witnesses. Kerry's boat was the only boat to flee, abandoning the damaged boat and Rassman who fell...

Old Crimson Interview Reveals A More Radical John Kerry The Crimson reported Kerry called for U.N. control of troops in 1970. Ten months after returning home from Vietnam, a young John Kerry strolled into the offices of The Harvard Crimson on Feb. 13, 1970 as an obscure underdog in the Democratic Congressional primary. The decorated veteran, honorably discharged after a tour of duty in the Mekong Delta, spoke in fierce terms during his daylong interview with The Crimson’s Samuel Z. Goldhaber ’72. But almost 34 years later, Kerry’s remarks on American military and intelligence operations vastly diverge from opinions expressed...

A document from the FBI files covering the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) and John Kerry, dated November 16,1971 (FBI file record number ID; 100-448092-483), indicates that local supporters of the VVAW became dissatisfied with the VVAW. As a result of Mr. Kerry’s speech in Gaston Hall at George Washington University, the head office of the VVAW in New York withdrew support for the Washington DC office and for John Kerry. The following is a verbatim transcript of the FBI document: