Veterans Day

rebeltf

rebeltf

Joined
Jan 29, 2005
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A solemn thank you to all you brave men and women, who have served our Country.




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Thank you to all who serve or have served this great Country of ours!! (And to those who have passed as well. THANK YOU Grandpa!! I miss you!!) God bless you all!
 
T.K.C. said:
Thank you to all who serve or have served this great Country of ours!! (And to those who have passed as well. THANK YOU Grandpa!! I miss you!!) God bless you all!
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Some gave all......

I gave my health but would enlist again....

GOD Bless America !


Uncle Alan :D
 
Thanks to all that have served and are serving. And for the families of those who gave it all, May God Bless You and give you peace.
James
 
Thanks to all who serve, and have served.

May we never take our freedom for granted.

thx - cpr
 
A memoriium for a Hero delayed:

Mother of a hero awaits ceremony
Star-Telegram ^ | November 10, 2007 | JOHN MORITZ

Posted on 11/11/2007 12:32:31 PM PST by Dubya

AUSTIN -- Dolia Gonzalez was hoping that this Veterans Day would be the one when Texas would present her only son with the hero's medal that he had paid for with his life nearly 40 years ago.

But at 78, Gonzalez says she doesn't mind waiting a little longer. She takes comfort in the fact that the son she lost on a Vietnam battlefield in February 1968 has not been forgotten. Not by his buddies in the service, not by his hometown in the Rio Grande Valley, not by Congress and not by his beloved Marine Corps.

So waiting for Texas to join the parade is no big deal, said Gonzalez, who works as a restaurant waitress and a grocery store greeter in her hometown of Edinburg.

"If I had my way, it would have been done by now," Gonzalez said Thursday in a phone interview. "But I understand that these things take time."

Her son, Marine Sgt. Alfredo "Freddie" Gonzalez, was awarded the Medal of Honor, the military's highest decoration for valor, for his role in repelling an enemy rocket attack during the pivotal Tet offensive. Under fire, he rescued a wounded Marine and led his platoon in taking out heavily fortified enemy positions. Gonzalez was killed while returning rocket fire from his position in a Catholic church.

He was 21 and serving his second tour in Vietnam at the time.

In Edinburg and surrounding communities, Gonzalez's bravery was celebrated. An elementary school and other public facilities were named for him. An American Legion post in a neighboring town bears his name. There's an Alfredo Gonzalez Boulevard at the Marines' Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and an Alfredo Gonzalez mess hall at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi.

In 1996, the Navy commissioned the USS Gonzalez, a guided missile destroyer, and Dolia Gonzalez had the honor of cracking the champagne bottle against the bow.

During the 2007 legislative session, lawmakers made Gonzalez the sixth recipient of the Legislative Medal of Honor, saying the honor was long overdue and promising a ceremony befitting a Texas hero.

Nearly six months later, former Alvarado resident John Flores, author of a biography of Gonzalez titled, When the River Dreams, began raising questions about why the medal had not been presented to his mother. Flores, who learned about Gonzalez while working as a reporter for the McAllen Monitor, said many of his Marine comrades are hoping to attend the ceremony.

"I'm calling lawmakers, the governor -- and all I get is the run-around," said Flores, 49, who lives in Albuquerque, N.M. "Freddie's mother deserves to have that medal."

State Rep. Aaron Pena, D-Edinburg, and Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen, who sponsored the resolution awarding the medal, said coordinating the schedules of all the dignitaries is proving to be challenging. Neither has been able to obtain a firm commitment from Gov. Rick Perry, who signed the measure into law June 15.

Krista Moody, Perry's spokeswoman, said the governor would like to attend any ceremony for Gonzalez, but nothing has been placed on his schedule.

"The medal was awarded [when the resolution was signed into law], but there's no deadline for having a ceremony," Moody said.

Dolia Gonzalez, who was a 16-year-old farm worker when her son was born, said she appreciates the effort made by others to keep her son's memory alive.

"He's with me every day," she said. "He's all I ever had."
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America is not our leaders.

A case of a good School Teacher and a lesson learned:

Back in September of 2005, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren,

a social studies school teacher at Robinson High School in Little Rock ,

did something not to be forgotten. On the first day of school, with the

permission of the school superintendent, the principal and the building

supervisor, she removed all of the desks out of her classroom. When the

first period kids entered the room they discovered that there were no

desks.

Looking around, confused, they asked, “Ms. Cothren, where’re our desks?”

She replied, “You can’t have a desk until you tell me what you have done

to earn the right to sit at a desk.”

They thought, “Well, maybe it’s our grades.”

No,” she said.

“Maybe it’s our behavior.”

She told them, “No, it’s not even your behavior.”

And so, they came and went, the first period, second period, third period.

Still no desks in the classroom. By early afternoon, television news crews

had started gathering in Ms. Cothren’s classroom to report about this

crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of her room.

The final period of the day came and as the puzzled students found

seats on the floor of the desk less classroom, Martha Cothren said,

“Throughout the day no one has been able to tell me just what he/she has done to earn the right to sit at the desks that are ordinarily found in this classroom. Now I am going to tell you.”

At this point, Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and

opened it. Twenty-seven (27) U.S. military veterans, all in uniform, walked into

that classroom, each one carrying a school desk . The Vets began placing

the school desks in rows, and then they would walk over and stand alongside

the wall.

By the time the last soldier had set the final desk in place, those kids

started to understand, perhaps for the first time in their lives, just how

the right to sit at those desks had been earned.

Martha said, “You didn’t earn the right to sit at these desks. These

heroes did it for you. They placed the desks here for you. Now, it’s up to

you to sit in them. It is your responsibility to learn, to be good

students, to be good citizens. They paid the price so that you could have

the freedom to get an education. Don’t ever forget it.”

This is a true story....
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Some gave all, all gave some.

Thanks to all on Veterans Day.
 
Thanks for sharing those quotes. I have a feeling not many really understand, thank God for those who do.
James
 
Well, I was all set to wax sarcastic about cluttering up a serious thread by pasting in made-up glurge stories, but it turns out that one is actually true. I guess I can save the sarcasm for another time.
 
I spent the day watching my football team (The Steelers) beat our rival team, the cleveland browns. I watched this game in a Pensacola Florida Sportsbar (Home of the Navy/Marine Blue Angels)teaming with fine young men and women of the US Military. If anyone wants to a quick jolt of what makes America great...hang out for a few hours with our nations fighting men and women. Smart,Brave,friendly,polite,personable,funny....I could go on and on. I buy a ton of rounds of beer and shots for these guys. They earn it. I had a young Marine ask me one time why I spent so much money buying beers for them,he knew fireman didnt make that much money... I looked at him and reminded him of "my 343 brothers who died at the World Trade Center on 911. I am not fighting for them,he was." He smiled and said,"Thanks". then I stated, "God created the US Military so us firemen could have heroes."

Thank You Vets! Bravo Zulu!
 
Yes, a deep hearted thank you for allow us to be on forums and giving our opions to anything that is on our minds. God bless this country and those serviced or are serving! As one of my favorite songs goes All gave some, some gave all! I left my glass and toast to real heros.
 
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