July 4th

[Skywagon]

I wish you all a happy 4th.  Times are tough right now, but really not very tough considering the founding of our country.  I want to thank all the folks who have defended this country.  I only remember a couple on this board but I know there are many.  Thanks Roug, Scott, Boxflyer, Mike, and those I'm sorry I don't remember who served.

 

I save this little video on my calendar and listen to it every year.  It's a bit long, and a bit corny, but somehow it brings me to realize inspite of Joe, Donald, Congress, and all the crap we see all year....this is the greatest country on the planet...defended by the greatest people on earth.  May your 4th be more than fireworks and hamburgers, but a time to be thankful for all those who came before us to insure we have a country who lives freely.  It's worth your 11 minutes of time to listen....

 

 

[Scott9999]

Whenever someone says "thank you for your service", I immediately respond, "It was a privilege and honor", because in fact, it was.    That reply is not with mock modesty, but sincere honesty.  I am "nobody from nowhere" who has done nothing, compared to so many others. 

 

Particularly so, in regards to my kids generation, who volunteered after 9/11.  My son in law, right out of high school in 2006 when it was no longer cool, or in vogue, to service, volunteered.   Kerry said in his Presidential campaign in 2004, which became his party's position, that only losers who couldn't hack college ended up at war in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Yet, Lucas and his brother went in, he to the Marines and his brother to the USAF.  They volunteered to go to war, in behalf of their country.  Those are the ones we should honor, whether they served at the tip of the spear or in the rear with the gear.

 

There are definitely those who gave so much for this country, and they are the heroes. 

 

To keep with my verbose tradition, I'll tell y'all a story, one I may have told before on this forum  When I was just back from my first overseas deployment, as a young, proud US Navy Lieutenant, my dad invited me to go on his ritual spring fishing trip, with buddies he'd met in a fishing club.   Short story long (and ALL my stories are long), when I met his buddies, I was awestruck.  You see, my dad was a US Navy Corpsman, who deployed with the US Marines in MacArthur's island hopping campaign through the Pacific.  As a Michigan boy from a farm community, he was an avid hunter before the war; and never touched his shotgun again, after.  I saw his picture when he entered the service out of high school at age 17, and again when he returned home.  He looked 12 in 1943, and 30 years old, in 1945.  He never spoke a word about his service.   The only snippets I heard were from a few close friends of his, who basically told me that he was in the worst of it.   He told the family that that his ship had been once been torpedoed, and nothing else.  He let it slip, and clamed right back up.  I don't know which islands he was on, only that he went into combat ashore with the Marines, and there were NO easy campaigns for the US Marines in the WWII Pacific.

 

Anyway, back to the fishing trip.   I knew one of his friends who was a retired Marine Colonel.  He lived a block away and actually, I went to church and school with his granddaughter.  What I found out that day was that he was actually a "mustang", an enlisted man who later became an officer.  He was a corporal in the Philippines at the outbreak of WWII, and eventually suffered and survived the Bataan death march, plus four years as a POW in Japan.  Both my dad and the Colonel had reasons to hate the Japanese.  So, their other fishing buddies were equally interesting.  They were Japanese Americans, who happened to join up and fight in an honored Japanese American unit in Europe called the 442nd Infantry Regiment.  Basically, I was standing amongst four men including my father, who were decorated heroes, who just happen to get together to fish.  I was in the presence of living history.  I was awed not just by their service, but by the common acceptance of my dad and the Col of the Neisi American vets, and vise-versa, after their experiences in the war.   (And mind you, it was my dad who took me aside and explained the heroism of the 442nd.)

 

And here I was, introduced by my father, as this proud Navy Lieutenant.  Well, yeah, maybe my dad set me up a little, lol.  The Lord humbles me a lot, but I guess my father felt he had to lend a hand, too.

 

So, a Navy "Bravo Zulu" to all the Americans throughout history who thought their dream of American exceptionalism, and our common bond and ideas in the US Constitution, was enough to risk their lives and their futures for, and who were willing to pay the price in blood, sweat, and a lifetime of tears.  👍😁

[wbw6cos]

Ahhh, a great day to celebrate Independence, which is a day that falls on July 4th.

[Rougarou]

2 hours ago, wbw6cos said:

Ahhh, a great day to celebrate Independence, which is a day that falls on July 4th.

 

I kinda much dislike the happy 4th phrasing,....Id liken it to saying Happy December 25th.

 

So, have a happy Independence Day all!

!

 

David, glad you are still breathing to celebrate our country's Independence this year and hopefully you do so many more times. 

[TEWKS]

This little tub has seen a lot of Independence Day celebrations. On this Independence Day, I cleaned off about ten years of dust it collected while being displayed at the library. Now we need to find it a space at the new station. 

 

[Sonor]

Happy Independence Day y'all.