When in doubt, always, always go back to the basics.
God bless America, the last and best supporter of freedom on the planet and, as always, an experiment in progress.
Today’s government, unfortunately, confiscates your rights and then sells them back to you via taxes and blood. The greatest threat to this country and its American Taxpayer is not Islam or Right Wing radicals and soldiers — as the federal government would have you believe. It is that government itself.
The Greatest Generation is almost entirely gone. As Tom Brokaw wrote, “it is, I believe, the greatest generation any society has ever produced.”[2] He argued that these men and women fought not for fame and recognition, but because it was the “right thing to do”. When they came back they rebuilt America into a superpower.
My father passed away in 2009, at the age of 88. He flew aircraft in WWII for the US Army Air Corps, the US Army Air Forces, was an instructor pilot in bombers, and retired a full Colonel. He served in the Pentagon and at Wright Patterson AF base, Roswell NM, Mather AFB in WWII, the 8th AF flying B-17Gs, and retired from McClellan AFB.
He was proud of having served in the Air Force, but would not willingly speak of what occurred in WWII. This was the humility and the quiet honor of those men who served and survived. And that is the cover my father wore as a USAF Colonel, at the top of the post, sitting on my desk adjacent the computer as I write this. Clouds and thunderbolts.
Dad and BZ
These men of The Greatest Generation fought under circumstances and with equipment that would now be considered barbaric, cruel, primitive and guaranteed of a certain death. Yet they persevered as their brothers were cut down in wide swaths. They were young, one might say idealistic, and each one knew in his heart that others would die — but not them. It was a false premise but it kept them going in the face of terrible odds.
Of the 80 original Doolittle Raiders, for example, only four remain. There will be, literally, a final toast for these men.
On this Memorial Day, 2013, please allow me to focus on those who won the Second World War and kept the entire planet safe for, at least temporarily, a succeeding generation. Because there are so damned few remaining.
This April, the final four Doolittle Raiders were scheduled to meet in Fort Arbor, Florida. Only three of them attended. But, 71 years later, their cognac will be opened.
Crowds line up to meet Doolittle’s Raiders for last time
(CBS News) FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. — It’s easy to spot Doolittle’s Raiders. They’re the guys in the white hats. Take a good look at Edward Saylor, David Thatcher and Richard Cole. This is the last time you’ll see them together.
“If you didn’t decide to wind it down, you might end up having to plan a reunion and so forth and end up with no people,” Cole says, when asked why they decided to stop participating in public reunions.
They’re all in their 90s now, but in the darkest days of World War II, they were daring young men who launched the first American attack on Tokyo, flying B-25 bombers that were never meant to take off from an aircraft carrier.
It’s been 71 years.
“We thought they’d forget about it by now,” Cole says.
Not a chance. The line for autographs at a museum in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., was over an hour long. Paul and Danna Fleming, of Maryland, took their children out of school to see them.
“Drove straight through, 16 hours straight to get here for today,” Danna says. “We drove all night,” adds Paul.
I say: as well you should. These men struck the very first blow against Japan immediately following the Japanese attack upon Pearl Harbor on December 7th of 1941, though America, at that time, possessed such a minimal chance of overcoming the might of the Japanese War Machine.
What you may not know: each Raider realized that, logistically, they would never be able to return to their carrier, the USS Hornet. They would have to hit Tokyo and hope for some kind of safe landing in China. On the day of the raid, however, they were told that, worse, the Japanese knew of the plan and — because of this — the raid would be launched from a point much farther from Tokyo. As a result, their B-25 Mitchells now carried insufficient fuel to guarantee anything resembling a safe landing anywhere. These men — volunteers — had no hesitation: they vowed to continue the raid with unanimity. This then became, in essence, an unspoken suicide attack.
The Doolittle Raiders have a tradition. 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. However, in 1959, the city of Tucson, AZ presented the Raiders with a set of 80 silver goblets, each engraved with the name of an individual Doolittle Raider.
Every year a wooden display case bearing all 80 goblets is transported to the city of the Doolittle Reunion and, each time a Raider passes away, his goblet is turned upside down.
Contained within this case is one bottle, a marque of 1896 Hennessy Very Special Cognac. 1896 is the year that Lt Col Jimmy Doolittle was born.
The plan: when only two Raiders are left, they are to open the bottle and toast the comrades who preceded them in death.
At the beginning of this year, 2013, there were still five living Raiders. In February, Tom Griffin passed away at age 96. He did this: after bailing out of his plane over a mountainous Chinese forest following the Tokyo raid — which did little actual damage — he contracted malaria, recovered, and was sent to Europe to fly more combat missions. He was shot down, captured, and spent 22 months in a German POW camp.
Further, here’s the kind of man he was:
When his wife became ill and required a skilled nursing facility, Mr Griffin visited her every day, walking from his house to the home itself. He fed his wife and brought home her clothes each day, washing and ironing them. He would walk back and return them the next morning. He did this for three years until her death in 2005.
Only four Raiders remain living: Dick Cole (who could not make the Florida reunion), Doolittle’s co-pilot, Robert Hite, Edward Saylor and David Thatcher — all in their 90s.
They decided there are too few of them remaining to warrant any further public reunions and that, at a later date this year, they will get together privately and open that bottle of Hennessy. The four remaining upright goblets will be filled with an 1896 cognac.
In a final toast to those who dared, and to those who are gone.
God bless America.
The best and last hope of the entire planet.
BZ
P.S.
Many years ago, when I was much younger, I can remember my father saying he met Jimmy Stewart and drank with him at Mather AFB. He also said that he saw numerous B-25s in Sacramento at McClellan AFB practicing short field take-offs in the early 1940s.
I believe he saw the Doolittle Raiders.
He said he liked Jimmy Stewart and that he wasn’t arrogant. And that he drove him back to the barracks.
Col Richard Lee Alley, USAF 1920 – 2009 WWII, Vietnam
I’ve written and re-written this post five times now.
There’s so much going on these days and this week.
First to my mind: the wretched and twisted immolation (with much hope) of Christopher Dorner, nothing more than a narcissist who happens to have been black. Get in line, Dorner, as you queue up in Hell. The lines are lengthy and the heat unbearable. Get used to it, sir, because you placed yourself there, and no one else. My guess is that you were a mentally deficient genetic mutant from your early years and accepted into LAPD and the Navy because you were used. Yes, you were used. But not in the way you imagined. So I suppose that one of your alleged “grievances” was accurate in terms of your being nothing more than a Convenient Tool. But used by those who wanted you for nothing more than a statistic. You were a black male that made the LAPD quotas and Navy quotas appear congruent. They knew about your violent background but they purposely overlooked your history because you yielded another stat. So yes, Dorner: you were used. By GOWPs. By the Leftists and Demorats and PC invertebrates you so embraced.
You were a Convenient Tool; now you are a crispy and smoulderingTool. InfoWars is making you into a fallen martyr. Let me be plain: fuck them. Is that sufficiently clear for all of my readers? Dorner was a narcissistic murderer who fooled many who were stupid and ignorant: GOWPs. Guilty, Overeducated White People. He was a deceitful mutant from his time of birth. His mother, specifically, was so terribly concerned about his plight that she was drinking wine and eating chips during the standoff. As covered by CBS.
Mr Obama made his SOTU speech on Tuesday. Rentoon rentoon rentoon. Blah blah blah. Mr Obama’s bullshit is no more cohesive, logical, remarkable, stunning, innovative or insightful than it was in 2007 and 2008.
He is nothing more than any other Leftist Hack: tax and spend. Tax and spend. TRILLIONS and TRILLIONS in debt: we need to spend some more. His SOTU speech was the least-watched since 2000.
Obama’s fecal material hasn’t worked yet; it won’t work now. It is old and hackneyed and predictable and doddering.
Obama’s only advantage? The only difference between he and other Leftist Hacks? Correct! His melanin count. Effective with? Yes! GOWPs.
John Kerry is still an apologist and, literally, ineffective.
Hillary WILL run in 2016, claims wealthy Greek donor (who says Bill told him)
A wealthy Democratic donor is fanning the flames of speculation that Hillary Clinton is indeed running for president.
Sacramento developer Angelo Tsakopoulos says Bill Clinton has confirmed the presumed plan that the former Secretary of State will make a bid for the White House again.
The millionaire told the Greek Reporter that Clinton’s husband revealed his wife’s political ambition, as the power couple gear up for a 2016 race.
This information sources from the area of my work. And the Greeks control much of Sacramento via their money, to include former Sheriffs. I could name at least three. So when people accredit some future performances to the influence of Greek cash, I pay attention.
Further, I continue to ramble on:
Is there anyone besides me who finds the voice of Mr Obama to be similar to that of cracked nails on a chalkboard or — worse yet — having to listen to Fran Drescher?
I am SO incredibly tired of hearing his lying voice covered every day, every week, every month. When his mouth opens one can count on lies issuing forth.
Just like a Muslim from Afghanistan hosted by the State of Fornicalia, defecating in the shower instead of the toilets. On a visa. Not like that happened or anything.
With a moment to breathe, I write this:
Did anyone over 50 — like me (ahem) — EVER think that their country could be so incredibly elitist or ignorant or insufferable or stupid or so easily duped or so simple or so needy or so dependent or so willing to subvert, controvert and ignore our foundational documents such as the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights?
I quite simply could not have predicted this 20 years ago. I saw it coming, but I was likewise ignorant.
And with this as something of a logical Bottom Line:
With all of the things that Leftists “want” —
HOW is it that they plan to PAY for all of these so-called “wants” — ?
No one ever seems to address this, except the most meager of Republicans and the bulk of Independents and True Conservatives.
You may WANT;
But how do you plan to PAY?
With the Demorats, they don’t have a plan to do so. They don’t seem to treat money as actual cash — as a thing that requires some form of sacrifice or cost — physically or psychically or psychologically or monetarily. It just IS because it can simply be DECLARED to be so.
Yes, I’m wandering. Yes, I’m venting. Yes, I’m platforming. Go with me. I think you’re there, you’re already with me. . .
Because it all adds up to: INSANITY.
And further, it adds up to not just insanity but insanity seeking money and power and control over those who could possibly OBJECT to the centralization of powers in DC.
I would recommend EOW to everyone looking for a remarkably accurate portrayal of police work in a big city rife with gangs, violence, mixed races and endless challenges for law enforcement. It does an excellent job of displaying the best and the worst of humanity. It does an excellent job of illustrating how the current young mixed generation of cops deal with the concepts of evil, sacrifice, history, courage, violence, reality, insanity, family, support, camaraderie, cliques, teams, and a greater awareness and sense of self. And, moreover, how they are the video, social media, explicit, unabashed, put-everything-out-there generation — with little concern for the concomitant consequences.
That said, I wanted to investigate the making of the film. America Ferrera has an interesting insight in this article. As in: the neighborhoods were true and correct. As were a bulk of the “actors” in the “background.” I won’t event speculate as to the amounts of cash that had to flow for the movie company to work unimpeded in L.A.
And that made me think further:
Perhaps there is an actual coming “end of watch” for our nation as well. Further: the reasons are so clearly illustrated in this film.
There are not only individual persons but gangs and neighborhoods and communities and areas and subdivisions and cities and states reliant but upon the continual flow of local, state and federal cash. Welfare cash. Free cash. Cash undeserved but still proffered.
As in:
But: how did we get there? And what will we do now? And how can we rid ourselves of this denigrating and corrupting plague?
And how did these two disparate persons/races manage to not only survive but — until the de nou mas — thrive?
How did we get here?
How did we get our cops to battle death edicts called in from foreign countries?
How did we allow MS13 “Big Evil” to exist in our suburbs in the first place?
Why do we or should we pit our civilian cops against militaristic cults, groups, gangs, unions, units or brigades from foreign military groups?
In one car: two Glock 17 pistols, six magazines, and one shotgun with six shells?
This, ladies and gentlemen, is a proverbial setup for failure.
Open borders. Versus closed borders.
Right vs wrong.
How did we get here?
And a final question:
Would your dead grandparents recognize this current country?
I’m at work today, but in celebration of this day, I recommend reading the information at these links:
