VIDEO – CARING FOR THE FALLEN
Monday, June 7th, 2021Below is a link of a 12 minute reportage of what they do for the fallen primarily in Europe and also in Africa and the Philippines.
Below is a link of a 12 minute reportage of what they do for the fallen primarily in Europe and also in Africa and the Philippines.
The following was shared with us by Susan Metts, the Mid-Atlantic Region Advancement Officer of the National Rifle Association in honor of Memorial Day. Susan is also one of our conservative ladies and a very special friend ! Nancy
“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” -President John F. Kennedy, 1961-1963
You may already know that Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day. Established after the Civil War, General John A. Logan, a Union Veteran’s Association leader, organized the first national Decoration Day in 1868. Coincidentally, two of his Union veteran peers established the National Rifle Association three years later.
The celebration of Decoration Day transformed into Memorial Day, and as we all assuredly know, it is still celebrated today.
Evoking strong emotions, many creative artists have commemorated Memorial Day to capture the spirit for all to remember. However, below are two special links that I found particularly moving. I hope you enjoy them too.
Just a Common Soldier, a poem by Lawrence Vaincourt
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEs4ke7cdNQ
Amazing Grace to Bagpipes
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O0daPfqSV0
Thank you to all who served and those who serve by loving a service member. The United States of America’s survival and success is truly in your debt – something we at the NRA keep at the forefront of our minds as we serve you.
My Thanksgiving to America
December 2, 2019Over the Thanksgiving period, I pondered a lot on my debt to America. The first thing I owe this great country is probably my very existence. When growing up in 1960s New Zealand, it was accepted wisdom that we owed our freedom and our very lives to the “Yanks.”
In 1942, tens of thousands of young Kiwi and Aussie men were in North Africa fighting the Nazis and the Italian Fascist armies. The Japanese Imperial Army was marching relentlessly through the South Pacific and South East Asia. The Philippines fell; Hong Kong, Singapore, the Dutch East Indies, New Guinea, all were invaded in a matter of months, capturing thousands of British, Dutch, and colonial troops in the process.
The Japanese air force bombed Darwin in Northern Australia. There were reports of Japanese submarines in New Zealand harbors. In 1942, 22 New Zealand prisoners of war were beheaded by the Japanese on Tarawa. In 1943, Japanese prisoners rioted at a prisoner of war camp in our little North Island town of Featherston. More than 30 Japanese and one New Zealand guard were killed before order was restored. Rumors flew that the Japanese had already printed up the currency they were going to use when they invaded us.
The Rest of the Story
For over fifty years Luther Hobbs, Wilmer’s Hobbs’ younger brother, has flown a flag every Veterans Day. It was something his father did until he no longer could, then Luther took over. It was a way to honor Wilmer, a way to remember.
Luther will be the first to admit that his memory isn’t as good as it used to be
“Time is catching up to me,” is something he says more and more these days while watching the evening sun drift behind tall trees he used to climb as a boy. That was until Wilmer was killed. After Wilmer was killed climbing trees was no longer fun.
Wilmer had taught him how to climb trees, and so many other things, things he would never forget things like; how to throw a curve ball, how to bait a fishing hook, ride a bicycle, how to not be afraid of the dark, and the Lord’s Prayer.
Wilmer taught him how to tie his shoes too. Luther still remembers that afternoon, and how long it took and how patient Wilmer was as they sat on the porch steps until he finally caught on. He remembers it every morning when he ties his shoe laces.
Sometimes he hears Wilmer’s voice whispering to him and sometimes calling out from across the fields, and sometimes when he walks along the stream. It was by the stream where Wilmer first told him he was going away to fight in the war. It was where Wilmer let him listen to his grandfather’s watch that last time.
Luther thinks about that watch now and then. He still remembers its ticks and tocks. The old watch wasn’t among Wilmer’s things that the Army sent home after he was killed.
Luther still kept those things, a few medals, and ribbons, Wilmer’s dog tag, and two stripes that he never got around to sewing onto his uniform. He keeps them in a box, the same box that he keeps the flag that once draped his brother’s coffin. Its the flag he takes out every Veteran’s day and hoists high, unfurling it in the crisp November breeze just as the sun peaks over the mountain top.
This Veteran’s Day, like Luther’s memories, there is not as much left of his brother’s flag to dance in the morning breeze.
Two weeks ago Luther’s grandchildren dug the old flag out burned it. When he was awakened by smoke he thought his whole world was on fire. In a way it was and still is as he continues nursing burns from reaching in the hot blazing flames.
He did it without thinking.
“A silly thing,” the doctor at the emergency room told him.
Luther listened.
“It’s just an old flag,” the doctor said more than once. It was the same thing celebrities say, and what his grandchildren said while they watched him rescue the old flag they set out to destroy.
“Because being an American isn’t cool.”
By some miracle all of the red, white, and blue wasn’t burned and enough stars and stripes survived for Luther Hobbs to fly his brother’s flag this Veteran’s Day and remember.
I pray this is a work of fiction I pray, but fear it’s not. Edward Reed 2019
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VIDEO – D-DAY PRAGER U
On June 6, 1944, Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy in northern France. Their goal: to liberate Western Europe from Nazi tyranny. From a distance, it might seem that victory was pre-ordained, but no one felt that way at the time. British military historian Peter Caddick-Adams tells the incredible story of what happened on that monumental day.