This was worthy of sharing the grin… Grace Wyler over at Business Insider has shared some RNC Valentine’s Day cards to their pals and gals across the aisle. And since a picture is worth a thousand words, I’ll link a couple here, and suggest you head over to Business Insider to view the rest. Or head directly to the source – GOP Valentine – and send your liberal pal a belated personalized greeting. The link is at the bottom.

This is an amazing home display, located on Mossy Creek Lane in Southwood, Tallahassee, FL. Tonight is the last night any one can see this lighting tribute in person, but it will be forever archived on YouTube.

Since 1775, over 1.3 million American troops have made the ultimate sacrifice. Thank you and please visit SemperFiFund.org to help give back to those who protect our freedom.

A Big Thank you to everyone who voted and helped us win the Good Morning America Contest.

Now on iTunes! All Profits go to the Semper Fi Fund.
The America Patriots- God Bless The Usa and Armed Forces Medley

Thanks to Ford at Ford@fordproductions.com for doing all the music work and his wonderful wife for doing the voiceover.

This house can be seen on Mossy Creek Lane in Southwood, Tallahassee, FL from 6-10 on weeknights and until 11 Friday and Saturday night. Christmas night will be the last night.

’tis Christmas Day, and a time where we can all reflect on what is truly most important in our lives. Is it quality and quantity of gifts? Or the quality of family, loved ones and friends. Tho we all wish we had unlimited funds so we can lavish those we care about with presents, our economic times are requiring so many of us to make do with less. Perhaps this is a good thing, as it will focus more on the act of giving of oneself instead of the offering.

One young soldier in West Michigan, faced with hard times here at home, found himself making a different kind of sacrifice. He walked in to A-Z Outlet pawn shop to sell one of two Purple Hearts awarded to him for service in Afghanistan in order to make ends meet for Christmas.

The Purple Heart service medal

In a lit glass case, nestled between a sterling silver necklace and a black Citizen watch, sits a Purple Heart, an unfortunate souvenir of the war in Afghanistan.

It’s a reminder to all who walk by looking to buy an old treasure or collect a new one, that some things in life don’t have a price tag.

The medal, which was sold in November by a West Michigan man serving in the military, now sits in a case at A-Z Outlet, a pawn shop on North River Avenue owned by Bryan VandenBosch.
“He was falling on hard times,” VandenBosch said of the sale. “He said the same thing everybody else who comes in here says. He was short on funds.”

The pawn shop owner, Bryan VandenBosch, has seen just about everything come thru his doors in his 19 years of business… but never a Purple Heart. Mr. VandenBosch will not be selling that medal.

VandenBosch said he’s not sure if the gentleman will ever come back to retrieve his award, but in the meantime, no one else will ever have it in their hands.

“I won’t ever sell it. If he ever decides he wants it, it will be here waiting for him.”

Merry Christmas, Mr. VandenBosch… and thank you for honoring that soldier’s sacrifice by holding it for him. Perhaps if someone is looking for a wonderful gift to give, and the means to do so, they can contact Mr. VanderBosch and see if they can help that medal find it’s way back into that soldier’s hands.

UPDATE Dec 27th, 2011: I had this post ready to go a couple of days before Christmas… so now an end to the story. From the time the Purple Heart news hit the Holland Sentinel on Monday, Dec 19th edition, the story went viral across America. It wormed it’s way to CNN, and then websites like Flopping Aces. Pawn shop owner, Bryan VandenBosche was inundated with phone calls and offers to pay the loan so the medal could be returned to the soldier at no cost. In an op-ed on Christmas Day, the Holland Sentinel let us know that the shop owner returned the medal to the soldier on Friday, the day before Christmas Eve, at no cost to the veteran.

VandenBosch, who found himself having to take his shop’s phone off the hook, refused to give details except only to say he did not take money from anyone for the medal. As to the specifics, he honors the privacy of clientele for their reasoning in pawning personal items… saying “I don’t ask people why they need money or what they’ll do with it when they come in. They want to be able to take care of themselves.”

The Sentinel’s Christmas Day op-ed reflected on the outpouring of offers to help from the nation. The verbiage was somewhat stunning, as the “editorial board” author couldn’t seem to resist a tinge of politics, and genuinely seemed to be left, proverbially scratching his/her head, as to why so many would race to the aid of a stranger without knowing the full story and details. Especially for an item they labeled as something of paltry monetary value.

Many offers came to The Sentinel as well. “As a three-time wounded Vietnam Veteran that comes as no surprise. I would still like to make a contribution to the veteran’s family … ,” said an e-mail from a man in Santa Maria, Calif. “As a vet myself, it is hard for me to not feel deeply for this veteran that shed blood for this country, and yet is in such a position that his was force to pawn a medal that he honorabl(y) earned … ,” read another.

It’s interesting that the story of the pawned Purple Heart struck such a chord when so few facts are known for sure. The serviceman declined a request for an interview. We don’t know if he is in dire financial straits or temporarily short on cash, like a lot of people. Even if he were desperate, he couldn’t have gotten much for pawning the medal — anyone can buy a Purple Heart online for $35. But while a Purple Heart doesn’t have much intrinsic value, it’s considered symbolically priceless, so a service member giving it up voluntarily would seem to be a rare act.

Regardless of the unknowns, the narrative of the “down-on-his-luck” serviceman pawning a medal correlates with the national concerns about the difficulties veterans are facing in today’s tough economy — the unemployment rate for veterans 20-24 years old is nearly 30 percent, it’s reported.

Stories of people in need abound at this time of year, but stories about veterans draw particular concern. Perhaps this heightened attention is due to an awareness that in 21st century America, where we fight wars with an all-volunteer military and no tax increases or other home-front sacrifices, a very small segment of society is paying the cost for our overseas engagements. Occupy Wall Street protesters rail at the “1 percent” — the super-rich of America. But there’s another 1 percent out there — the service members and their families who are bearing virtually the entire burden for the war in Afghanistan and the recently concluded conflict in Iraq. Amid the legitimate appreciation for the efforts of our service members, when those of us in the other 99 percent read stories about pawned military medals, we rightly feel a little guilt too about the disparity between our comfort and their sacrifice.

Perhaps the Holland Sentinel is new to the generous Americans who honor their warriors. Maybe they’ve been watching those in the infestant protest camps so long that the forget just who the really 99% is, and how they feel about those who serve. I’m bothered that they decided to place a low value on the medal, and allude to the idea that if it was so little cash, how desperate could he be? We don’t know, nor is it our business. But the $35 could keep the electric on, or buy a Christmas dinner in that moment. The reasons for pawning the medal are the soldier’s own, and remain none of our business.

But I’m proud that I live in a nation who, when hearing of this story, did pick up the phone to see what they could do… even if they had very little themselves. Aside from the return of the medal, that nation’s response must have been a heartwarming Christmas gift for that soldier indeed. END UPDATE

With troops returning from Iraq, and more still in Afghanistan, waiting for their time to return to family and friends here in the states, they will already have their demons with which to contend – reliving memories of brutal warfare with an enemy who has no sense of honor. Yet when they have finished their service to country, they will come to a new battle in the homeland – that of financial survival in an economy that is extremely tough for so many.

My heart goes out to them, and I particularly wish our soldiers and military families a Christmas filled with the blessings of love and joy, and hopes that they will face this battle with the same valor they did overseas. May the angels always watch over you and yours.

This Christmas, there’s another shout out of note I’d like to make.. and that is of our very own FA author, Scott Malenski. When Scott and his family faced tough times, and watched their Ohio community deteriorate into a collection of vacancy signs, Scott went into action…. turning a negative into a positive. Scott started up The Stew Pot Kitchen, where those who really need good food, but can rarely afford it, can pick up a hot meal at Scott’s for not much more than it takes to feed a parking meter downtown.

Scott isn’t on the path to becoming Emeril, or even a wealthy man. That was never his goal. It was his way to make sure that his community members thrived, never gave up hope, and had something warm in the belly. I’m very proud of you, my friend Scott, as I’m sure the rest of us here at FA are. You’ve shown us the true spirit of Christmas isn’t a once a year event.

To all our FA friends, their families and communities, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and a New Year prosperous in all the things that count the most… shelter, warmth, love, joy and family.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here is to hoping that all our readers and their families have a very Merry Christmas. Keep your thoughts and prayers with our heroes serving overseas in defense of this great country.

Merry Christmas all!

“Vice President Joe Biden just mailed his family Christmas card which is signed with his dog Champ’s paw print. The weird thing is, Biden actually does that with all his important documents.” –Jimmy Fallon

“President Obama celebrated Hanukkah at the White House last night. He lit the menorah, and then Vice President Joe Biden came in sang happy birthday, and blew out all of the candles.” –Jay Leno

“The White House already had its annual Hanukkah reception. Yeah, first Obama lit a menorah. Then Biden made a wish and blew it out.” –Jimmy Fallon

“As they do every year, al-Qaida has threatened to disrupt and ruin Christmas. You know, we already have a group that disrupts and ruins Christmas every year. They’re called relatives.” –Jay Leno

Source

You know that just before that first Thanksgiving dinner there was one wise, old Native American woman saying, “Don’t feed them. If you feed them, they’ll never leave.”–Dylan Brody

Thanksgiving, when the Indians said, “Well, this has been fun, but we know you have a long voyage back to England.”–Jay Leno

While visiting his niece on Thanksgiving Day, an elderly man was shocked when the young college girl apparently was having a stroke. Her uncle drove wildly to get her to the emergency room.

After what seemed like a very long wait, the E.R. doctor appeared, wearing his scrubs and a long face.

Sadly, he said, “I’m afraid that your niece’s brain is dead, but her
heart is still beating.”

“Oh, dear,” cried the elderly man, his hands clasped against his cheeks with shock. “We’ve never had a Democrat in the family before!”

And here’s one that you’ve probably received in an email forward before:

I recently asked my friend’s little girl what she wanted to be when she grows up. She said that she wanted to be President of the United States. Both of her parents, liberal Democrats, were standing there. So I asked her, “If you were President, what would be the first thing you would do?” She replied, “I’d give food and houses to all of the homeless people.”

Her parents proudly beamed. “Wow…what a worthy goal,” I
told her. “But you don’t have to wait until you’re President to do that.
Tell you what – you can come over to my house and mow the lawn, pull weeds,
and sweep my driveway, and I’ll pay you $50. Then I’ll take you over to the
grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him the $50
to use toward food and a new house. How about doing something wonderful like that?”

She thought that over for a few seconds. Then she looked at me
and asked, “Why doesn’t the homeless guy come over, do
the work and you can just pay him the $50?”

I said, “Welcome to the Republican Party.”

Her parents are still not speaking to me.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Henry Schuster:

It’s only natural to think in terms of us v them. Right now, in the public discourse, it seems to be all about the wealthiest one percent and the rest of us – the 99 percent.

However, after covering the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq for the last ten years – including numerous trips to the war zones and to military communities here at home — I’ve learned there’s another one percent, who I call the real one percent. They are the men and women who fight our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (not to mention Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Libya) and their families. The rest of us are the 99 percent.

We lend our moral support to the one percent. We cheer the veterans when their names are announced at ball games. Maybe we even have ribbons of various colors on our car. We say the obligatory ‘thank you for your service,’ and I believe we mean it. But we don’t really understand what that service really means for these members of the military.

We don’t understand that the cost of war doesn’t end when the troops come home, but is instead often paid out over the years.

This is our real great divide in this country. It is in part the consequence of an all-volunteer military. It is also in part the consequence of fighting wars without involving the rest of us. We weren’t asked to sacrifice after 9/11 or pay for the wars that followed. Imagine the reaction if we had a war tax. Or if there had been a draft. Instead, we’ve got the few fighting for the many and they do it at great cost to themselves and their families.

WaPo:

The Occupy Wall Street movement slogan “We are the 99 percent” is ironic to many of those who are serving, or have served, in Afghanistan or Iraq. Our servicemen and women are not the 1 percent of Americans whom OWS condemns. Rather, this 1 percent goes ignored by the self-proclaimed 99 percent in Zuccotti Park, as well as by those looking down on the protesters from their offices at Goldman Sachs or Citibank. And it is not lost on those fighting in Afghanistan that it was bank accounts, not an interest in or concern for those patrolling Kandahar, that motivated the protesters to take to the streets in cities across America.

The 1 percent who volunteered to serve in the armed forces, and their families, are about the only Americans left who closely follow events in places such as Helmand and Kabul. Most thoughtful Americans could instantly tell you who is pushing for a “9-9-9” tax plan, but ask them to name the commanding general of more than 100,000 troops in Afghanistan and they would not have a clue. (The answer is Gen. John Allen.) Many well-meaning people who debate tax rates and mortgage foreclosures are unaware of a young Army Ranger sergeant named Kristoffer Domeij, who left behind a wife and two children when he was killed last month on his 14th deployment to combat.

The public apathy that has long characterized our involvement in this war is obviously, in large part, the result of an all-volunteer military force that has left the 99 percent blissfully unaware of the daily triumphs and tragedies that mark the lives of many of their fellow citizens a world away.

~~~

Back in 2005, not even halfway into our decade of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, my grandfather, a World War II veteran, sometimes used to scan the headlines of his newspaper, toss it aside in disgust, and complain loudly, “Don’t they know there’s a war on?” Sadly, the answer now is the same as it was then. Some Americans will, in fact, pause this Veterans Day to reflect on the sacrifices made by the United States’ latest generation of veterans. And that is a good thing. But, come Monday, as the opening bell ushers in a new day on Wall Street, U.S. soldiers heading out on patrol will once again be the furthest thing from many minds.

Happy Veterans Day to all those who currently serve and to those who have served, from one of the 99%ers: Thank you for your service. You men and women will always Occupy Honor and Respect.

This is a video I put together last year with permission from James Hooker, the songwriter. I think it’s still valid for 2011:

Click here to view the embedded video.

When this day rolls around annually, it’s difficult to pick a single unit, battle or warrior to honor. And despite all attempts, the story is only fractionally told. Truly all Veterans, from all wars, are to be honored, respected and given heartfelt thanks for their contributions to our freedoms. But this year I decided to zero in on Patton’s Tiger’s Division, serving in his Third Army, and single out only one of their remarkable accomplishments…Combat Command B’s Herculean efforts in WWII’s Siege of Bastogne in the war’s largest, and bloodiest, battle – the Ardennes-Alsace campaign. Or as it is more commonly known… the Battle of the Bulge.

Before I do narrow the focus to just the 10th, let me start with a brief overview of just some of the days, in one segment of the world, of the largest US involved land conflict that was crucial to Allied success. The nickname, Battle of the Bulge, came from the growing westward shape of the Allied forces advance towards Germany following the D-Day assault. More than a million men fought in that battle — 600,000 Germans, 500,000 Americans, and 55,000 British. American casualties over the approx 45 day siege, from mid Dec 1944 to the end of Jan 1945, stand at 19,000 with over 89,000 wounded. Two regiments of the 106th Infantry Division, cut off and surrounded in the mountain tops of Schnee Eiffel, surrendered after only brief fighting – make it the largest battlefield surrender of U.S. troops in the war.

The success of D-Day’s landing, and the ensuing Allied advance, also created a new strategic supply difficulty for the troops. There was a dearth of deepwater ports for supply routes in the initial months following the landings. Cherbourg, the only port under Allied control early on was virtually unusable since the Germans had destroyed the facilities and mined the harbor prior to Allied seizure. This meant vital supply lines to fatigued troops, spread thin in the battlefield, were mostly dependent upon the Normandy beach landing sites. The Allied capture of Antwerp a month after D-Day still did not become functionally operational until almost the beginning of December, 1944.

Eisenhower took command of the Ardennes area to guard the Antwerp supply line, and considered it an area that required minimal manpower in a war that was crunched for troops. The terrain was difficult, roads scarce, and it was in a region that the German’s only objective seemed to be some rest and refitting of troops.

Hitler, suffering setbacks on both the eastern front with the Soviets, and the western front with the US/British allies, was desperate to neutralize the western front… something he saw as more feasible than confronting the sheer numbers of the Soviets with his dwindling troops and equipment. He also underestimated the American’s determination in warfare, as he would soon learn.

Opting for one of two plans, Hitler designed his blitzkrieg for the Battle of the Bulge. The objective was to split the US and British troops, negotiate surrenders/truces outside of the Soviets, and recapture Antwerp. Trying to piggy back on his success in 1940 with France in the Ardennes, Hitler settled on a plan in the same region that was to prove his undoing.. but at great cost to American and British forces.

Four of Hitler’s SS Panzer armies were tasked with assaults. The northernmost tact was entrusted with the offensive’s primary objective, Antwerp. The middle route, assigned to the 5th Panzer army, was going for Brussels… but not before capturing Bastogne – the town where all major roads from the Ardennes intersected. The southernmost track was assigned to the 7th Panzer army to protect the flank.

Hitler’s plan required stealth, and Panzer movements under the cover of night to avoid being spotted by the Allied forces. Human intel was scant since the French Resistance network dried up this close to German borders. Also integral for Hitler’s plan was poor weather conditions that would ground the Allied forces superior aircraft. Since this was a region not on the Allied forces radar as a German objective, and these areas were less than optimal fighting terrain, the Allied forces were caught unaware of the assault… exactly what Hitler wanted them to think.

On the 16th of December, Hitler launched his attack first in the north with the 6th Panzer Army … a battle that the Americans erroneously assumed was a localized counter attack to the dent US forces had made in the Wahlerscheid sector to the north. Three days later, December 19th, Eisenhower knew this was part of something larger.. and he called senior Allied commanders – including Patton – together in a Verdun bunker for strategic counteroffensive planning.

According to the Patton Saber, part of the archives of General George Patton – the General was a surprised as everyone else at the scale of the assault… perhaps more because he did not have the access to the intel available to higher headquarters. General Omar Bradley’s initial order that Patton send his 10th Armored division north was not received well… until Patton recognized this was a completely new aspect to the war.

So even before the bunker conference, Patton was a step ahead, and had already set into motion a rapid relief response by his treasured division. By the 17th of December, Patton had already started the 10th’s Combat Command B forces towards Bastogne. When Ike asked Patton how long it would take to divert his forces to face the Panzer units, he was stunned when Patton told him within two days. It took less than that, since the Tigers Combat Command B unit’s Sherman’s commenced rollling into Bastogne, under the command of Col. William L. Roberts, the evening before.

Before leaving his headquarters for Verdun that morning, Patton had viewed the entire front and had foreseen what would be the outcome of the meeting – or at least one of three possibilities. Before climbing into his jeep he gave his chief of staff, General Hobart Gay, three possibilities, each with a codeword. When the decision was made – Patton was sure that it would be one of his alternatives – he would merely have to pass that codeword to Gay, and the machinery at Third Army could begin to function.

The meeting that morning was monopolized by the two old friends, Patton and Eisenhower. Once Ike had announced his decision to turn Patton’s Third Army northward toward Bastogne, deferring his attack in the Saar, the two men discussed the strength and the timing of the attack. Patton was a bit more optimistic than Ike, but they settled on a three-division attack to be executed in three days from Arlon toward the beleaguered town of Bastogne. Once they had agreed, Patton excused himself form the meeting, went to the telephone, and gave his codeword to his chief of staff. The Third Army was on the move.

Patton did not have to rely completely on his staff. Turning an army in a right angle direction was a difficult move – plans for road nets, supply depots and, above all, communications had to be changed. But Patton had these matters straight in his own mind. He dictated his instructions as he bounced along in his jeep.

At the time of Hitler’s initial assault, Bastogne and the surrounding region was being defended by the 28th Infantry Division, the VIII corps, under the command of Lt. General Troy Middleton, also in Patton’s Third Army. When Hitler launched his attack, the The 106th Division, located in the most exposed positions along the corps line, along with 28th Division, took the brunt of the attack From the Wiki version of Middleton’s Battle of the Bulge siege:

While two of the 28th Division’s regiments survived the German onslaught intact, the 110th Regiment, commanded by Colonel Hurley Fuller, was directly in the path of the massive advance. On 17 December Fuller counterattacked, but his lone regiment was up against three German divisions, and when Fuller’s command post was attacked his escape was thwarted and he was taken prisoner. Middleton next heard from him in April when he was released. Though the 110th Regiment was shattered, the stubborn resistance given by them and other VIII Corps units greatly slowed down the German timetable.

Middleton and his battle weary troops were supposed to leave Bastogne on the 18th of December. But he stayed behind to brief the new replacement commanders, Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe of the 101st Airborne, and Col. Roberts of the 10th’s Tiger Division. Patton’s CCB troops arrived first, pouring thru the city thru the night. The last standing order Middleton gave to Airborne’s McAuliffe on the morning of the 19th was to “Hold Bastogne”.

By noon of the 19th, the 28th Division had moved it’s command post to Wiltz, a small village to the southeast. They were overwhelmed with the Panzer assault, and retreated back to the city, blowing up a bridge behind them. Despite the fact they were spread so thinly, and easily bypassed, their valiant resistance – along with the bad weather hindering German progress on the ground – slowed the German advance in the south towards Bastogne.

It was the troops of the CCB of the 10th who alone defended the next eight hours holding the 5th Panzer Army’s march to the west at bay until 101′s Airborne reinforcement arrived later. For the first time since the assault began, Hitle’s 5th Panzer Army was stopped in it’s tracks at Bastogne. As more reinforcements started heading to the area, the Panzer corps decided to surround Bastogne from the south and southwest while the American focused their limited combat resources in the north and east. By noon on the 21st, all Airborne and Infantry forces were surrounded by the Panzer armies.

According to the far more complete and complex story of the Siege of Bastogne from Hugh M. Cole’s book, “The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge” published early circa 60s, prior to the 20th, McAuliffe (Airborne) and Roberts (10th Tigers Division) commanded independently. But as of that day, Middleton gave McAuliffe “the say” in superior commend. But Robert’s presence and prior history would prove invaluable.

Early in the war he had been the armored instructor at the Army Command and General Staff School, where his humorously illustrated “Do’s” and “Don’ts” of tank warfare showed a keen appreciation of the problems posed by armor and infantry cooperation. The paratroopers were in particular need of this advice for they seldom worked with armor, knew little of its capability, and even less of its limitations, and-as befitted troops who jumped into thin air-were a little contemptuous of men who fought behind plate steel. (During the Bastogne battle Roberts developed a formal memorandum on the proper employment of armor, but this was not distributed to the 101st until 28 December.) On the other hand the tankers had much to learn from commanders and troops who were used to fighting “surrounded.”

The 101st had suffered a severe loss the evening before with a German raid. Only eight officers and 44 men escaped, and the loss of doctors, aid men, and medical supplies was one of the most severe blows dealt the 101st. McAuliffe knew he was isolated, and had not made contingency plans for airlifted supplies.

It was about this time that McAuliffe’s infamous line as a response to the Nazi’s demand for surrender was delivered:

What may have been the biggest morale booster came with a reverse twist-the enemy “ultimatum.” About noon four Germans under a white flag entered the lines of the 2d Battalion, 327th. The terms of the announcement they carried were simple: “the honorable surrender of the encircled town,” this to be accomplished in two hours on threat of “annihilation” by the massed fires of the German artillery.

~~~

Excerpt from Wiki version
When General Anthony McAuliffe, acting commander of the 101st, was told of the Nazi demand to surrender, a frustrated McAuliffe responded “Nuts!” After turning to other pressing issues, his staff reminded him that they should reply to the German demand. One officer (Harry Kinnard, then a Lieutenant Colonel) recommended that McAuliffe’s initial reply would be “tough to beat.” Thus McAuliffe wrote on the paper, which was typed up and delivered to the Germans the line he made famous and a morale booster to his troops: “NUTS!”[75] That reply had to be explained, both to the Germans and to non-American Allies.[notes 3]

~~~

The rest of the story has become legend: how General McAuliffe disdainfully answered “Nuts!”; and how Colonel Harper, commander of the 327th, hard pressed to translate the idiom, compromised on “Go to Hell!” The ultimatum had been signed rather ambiguously by “The German Commander,” and none of the German generals then in the Bastogne sector seem to have been anxious to claim authorship.14 Lt. Col. Paul A Danahy, G-2 of the 101st, saw to it that the story was circulated-and appropriately embellished-in the daily periodic report: “The Commanding General’s answer was, with a sarcastic air of humorous tolerance, emphatically negative.” Nonetheless the 101st expected that the coming day-the 23d-would be rough.

Needless to say, Hitler’s notion that a sound defeat would deter American warriors bore no resemblance to reality.

Renee LaMaire - Angel of Bastogne

The Americans, refusing to surrender and still far from being well supplied, fought the the battles on Christmas Day. Due to weather, supplies would not arrive until a day later… gifted also with the arrival of Company D, 1st Battalion, 37th Armor Regiment of the 4th Armored Division, reached Bastogne, officially ending the siege of Bastogne.

Patton awards DSC to McAuliffe

At the conclusion of the Battle of the Bulge, the 10th Armored Division’s, 21st Tank Battalion and Combat Command B were awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for their extraordinary heroism from 17 to 27 December 1944… along with the 101st Airborne division. But the price was great…

The 101st Airborne Division suffered battle casualties numbering 105 officers and 1,536 men. CCB of the 10th Armored Division had approximately 25 officers and 478 men as battle casualties. There is no means of numbering the killed, wounded, and missing in the miscellany of unrecorded tankers, gunners, infantry, and others who shared in the defense of Bastogne. Nor can any casualty roster now be compiled of those units which fought east of Bastogne prior to 19 December and gave the 101st Airborne Division the time and the tactical opportunity to array itself in the defense of that town.

Tho it was McAuliffe’s command in the Siege of Bastogne, years later he would lavish praise on the 10th Tiger Division, saying:

“In my opinion, Combat Command B of the 10th Armored Division was never properly credited with their important role in the Bastogne battle.”

The “last reunion” of the Tiger soldiers was in 2006. At that time, the 10th Armored Division historian, Klaus Feindler, assembled and presented an honor roll of all division members killed in European Theater Operations. In the Tiger’s 124 days of combat, they participated in campaigns in Ardennes, Rhineland and Central Europe, taking a total of 43,208 prisoners of war. Tentative statistics put their division at 710 killed, 3400 wounded, 586 missing, and one captured.

Last month, veterans of the 10th Armored Division and their families returned to Bastogne for a MilSpec pilgrimage tour. It must have been a bitter sweet experience. Perhaps the 2008 pilgrimage of the son of Tiger soldier, CWO Howard S. Liddic, Service Company, 21st Tank Battalion, 10th Armored Division, gives us a glimpse to life in Bastogne today, thanks to those American soldiers. These are the memories of his own visit, as posted on the Tigersblog: McAuliffe Square, and portraits of the General in the local Bastogne establishments reveals a town in a foreign nation who, even 67 years later, still honors what those Americans who helped preserve their own freedoms. And perhaps there is no higher honor for serving than seeing those who value what was fought, and preserved, by others in their service.

As always, my utmost respect and endearing thanks to our veterans. May we remember them not only today, but every day.

Thursday Oct 27 2011

According to USA Today, 74 percent of Americans plan to hand out candy this Halloween. Although President Obama thinks it should be just the top 1 percent. -Jay Leno

Trick-or-treating is expected to climb for the 10th straight year. Kids still love the candy, they just hate the walking. -Jay Leno

I hate having to find a Halloween costume. They turn these abandoned blockbuster video stores into Halloween costume cities. And the costumes are all stupid. And the employees in the store do not care because they know they’re fired on Nov. 1. -Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Source

This is the latest popular image that seems to be making its rounds amongst my liberal friends on Facebook…

Conquests and Cultures:

Another cliché among the American chattering class is that the European discovery of the Western hemisphere was an unmitigated disaster for the native peoples. Columbus Day is now an occasion for mourning and self-flagellation. But, Sowell points out, there were benefits as well as costs. Diseases that ravaged the natives were spread by whites—ruthless conquistador and benevolent missionary alike—but so was the ability to combat all disease. Liquor led to much drunkenness, but European manufactured goods, such as cloth, were superior to the products the Indians could produce themselves, and they gladly traded to get them. There certainly was inexcusable brutality against the Indians, but, given the degree of brutality that had existed among Indians for centuries, establishing the Western idea of the rule of law undoubtedly reduced the prevalence of violence in the long run.

The fact that cultural contact gave some benefits to the Indians is no justification for forced resettlements, reneging on treaties, or massacres. Sowell makes no such argument. He merely observes that history is a very mixed bag of causes and effects.

It’s no longer politically correct, and hasn’t been for decades, but…Happy Columbus Day!

In fairness, Columbus was an exceptional sailor and entrepreneur who was obsessed, as so many were at the time, with finding a quicker and more cost-effective route from Europe to China and India. He bumped into America because it was in the way.

So Columbus’ motivation was self-interest. He did not explore to improve humanity, but he didn’t do it to inflict catastrophe either.

I’m not even sure why we celebrate/recognize Columbus Day at all since it only peripherally has anything at all remotely to do with North America…