You're 19 Years Old...

You are critically wounded and dying in the jungle somewhere in the Central Highlands of Viet Nam .

 

It's November 11, 1967.  LZ (landing zone) X-ray.

Your unit is outnumbered 8-1 and the enemy fire is so intense from 100 yards away, that   your CO (commanding officer) has ordered the MedEvac helicopters to stop coming in.

 

You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns and you know you're not getting out.

 

Your family is half way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and you'll never see them again.

 

As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day.

 

Then - over the machine gun noise - you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter.

 

You look up to see a Huey coming in. But.. It doesn't seem real because no MedEvac markings are on it.

 

 

Captain Ed Freeman is coming in for you.

 

He's not MedEvac so it's not his job, but he heard the radio call and decided he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire anyway.

 

Even after the MedEvacs were ordered not to come.  He's coming anyway.

 

And he drops it in and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load

3 of you at a time on board.

Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire to the doctors and nurses and safety.

 

And,   he kept coming back !! 13 more  times!!

Until all the wounded were out. No one knew until the mission was over that the Captain had been hit 4 times in the legs and left arm.

He took 29 of you and your buddies out that day. Some would not have made it without the Captain and his Huey.

 

Medal of Honor Recipient, Captain Ed Freeman, United States Air Force, died last Wednesday at the age of 70, in Boise , Idaho

 

May God Bless and Rest His Soul.

 

 

War Is Hell

http://imgur.com/a/Ie5hg

Prayer Request

Please keep Mary Moore in your prayers.  She broke her arm and required surgery to repair it.

Re-Instate the Draft

RANGEL: RE-INSTATE THE DRAFT
>From The Hill: “Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) is re-introducing legislation that would reinstate a military draft in the U.S. and impose a “war tax” so that Americans “feel the burden” of ongoing military operations against Islamic militants. "Armed conflict is unpredictable, chaotic, and costly. When I served, the entire nation shared the sacrifices through the draft and increased taxes. But today, only a fraction of America shoulders the burden. If war is truly necessary, we must all come together to support and defend our nation," Rangel, who served in the Army, said Thursday in a statement. "As a Korean War veteran, I know the toll war takes." His Draft Act would open the draft to women and require everyone between the ages 18 to 25 to register for the Selective Service System. It also calls for the reinstatement of a lottery to draft them into the military whenever an authorization for use of military force (AUMF) or declaration of war is in effect.” http://goo.gl/wL5AAh

I see some room for devious things to happen, probably predicated on my personal distrust of Rangel, and I also see some ideas and issues that our nation needs to give open thought to.

Example, the "War Tax"; It would be in effect whenever an AUMF is in effect, whether there was an actual need at that moment or not. I could possibly favor the War Tax if we actually declared war, which has not happened since December 8, 1941, but I do not favor an open ended tax for "AUMF". The government could easily maintain an open AUMF against terrorism but not field the forces the tax is supposed to support. You and I will pay whether it is needed or not.

I disagree that, "when I served", (as he said) that the entire Nation shared the sacrifice. Yes there was a draft, Viet Nam also, but the cost was not born by specific "war taxes" it was an expense that was borne by budgetary dollars (dollars that likely did not exist in the budget).

The mandatory Selective Service registration may not be a bad idea. If it required everyone with a social security number to register it might separate the wheat from the chaff a bit. I think requiring females to register would be interesting, it might be fun to watch the backlash!

The Final Toast

THE FINAL TOAST!  They once were among the most universally admired and revered men in the United States .. There were 80 of the Raiders in April 1942, when they carried out one of the most courageous and heart-stirring military operations in this nation's history. The mere mention of their unit's name, in those years, would bring tears to the eyes of grateful Americans.  Now only four survive.   After Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, with the United States reeling and wounded, something dramatic was needed to turn the war effort around.   Even though there were no friendly airfields close enough to Japan for the United States to launch a retaliation, a daring plan was devised. Sixteen B-25s were modified so that they could take off from the deck of an aircraft carrier. This had never before been tried -- sending such bi g, heavy bombers from a carrier.     The 16 five-man crews, under the command of Lt. Col. James Doolittle, who himself flew the lead plane off the USS Hornet, knew that they would not be able to return to the carrier. They would have to hit Japan and then hope to make it to China for a safe landing.   But on the day of the raid, the Japanese military caught wind of the plan. The Raiders were told that they would have to take off from much farther out in the Pacific Ocean than they had counted on. They were told that because of this they would not have enough fuel to make it to safety.  And those men went anyway.   They bombed Tokyo and then flew as far as they could. Four planes crash-landed; 11 more crews bailed out, and three of the Raiders died. Eight more were captured; three were executed.   Another died of starvation in a Japanese prison camp. One crew made it to Russia.           The Doolittle Raiders sent a message from the United States to its enemies, and to the rest of the world: We will fight. And, no matter what it takes, we will win.   Of the 80 Raiders, 62 survived the war. They were celebrated as national heroes, models of bravery. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer produced a motion picture based on the raid; "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo," starring Spencer Tracy and Van Johnson, was a patriotic and emotional box-office hit, and the phrase became part of the national lexicon. In the movie-theater previews for the film, MGM proclaimed that it was presenting the story "with supreme pride."     Beginning in 1946, the surviving Raiders have held a reunion each April, to commemorate the mission. The reunion is in a different city each year. In 1959, the city of Tucson, Arizona, as a gesture of respect and gratitude, presented the Doolittle Raiders with a set of 80 silver goblets. Each goblet was engraved with the name of a Raider.     Every year, a wooden display case bearing all 80 goblets is transported to the reunion city. Each time a Raider passes away, his goblet is turned upside down in the case at the next reunion, as his old friends bear solemn witness.   Al so in the wooden case is a bottle of 1896 Hennessy Very Special cognac. The year is not happenstance: 1896 was when Jimmy Doolittle was born.   There has always been a plan: When there are only two surviving Raiders, they would open the bottle, at last drink from it, and toast their comrades who preceded them in death.    As 2013 began, there were five living Raiders; then, in February, Tom Griffin passed away at age 96.   What a man he was. After bailing out of his plane over a mountainous Chinese forest after the Tokyo raid, he became ill with malaria, and almost died. When he recovered, he was sent to Europe to fly more combat missions. He was shot down, captured, and spent 22 months in a German prisoner of war camp.   The selflessness of these men, the sheer guts ... there was a passage in the Cincinnati Enquirer obituary for Mr. Griffin that, on the surface, had nothing to do with the war, but that was emblematic of the depth of his sense of duty and devotion:    "When his wife became ill and needed to go into a nursing home, he visited her every day. He walked from his house to the nursing home, fed his wife and at the end of the day brought home her clothes. At night, he washed and ironed her clothes. Then he walked them up to her room the next morning. He did that for three years until her death in 2005."   So now, out of the original 80, only four Raiders remain: Dick Cole (Doolittle's co-pilot on the Tokyo raid), Robert Hite, Edward Saylor and David Thatcher. All are in their 90s. They have decided that there are too few of them for the public reunions to continue.   The events in Fort Walton Beach marked the end. It has come full circle; Florida's nearby Eglin Field was where the Raiders trained in secrecy for the Tokyo mission. The town planned to do all it can to honor the men: a six-day celebration of their valor, including luncheons, a dinner and a parade.   Do the men ever wonder if those of us for whom they helped save the country have tended to it in a way that is worthy of their sacrifice? They don't talk about that, at least not around other people. But if you find yourself near Fort Walton Beach this week, and if you should encounter any of the Raiders, you might want to offer them a word of thanks. I can tell you from    first hand observation that they appreciate hearing that they are remembered.   The men have decided that after this final public reunion they will wait until a later date -- some time this year -- to get together once more, informally and in absolute privacy. That is when they will open the bottle of brandy. The years are flowing by too swiftly now; they are not going to wait until there are only two of them.   They will fill the four remaining upturned goblets. And raise them in a toast to those who are gone.    Their 70th Anniversary Photo

Six Boys and 13 Hands

SIX BOYS AND 13 HANDS

 

Each year I am hired to go to Washington , DC , with the eighth grade class from Clinton , WI where I grew up, to videotape their trip. I greatly enjoy visiting our nation's capitol, and each year I take some special memories back with me. This fall's trip was especially memorable.  
             
      

 

On the last night of our trip, we stopped at the Iwo Jima memorial. This memorial is the largest
bronze statue in the world and depicts one of the most famous photographs in history -- that of the six brave soldiers raising the American Flag at the top of a rocky hill on the island of Iwo Jima, Japan, during WW II

 

 

Over one hundred students and chaperones piled off the buses and headed towards the memorial.  I noticed a solitary figure at the base of the statue, and as I got closer he asked, 'Where are you guys from?' 
                 
    I told him that we were from Wisconsin .. 'Hey, I'm a cheese head, too! Come gather around, Cheese  heads, and I will tell you a story.'

 

 

(It was James Bradley who just happened to be in Washington , DC , to speak at the memorial the following day. He was there that night to say good night to his dad, who had passed away. He was just about to leave when he saw the buses pull up. I videotaped him as he spoke to us, and received his permission to share what he said from my videotape. It is one thing to tour the incredible monuments filled with history in Washington , DC , but it is quite another to get the kind of insight we received that night.)

 

 

When all had gathered around, he reverently began to speak. (Here are his words that night.)

 

 

'My name is James Bradley and I'm from Antigo, Wisconsin . My dad is on that statue, and I wrote a book called 'Flags of Our Fathers'. It is the story of the six boys you see behind me. 
               

 

'Six boys raised the flag. The first guy putting the pole in the ground is Harlon Block. Harlon was an all-state football player. He enlisted in the Marine Corps with all the senior members of his football team.. They were off to play another type of game. A game called 'War.' But it didn't turn out to be a game. Harlon, at the age of 21, died with his intestines in his hands. I don't say that to gross you out, I say that because there are people who stand in front of this statue and talk about the glory of war. You guys need to know that most of the boys in Iwo Jima were 17, 18, and 19 years old  - and it was so hard that the ones who did make it home never even would talk to their families about it.

 

 

(He pointed to the statue) 'You see this next guy? That's Rene Gagnon from New Hampshire. If you took Rene's helmet off at the moment this photo was taken and looked in the webbing of that helmet, you would find a photograph...a photograph of his girlfriend Rene put that in there for protection because he was scared. He was 18 years old. It was just boys who won the battle of Iwo Jima.  Boys. Not old men.  
          

 

'The next guy here, the third guy in this tableau, was Sergeant Mike Strank. Mike is my hero. He was the hero of all these guys. They called him the 'old man' because he was so old. He was already 24. When Mike would motivate his boys in training camp, he didn't say, 'Let's go kill some Japanese' or 'Let's die for our country' He knew he was talking to little boys.. Instead he would say, 'You do what I say, and I'll get you home to your mothers.' 
               

 

'The last guy on this side of the statue is Ira Hayes, a Pima Indian from Arizona . Ira Hayes was one of them who lived to walk off Iwo Jima . He went into the White House with my dad. President Truman told him, 'You're a hero' He told reporters, 'How can I feel like a hero when 250 of my buddies hit the island with me and only 27 of us walked off alive?'

 

 

So you take your class at school, 250 of you spending a year together having fun, doing everything together. Then all 250 of you hit the beach, but only 27 of your classmates walk off alive. That was Ira Hayes. He had images of horror in his mind. Ira Hayes carried the pain home with him and eventually died dead drunk, face down, drowned in a very shallow puddle, at the age of 32 (ten years after this picture was taken).

 

 

'The next guy, going around the statue, is Franklin Sousley from Hilltop, Kentucky . A fun-lovin' hillbilly boy. His best friend, who is now 70, told me, 'Yeah, you know, we took two cows up on the porch of the Hilltop General Store.  Then we strung wire across the stairs so the cows couldn't get down. Then we fed them Epsom salts. Those cows crapped all night.' Yes, he was a fun-lovin' hillbilly boy. Franklin died on Iwo Jima at the age of 19. When the telegram came to tell his mother that he was dead, it went to the Hilltop General Store. A barefoot boy ran that telegram up to his mother's farm. The neighbors could hear her scream all night and into the morning. Those neighbors lived a quarter of a mile away.

 

 

'The next guy, as we continue to go around the statue, is my dad, John Bradley, from Antigo, Wisconsin , where I was raised. My dad lived until 1994, but he would never give interviews. When Walter Cronkite's producers or the New York Times would call, we were trained as little kids to say 'No, I'm sorry, sir, my dad's not here. He is in Canada fishing. No, there is no phone there, sir. No, we don't know when he is coming back.' My dad never fished or even went to Canada . Usually, he was sitting there right at the table eating his Campbell 's soup. But we had to tell the press that he was out fishing. He didn't want to talk to the press.

 

 

'You see, like Ira Hayes, my dad didn't see himself as a hero. Everyone thinks these guys are heroes,  'cause they are in a photo and on a monument. My dad knew better. He was a medic. John Bradley from Wisconsin was a combat caregiver. On Iwo Jima he probably held over 200 boys as they died. And when boys died on Iwo Jima , they writhed and screamed, without any medication or help with the pain.

 

 

'When I was a little boy, my third grade teacher told me that my dad was  a hero. When I went home and told my dad that, he looked at me  and said, 'I want you always to remember that the heroes of Iwo  Jima are the guys who did not come back. Did NOT come back.' 
               

 

'So that's the story about six nice young boys.. Three died on Iwo Jima , and three came back as national heroes. Overall, 7,000 boys died on Iwo Jima in the worst battle in the history of the Marine Corps. My voice is giving out, so I will  end here. Thank you for your time.'

 

 

Suddenly, the monument wasn't just a big old piece of metal with a flag sticking out of the top. It came to life before our eyes with the heartfelt words of a son who did indeed have a father who was a hero. Maybe not a hero for the reasons most people would believe, but a hero nonetheless.

 

 

Let us never forget from the Revolutionary War to the current War on Terrorism and all the wars in-between that sacrifice was made for our freedom...please pray for our troops.

 

 

Remember to pray praises for this great country of ours and also ...please pray for our troops still in murderous places around the world. 
               

 

 

REMINDER: Everyday that you can wake up free, it's going to be a great day.

 

 

One thing I learned while on tour with my 8th grade students in DC that is not mentioned here is, that if you look at the statue very closely and count the number of 'hands' raising the flag, there are 13. When the man who made the statue was asked why there were 13, he simply said the 13th hand was the hand of God.

 

Congratulations!!!!