In Honor of all Veterans.

[Jimmyeatworld]

Jimmy, all kidding aside I think I have actually read or seen this story, was this ever public ???

Not so far as I know. Other than the website. I did have it on another page, but when I switched from AOL (seems like another lifetime) to Earthlink, I had to redo it. I might have posted it here before early on and forgot.

If somebody copied it and passed it around, that's great, but I hope nobody is passing it around as theirs.

 

[Mr. P]

The Parades are moving..even here...where it's raining!

Thanks for the kind words today folks..A service man/woman may have looked in and had a smile today...We never know.

 

[5stringJeff]

Thanks for the post Chief!

 

[Fmr jarhead]

Jimmy, that is a great tribute, thank you for sharing.....

I put together a little site after Memorial Day in 2003, and it seems appropriate to share it now, as well.

http://home.earthlink.net/~nvus1/rollingthunder2003/index.html

 

[Jimmyeatworld]

Jimmy, that is a great tribute, thank you for sharing.....

I put together a little site after Memorial Day in 2003, and it seems appropriate to share it now, as well.

http://home.earthlink.net/~nvus1/rollingthunder2003/index.html

Nice. I've heard about Rolling Thunder and hope to make it there to see for myself one day.

 

[edwbrown]

Thank you

 

[-Cp]

Open Letter in Support of America's Armed Forces
Sign Open Petition in honor of our troops!

http://patriotpetitions.us/USMIL/

 

[Bonnie]

Wow I had no idea so many on this board have or are serving out country.

All I can say is I am in AWE of all of you that volunteer not knowing where you could be sent. You do you duty without pause or hesitation, never complaining, never losing faith in our country and all that goes with it. You are brave and your families are brave. I remember something President Bush said at the convention. He said he is always amazed when he visits the fallen or wounded soldiers, their families say that they are praying for him, and he goes on to say "where do these people get the courage to go on after suffering such tragedy?" "How do they do it?"

He's right..............Thank You!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Mr. P]

Thanks everybody for all the great posts today!
I'm sure it was appreciated by many more than you will ever know.

and................Thank You, VETERANS and ACTIVE DUTY!!!!

Good Night. And God Bless Our Troops!

 

[krisy]

Thank you to all of you,your our country's best!!!!!!


:hail: :hail:

 

[freeandfun1]

Has anybody noticed that none of the board libs have dropped by to say, "Thank you"? They take advantage of the sacrifices of vets, yet can't even profer a single "thank you".

Now, if I have overlookd any, then my bad, but I don't think I have.

Bully, you're a vet, so even though I don't like your politics, I am proud to have you as a member of our little crowd! Thanks for serving.

 

[007]

The Parades are moving..even here...where it's raining!

Thanks for the kind words today folks..A service man/woman may have looked in and had a smile today...We never know.

Thank "you" Mr. P, for the nice job and the effort put forth for such a nice U.S. Message Board tribute to us veterans. I'm very honored to be among those listed.

And thank you CSM for the words. Great job.

Vet's RULE...

 

[NATO AIR]

its a day late but its well worth checking out... nothing can make me prouder of the military i serve in today and the country i serve...

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Veterans Naturalization

Troops become U.S. citizens on Veterans Day

By LAURA WIDES
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER


U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Melvain St. George, right, originally of Haiti, holds up his hand as he takes the oath of allegiance to the U.S. at a naturalization ceremony held aboard the decommssioned aircraft carrier USS Midway Thursday, Nov. 11, 2004 in San Diego. Eighty sailors and marines from 25 countries were granted citizenship in a cermony held to commemorate Veterans Day. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)
SAN DIEGO -- Marine Cpl. David Antonio Garcia stood on the deck of an aircraft carrier Thursday and was sworn in as an American citizen - after already serving under the U.S. flag in Iraq.

The native of Mexico was among 80 sailors and Marines from 25 countries - from Canada to Syria - who became citizens in a Veterans Day ceremony aboard the USS Midway, a reward for putting their lives on the line for their adopted country.

The ceremony, watched by more than 100 cheering relatives, came as the nation observed Veterans Day with about 160,000 troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan - some of them locked in fierce house-to-house fighting in Fallujah.

"I wouldn't want to compare myself to World War veterans or Vietnam veterans," said Garcia, 21, who was with combat engineers who cleared the path for tanks to roll into Iraq. "But I feel some of what they must feel today. I know what it's like to leave loved ones and not to know if you will come back."

The citizenship ceremony was one of dozens of events held nationwide to celebrate Veterans Day, a holiday that has taken on added meaning in the last three years after wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Veterans were honored Thursday at ceremonies big and small: an event recognizing a teenage Purple Heart recipient in South Carolina, a parade on the streets of Manhattan, a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Ceremony attended by President Bush.

The war in Iraq was a dominant theme at the ceremonies. There are about 142,000 U.S. troops in Iraq; the American death toll stands at more than 1,140.

"Let no one tell you we aren't doing good things there," Army Col. Jill Morgenthalher, who recently returned from Iraq and earned a Bronze Star, said at a wreath-laying ceremony at Chicago's Soldier Field. "We are standing up for what is right. This is our next greatest generation."

At the ceremony aboard the USS Midway, U.S. District Judge William Hayes administered the oath of citizenship, noting that many of the troops were from countries that deny individual liberties and had left behind families who "cannot know what joy you are experiencing today."

"You as representatives of the armed forces know above all, like most citizens, that freedom is not free," Hayes said. "Thank you for your sacrifice."

Legal permanent residents of the United States had been allowed to join the military and seek citizenship after three years of active service. But in July 2002 President Bush signed an executive order allowing anyone on active duty after Sept. 11, 2001, to immediately apply for citizenship. There are about 31,000 non-citizens in the U.S. military.

On the other end of the country, dozens of veterans, some into their 80s, stood and applauded one of the nation's youngest Purple Heart recipients during a ceremony in North Charleston, S.C.

Marine Lance Cpl. Nicholas Riccio, 19, who was born on the Fourth of July and wanted to be a soldier from childhood, was wounded in Iraq in June when shrapnel from a mortar round passed through his brain. He survived but only after a Navy corpsman held his head together on a 30-mile drive to a first aid station.

"I guess you could say I grew up quick," he said. "I was 18 years old, a gunner, a Humvee driver and engaged in firefights against insurgents in Fallujah."

In New York, thousands lined Fifth Avenue for a parade that has seen attendance surge in recent years. "Five or 10 years ago when I would come, there might be 200 or 300 people here," Sen. Charles Schumer said. "And now the whole street is full."

Illinois officials said dozens of schools received permission to stay open for the holiday, inviting veterans to join students in flag-raising ceremonies, question-and-answer sessions, and the singing of patriotic songs. More than a quarter of schools sought to waive the holiday, up considerably from five years ago.

Wayne Miller, commander of a VFW Post outside Chicago, said attending school on Veterans Day will help children "understand it's more than just getting a day off and prancing around."

In Arkansas, about 60 elementary students attended a ceremony and presented veterans with a handmade card, with one girl telling a vet: "You're my hero."

"You can walk down the streets or be in your house and know you're not going to get hurt because they're there (in Iraq)," said 10-year-old Sarah Burns. "We need to think more about our veterans than we do because we don't honor them as much as we should."

Associated Press writers Bruce Smith in North Charleston, S.C., Ava Thomas Benson in Little Rock, Ark., and Frank Eltman in New York contributed to this report.

 

[WeAreLegion]

A very hearty thank you to all vets both in my family and out in the world. You all are the core of America and it would all mean nothing if not for you. Please never let the weak of spirit and the strong of dissention sway your hearts. We are on the right and just path and you are all blazing the trail to freedom that was begun over 200 years ago.

In my heart and reckoning you all stand at the pinnacle, above any leader or ideal because without you they are nothing. Without them however, you have demonstrated your unselfish and most highly honorable committment to this country and the principles that it was founded upon.

I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

Some Quotes:

"We make war that we may live in peace." --Aristotle

"To be prepared for War is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace." --George Washington

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse." --John Stuart Mill

"The patriot volunteer, fighting for country and his rights, makes the most reliable soldier on earth." --Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson

"A really great people, proud and high-spirited, would face all the disasters of war rather than purchase that base prosperity which is bought at the price of national honor." --Theodore Roosevelt

"No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave." --Calvin Coolidge

"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." --Sir Winston Churchill

"The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war." --Douglas MacArthur

"Let us solemnly remember the sacrifices of all those who fought so valiantly, on the seas, in the air, and on foreign shores, to preserve our heritage of freedom, and let us re-consecrate ourselves to the task of promoting an enduring peace so that their efforts shall not have been in vain." --Dwight Eisenhower



And a poem:

"It is the soldier, not the reporter,
Who has given us freedom of the press.

"It is the soldier, not the poet,
Who has given us freedom of speech.

"It is the soldier, not the campus organizer,
Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.

"It is the soldier, who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag."

-- Father Dennis Edward O'Brian, USMC

 

[nbdysfu]

Has anybody noticed that none of the board libs have dropped by to say, "Thank you"? They take advantage of the sacrifices of vets, yet can't even profer a single "thank you".

Now, if I have overlookd any, then my bad, but I don't think I have.

Bully, you're a vet, so even though I don't like your politics, I am proud to have you as a member of our little crowd! Thanks for serving.

Just saw this thread. Thanks guys for your service I've never served and won't volunteer but I have FOUR MORE years left for draft elegibility. So if I get it, even though we have so many already volunteering, I will be proud to serve in whatever capacity as long as it is alongside the likes of you vets, my grandfathers. :usa: You've done so much for this country and also the world.

 

[Mr. P]

Well, I knew I'd miss someone...But pegwinn has now been added to the list in the first post.
Master Sergeant USMC 1981-2003. Salute Sarge!