Category Archives: military history
It was seven decades ago when the paradise island of O’ahu turned into hell, assailed by a surprise attack from the Imperial Japanese Navy. Today, the Department of Veteran Affairs estimates we are losing the WWII generation of military at a rate of approximate 1000 per day. Out of the 16 million that served, only about 2.5 million still grace us with their presence. Those who can say they survived Pearl Harbor’s attack number only around 8000.
It’s taken some time for survivors of that war, and this battle, to open up and speak of their experiences. Most say they had a war to fight, and they just tried to put the experience of this attack behind them. Others may have found the trauma to much to relive. But now they speak more freely, fearing future generations may not remember and that part of history will be lost. Continue reading
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. Continue reading
I had a Labrador and my best buddy Knarley Manners had a Chesapeake. The dogs were given to us by people in town, people who found that big dogs make a big mess in small backyards. That was fine by us, we usually had stock dogs and dogs for lion and bear, these bird dogs were exotics to us and really special. There was only one problem; we weren’t bird hunters. Oh sure, we shot prairie chickens (grouse and ptarmigan) for dinner out in the bush, but that was always with a pistol or a 22 and not all that sporting. Head shots at thirty feet or less was the rule, but the skills for shooting ducks and geese had eluded us. Why hunt ducks and geese when you can hunt moose and elk?
Now that we had dogs, we needed to learn how to hunt waterfowl. We made plans, oh how we made plans for weeks and months we made plans; the sort of plans that 13 year old boys make when they are hiding an expedition from their dads.
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After the propaganda effort by the MSM to elect the empty suit called Obama, everyone is extremely suspicious of efforts to promote this man of no accomplishment. Thus when the White House gave Sony (a company that just hosted another fund raiser for the eternal campaigner) the supposed top secret details of the mission to assassinate Osama, the paranoia strikes deep; but seriously, is this president that ignorant to publicize top secret data on the wide screen to the world? I don’t think so
There is paranoia over Sony’s movie on Bin Laden; I am not sure it is worthy of our attention. Scheduled to be released a month before the presidential election, Conservatives are convinced it will be an attempt to cast Obama in a commander of commandos type role who couldn’t have been closer unless he was in the chopper and Liberals are hoping against common sense that it will portray the president in a positive light and it will make the American public forget the failures of the past.
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Arleen Ocascio, director of the VA cemetery in Houston, has decided to take the Marxist Revolution a step further and has decreed that there will be no references to God or Jesus and that all ceremonies must be written and submitted to her for pre-approval. Obviously, this low level bureaucrat has decided Obama’s Revolution is stalled and she must pick up the standard and impose her will on the veterans who come to the cemetery to bury their loved ones. Continue reading
D-Day isn’t one of those dates most Americans remember easily. It’s not associated with bank holidays, BBQs, parades or other high profile celebrations. There’s no Hallmark cards and socially mandated gifts for spouses and lovers associated with the day. It’s not even a date in history that is marked with any specific, large scale memorials or tributes. Most occasions, it slips quietly by, virtually unnoticed, save for a few token stories…. like this one… and brief mentions in between the tabloid news we’re spoon fed and hyped up on these days.
But June 6, 1944 was not one of those days that would so quietly slip by. On this day, the Allied forces crossed the English channel to storm five beach heads along the French Normandy coast. The US forces landed at Utah and Omaha, while the Canadians and British attacked attacked Sword, Juno and Gold beaches. But it was not just the beaches that were a’buzz with allied activity.
It is painful to say, but so many of us don’t understand the difference between ‘Intelligence’ and ‘Mis-Information’. This article will illustrate several factors that escape our consciousness of thought; unfortunately, most of us are victims of mis-information. I served in counterterrorism and counterintelligence for 27 years. Most people think because they have served in the military or in the government they actually have a true grasp of what is actually happening; nothing could be further from the truth!
As we mark Memorial Day this year, let us reflect on why we set aside one day to show our gratitude to the brave men and women who have sacrificed so much to preserve our freedoms and the American way of life. United States soldiers have gone into battle in each and every corner of the world to meet the call and pay the price for freedom. Every since our great country was founded, we have enjoyed a unique place in the world. For our country is markedly different in that we are, as Ronald Reagan in his first Inaugural Address in 1981 said, “….a nation that has a government-not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the Earth.” Continue reading
“Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the Medal of Honor didn’t exist because there were no wars and we could all live in peace?’’-Paul J. Wiedorfer, WWII Medal of Honor Recipient, passed away May 25, 2011
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Who is this Obama, who asks us to accept both his ethnocentric Narcissism and his anti-Semitic vision, a vision tempered by hatred and honed with prejudice. He stands invincible, a knight in silk suits; a legend in his own mind who knows no defeat or wrong decisions.
“There is a wisdom that is woe; but there is a woe that is madness. And there is a Catskill eagle in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces. And even if he for ever flies within the gorge, that gorge is in the mountains; so that even in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than other birds upon the plain, even though they soar.”
- Moby Dick, Herman Melville
On an international stage, our President manipulates the truth with such audacity and imprecision, without challenge or ridicule, that even rational literate men can begin to question their own logic.
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