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If You Enjoy Your Fredom, Thank A Vet


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Hello Gang...

This is a tribute to my son Eric... He spent his first tour one year in combat in Afghanistan with the 101st. Air Assult... 2nd, 3rd, & 4th tours in Iraq with the 4th Infantry... Now he is going back to Afghanistan in September... He is a Sgt, with an 11 Bravo MOS... Team Leader on a Bradly Fighting Vehicle... O-Lord yes do I worry... God Bless all vets!!!

PS... I spent 37 months in Vietnam... 18 months with the Big Red One (1st Inf. Div.) and 7 months with the 11th Armored Cavalry, and the rest of the time with the 10th Cavalry in the Central Highlands... 11 Delta (Armored Recon Scout)... I loved it....... Kick Ass and take no POW'S... Colonel George Patton (son of General George Patton)was our Squadron Commander with the 11th Cavalry "BlackHorse"...

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Keep this Memorial always in mind. It is a solemn remembrance of those who made the ultimate sacrifice so we can all enjoy our freedoms. Let us not abuse their endowment, which was so hard won. Sincere thanks to all those veterans who served honorably and those currently enlisted in our service.

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Funny Story..... In a place that's hard to make a story funny!!

A few weeks ago, we went to Washington DC to bring my son home from college(GWU)....

My brother, sister, sister-in-law and Dad flew down to join us, so that we could take Dad to the WWII Memorial... He was in the original 10th Mountain Division and had never seen the memorial....

At 86 years old, with bad hip, I'm proud to say he was able to meander along... with rest stops here & there... From the WWII Memorial, to the Vietnam Memorial and on to the Korean War Memorial... We tried to make it easier by using a car, bus, wheelchair... Hell, ANYTHING!! But, he was fine... As long as we could take it slow....

While we were there, we became aware of an interesting group... The Honor Flight Network....

At the Vietnam Memorial, I was standing behind a HFN volunteer... He was wearing a t-shirt that said, "If you can read this shirt, thank a teacher... If you can read it in English, thank a Vet."

I tapped him on the shoulder... He turned around and I said, "Thank You!!"

He said, "Huh??"

Ya know... If your gonna wear a t-shirt like that, you should probably know what it says!!! LOL

Anyway... The guy behind us was also a volunteer pushing a WWII vet in a wheelchair... He said he was a teacher.... So, I was able to thank them both... The original guy caught on and we all laughed...

It was really a great day...

If you have an elderly person in your family that should see something.... ANYTHING, before it's too late.... Just do it.... It's SO worth it!!!

That weekend was so simple... And, it meant so much to my Dad!!

If you live near a city that has an airport and you have any desire to assist Vets in seeing the beautiful monuments our capital has built in their honor... Please consider volunteering for the Honor Flight Network....

'Have a great weekend!!! ;)

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THANK YOU to each and every member of the armed forces,past and present.

I also recently visited Washington DC once again. I have visited most or all of the monumnets a few times. A friend and relative of mine was a Honor Guard for many years at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Each visit to Washington has reminded me of the sacrifices made by so many. During the last visit,i reached the Vietnam memorial wall about sundown. I noticed a man wearing white gloves and in his left hand was a bundle of long stem red roses. In his right hand was a small piece of paper. It was his guide for finding particular names on the wall. As he found each name,he come to full attention,heels clicked,gave a slow perfect salute. Then down on one knee he placed a rose at the base. Then after a long pause he would move on to the next. It was long after dark as i was leaving the memorial. He was still looking at his list and moving his way along the wall to complete his task.

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Here in Holland, the word Freedom, is a very hot item at this moment, because of the elections in June. Freedom is very important to me. I'm just 45, so wasn't there during the WW II, but I think we have to remember always the man and woman, who fought for us and even gave their lives for a free Holland. A lot of foreighn soldiers, also from the US, died here during the liberation of The Netherlands. I hope they didn't die for nothing, and we'll always be free.

Cees.

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Keep this Memorial always in mind. It is a solemn remembrance of those who made the ultimate sacrifice so we can all enjoy our freedoms. Let us not abuse their endowment, which was so hard won. Sincere thanks to all those veterans who served honorably and those currently enlisted in our service.

Amen!

We just lost a very important veteran ourselves my mother-in-law to cancer. It so hard to try and comfort those you love when they loss someone so important. I know the lord will pull us through and the sun will shine once more. If you get a chance to sign the guest book that would be great. May God bless our veterans, family, friends and our country. Thank you for listening and take care. Mike

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Amen!

We just lost a very important veteran ourselves my mother-in-law to cancer. It so hard to try and comfort those you love when they loss someone so important. I know the lord will pull us through and the sun will shine once more. If you get a chance to sign the guest book that would be great. May God bless our veterans, family, friends and our country. Thank you for listening and take care. Mike

In the thread you didnt list a name to search in the guestbook

Sorry "Doris Fulton"

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Well I'm a Vet and I would like to tell about the day I came home.As I stepped from the plane I saw in the distance a group of people shouting and screaming,I thought they were cheering us but instead they were cursing us and had signs calling us baby killers,they spit on us! Thanks too for all the help I got when I lost my f...... mind after I realized I had been raped by my country and realized countless freinds had died for no good reason other than to make others richer.Oh and thanks for portraying Viet Nam Vets as crazed maniacs on television,that really hurt.I am not proud of the American role in Viet Nam so don't thank me.The only way I would accept any credit at all for my involvment would be if I could have stopped it before it ever started!Thank God I was a medic,my job was get wounded up and out of there.I was there one year,wounded twice and hated every minute of it!

im sorry you feel this way, you had it rough and i think i understand your frustration, but honoring those who have fallen in this country in and on the battlefield goes all the way back the the civil war, when brothers fought against brothers, over 600,000 men and women died in that war and it has been a time honor position of the remaining to honor those who even thoe they may not have understood the reasoning behind such atrosities right or wrong, they gave their lives to secure what they thought was freedom and or a just cause reguardless of understanding why its happening. When a soldier dies upon the field of battle there can not be any other ultimate sacrifice that would need to be less awarded because of the politics involved, afterall, we are honoring the dead and those who have served for this thing we call freedom not the goverments or politics involved. There will be, now, and always people that disagree with war thinking that freedom comes with no price tag attached and alot of soldiers comming out of war think your same way, but in the end there has been a price that has been paid and if you cannot honor their sacrifice then, in my eyes, you are no different then the people you met at the airport, sorry, but you will not make there lives any less important with the way you feel,, i said it and if you hate me because i wasnt there so be it, but i still thank you for your service and hope that some day you might understand the way alot of gratefull Americans feel about it and except the apologise from those who know they have wronged the survivors of these wars, i will never know what its like to be there in the midst of all the shit you guys went through, but what i can do is honor those who have gone through it and respect your frustration,you have a duty to your fallen brothers and their families to respect them,,, bj

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Bigjohn I understand what your saying,thank you but you don't get it.I am angry that someone is bragging about the treatment of POW'S.I know something about the subject and the type of people that bragg about there involvement,for your sake I will not elaborate.Usually I get through this time of year OK but I can't stand by and listen to someone bragg about war atrocities.How about some respect for the dead Vietnamese men,women and children that died trying to defend there own country from an imperialistic country that had no better reason to be ther than to make money and keep the Mekong Delta for Uncle Ben's rice.The only way to honor our fallen brothers is to stop fighting profit driven wars.This "war" we're fighting now is no different,except we out-sourced it to Haleburton who had the supplies made in China,Which drove our economy and our country into the ground.I AM respecting my fallen brothers and there family's in my own way by saying there must be a better way!I was 19 years old,I thought I was fighting for freedom,but after I realized what had happened I have hated war every since.It's not just part of life ,it's not OK

Bo, as a compliment to you all others I propose that in spitr of your ideologial differnces with the "macine, you did it the right way. You served and saved lives under terrible circumstances. You did not run, desert, dodge the draft,or go to Canada. Thank you for defending our rights while we enjoyed them.

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Hey Bo... I was in high school at the end of Viet Nam... Yes, I was a war protester...

No, I never spit on anyone, or called them baby killers...

But, I DO DEEPLY regret the attitude I held for the members of the military then.

In my head... In my youth... In public... It was the attitude of the side I joined...

BUT.... I lived right at a traffic light intersection on the highway that was the direct route from Hanscom AFB.... where wounded soldiers flew in.... and Fort Devens, where the Army hospital was located...

I can't think of too many sounds I've ever heard in my life that have been so distressing, confusing and.... just HORRIBLE, as the loud BLARING BLAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH sound of the medical bus horns as they ran through the light... Usually late at night... (They didn't have sirens...)

I wish I had been wise enough then, to send love and luck to every face I ever saw on a regular transport bus (We saw many of them, too)

No matter what happened... No matter how things were twisted...

Bo, you did what you believed was right at the time...

AND, you were willing to give your life for what you (and so many others) believed was a way to protect us all

THANK YOU!!!

My sister was old enough to have a military pen pal... I don't think she ever met him... I don't know if they have stayed in touch... But, the letters she got from him were pretty chilling...

This thread is a good thread... It means a lot to many...

Yes... I can TOTALLY understand your comment...

I wan't Gene to explain to me what happened to the POW'S I can't expect you to understand,but this is a very sore subject with me.I don't want thanks or gratitude

But, Please.... In respect to all.... Would it be possible for you to either begin a new thread, or PM Gene privately about this??

It just doesn't belong here.... Today....

Thanks

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I wan't Gene to explain to me what happened to the POW'S I can't expect you to understand,but this is a very sore subject with me.I don't want thanks or gratitude

marboman... I can't get over you... When I came home it was just the opposite... I was treated with respect... I said in my post that I was in the cavalry... That is tanks and armored assault vehicles... Where would you expect us to put a POW??? Inside the tank, or maybe behind or in front of one of the 3 or 4 machine guns... Sorry just no room for passengers... We almost always had the infantry backing us up... That means the armor went in first and did the heavy damage, softening the way for the infantry... It was the infantry that took the POW's not us... I am going to post a couple photos...

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The entrance to one of or fire bases...

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One of our guidons

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Lastly our Standing Order from Col. Patton... This order was on the main hatch to every piece of armor we had...

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That order reads... "FOR TROOPERS OF THE 11TH US CAVALRY FIND THE BASTARDS THEN PILE ON"

I did what was expected of me to do, I didn't cry about it like many others do... There was another standing order over there... We couldn't open fire until we were fired upon and if anyone is stupid enough to fire upon an armor column well what can I say...cool-smileys-262.gif

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