From WW II Poster

If You Know What This Is, You Were There.

If the GI's in the above photo made it through World War II and are alive today, they would be in their 80's.  WW II Vets are dying at the rate of over 1000/day.  In the very near future there will be none alive.  Sad.  All Americans owe a debt of gratitude to WWII vets.  Without them we wouldn't have the great country we have today.  They truly are "The Greatest Generation".

Iraq

Viet Nam

In the above photo, Pearl Harbor survivor Houston James embraces Marine SSgt Mark Graunke Jr. on Veterans Day.  SSgt Graunke lost a hand, a leg and an eye while defusing a bomb in Iraq

A Vietnam Vet Salutes His Buddies Who Didn't Make It Back Home

Viet Nam, 1966.  A Medic and fellow soldier of the First Cavalry Division.  AP Photographer Henri Huet was killed in Viet Nam shortly after taking this photo.

It's the Soldier, not the reporter

who has given us the freedom of the press.

 

It's the Soldier, not the poet

who has given us the freedom of speech.

 

It's the Soldier, not the politicians

that ensures our right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

 

It's the Soldier who salutes the flag,

who serves under the flag,

and whose coffin is draped by the flag.

 

 

Many of you may never have heard of

Audie Murphy.  He was our most

decorated hero of WW II.  Click on

photo above for the complete story.

From World War II

Our GI's Are The Most Compasionate Of Any Military

KC-135 refueling during 1st Gulf War

Dave in Da Nang, Viet Nam, 1962

Click on photo above for a link to

"The Average American Fighting Man"

Marines On Iwo Jima-1944

Korean War

10th Mountain Division In Afganistan

Touching The Wall

Words From The Heart

 

Then I began to move my hands over the Wall-

over names I did not know,

slow at first, and then faster, almost frantically-

at first not knowing why-

but then knowing-

I was looking for one name,

I was looking for the one groove my hands would know the best,

the one that would confirm what I always knew

to be true but was afraid to admit,

a name that wasn't there but should have been-

mine.

 

It was that realization, that surprise,

when it all rushed in, the horribleness too horrible to

remember-

too awful to forget-

When it all came back in on me-overwhelming me,

forcing me to face what I could not accept

The source of my guilt, my one great sin-

I had lived, I had survived.  I came back...

 

I left the Wall.

I ascended out of that deep, dark hole a different person.

Tired, emotionally exhausted,

I stood there looking back where I had been.

I knew my pain had not magically left me-

I carry it with me today-but I carry it, it no longer carries

me.

This was the healing I could not find before-

The Wall told me my name was not there

and said go live your life, you do not belong here.

And so I do, live my life now, beyond the Wall.

 

Patrick Overton, Ph.D.

Columbia, MO

excerpt from The Healing Wall

Here is a soldier stationed in Iraq, stationed in a big sand box.  He asked his wife to send him dirt (U.S. soil), fertilizer and some grass seed so he can have the sweet aroma and feel the grass grow beneath his feet.  Before men of the squadron go on a mission, they take turns walking through the grass and American soil to bring them good luck.  If you notice, he is cutting the grass with a pair of of scissors.  Look closely and you'll notice also that his rifle is very close to him.  They tend to come in handy in Iraq.

"Over There" by C.F. Payne, Reader's Digest.

This tells it all!!

This photo was taken by a soldier of a helicopter rescue mission in Afganistan.  The pilot is a Pennsylvania Air National Guard officer who flies EMS choppers in civilian life.  How many people on the planet do you think could set the rear end of a chopper on the roof top of a shack on a steep mountain cliff and hold it there while soldiers load the wounded into the rear?  God Bless Our Military!!