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rbshirley
Founder
Joined: 07 May 2004
Posts: 394
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 Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 3:16 am Post subject: Sunny Weekend at The Vietnam Memorial in DC |
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Swift Boat Sailor Tony Snesko's Second Weekend's Display at The Wall in DC
Despite the media blackout, we WILL keep on trying until the truth prevails
The above display put together by Tony covers the following subjects:
o Kerry's meetings in Paris with North Vietnam representatives during the war
o His testimony in April 1971 before the Senate Foriegn Relations Commitee
o His repudiation of his own military service (tossing medals, "New Soldier")
o The displays of tribute by the Communists in the War Crimes Museum (2004)
o General Giap's praise of Kerry's activities on April 29, 2004 (Reuters)
o Fred Short's comments about Kerry's activities BEFORE the campaign hype
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rbshirley
Founder
Joined: 07 May 2004
Posts: 394
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| Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 3:59 am Post subject: Re: Sunny Weekend at The Vietnam Memorial in DC |
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After posting Tony Snesko's pictures, I went back and re-read the text of his email.
It is so encouraging, that I feel it worthwhile sharing his words with this forum.
| On 6/21/2004 Tony Snesko wrote: |
What an awesome day at The Wall. When I first arrived I was a little disappointed when I saw that they had shut down half of The Wall to tourists because of lighting repair. But it turned out for the best because it funneled thousands more people in my direction. If any of you have been there you will remember that 100 yards opposite The Wall, is the statue of the Vietnam Nurses. I stationed myself about 50 yards east of that statue and my boards attracted more visitors than the statue.
By the way, I increased the size of my display considerably. I went to U-Haul and purchased a large wardrobe box, 5’ tall by 2’ wide, cut it open, and pasted articles on all four panels. Two of the panels were dedicated to Kerry’s Senate testimony, his conference with the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese in Paris and the VVAW. One panel was dedicated to his medals and quotes from Hibbard, his doctor and others. One side displayed the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth letter to Kerry and their photos plus a copy of the Washington Times photo and article about their press conference.
Initially I had set the box up as a 4 sided column and not too many people made it around to the back side, so I opened it and set it up as half a hexagon. It was perfect, thousands of people stopped and read the articles. I then sold twice the number of bumper stickers (150) plus 5 yard signs, and was given about $50 additionally in donations, which will go to building more of these boards. I probably could have sold several hundred bumper stickers, but I kept most of them on the ground in my open briefcase without a sign. I was a little worried about putting a sale sign on them because some crabby woman came up to me immediately after I set up and demanded to know if I had a permit to be there. I told her that I didn’t need one and she said that she was going to report me, and then stormed off to the Park Police office near The Wall. About 6 hours later a couple of the officers walked by, and barely acknowledged my presence.
It seemed like the overwhelming majority of people who passed by, gave me thumbs up. Hundreds of people just walked up to me and shook my hand and thanked me for being there, some with tears welling in their eyes. They were genuinely happy to see my display. I only had a few people that wanted to debate the issue and those debates went extremely well. I engaged one fellow for about ten minutes in a very calm in-depth debate. We then agreed to disagree and he left. About two minutes later I felt a tap on my shoulder and it was the same fellow I had just been talking to and he said, “I just wanted you to know that I don’t agree with you, but I wanted to thank you for being out here, doing what your doing.” I was stunned and tears almost welled in my eyes.
My wife joined me at mid-afternoon and spent several hours keeping me company. Although I had a chair there, I stood for the entire 7 hours because it was the only way to really interact with the people. I would have stayed until sunset, but I had to be up at 4:30 this morning, so I reluctantly left at 7:00 pm.
The response to my being there was so great, that I began to realize that we should have someone at The Wall every day, 7 days a week. We actually need to set up another station on the other side of the wall nearer the Korean War Memorial, so we can get the people who exit on that side. We can educate millions of people this summer right here on the Mall in DC
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sdpatriot
Ensign
Joined: 16 Jun 2004
Posts: 50
Location: SD
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| Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 4:28 pm Post subject: |
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wow! thank you for posting this. God bless Mr Snesko!
i would very much like to purchase pamphlets to hand out that are
a compilation of Mr. Snesko's display papers and pictures. if
you guys could do that, i'd purchase and hand out as many as possible.
i can write up my own paper... but it is way more powerful coming from
you Veterans. if this is already available could you please let me know
how to get a hold of some?
thanks so much,
sdpatriot
_________________
"Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism."
George Washington, Farewell Address, September 19, 1796 |
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wshhml
Ensign
Joined: 25 May 2004
Posts: 52
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| Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 8:19 pm Post subject: Getting the message out |
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| It just goes to show you how one person can make a difference in informing so many people. The media refuses to report this in making Kerry the ultimate hero, but there are ways to get around them and it's great to see this good man doing just that. |
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rbshirley
Founder
Joined: 07 May 2004
Posts: 394
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| Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2004 7:35 am Post subject: |
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Post moved by the moderator to the "Sticky" portion of the forum
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Last edited by rbshirley on Thu Jun 24, 2004 5:01 am; edited 4 times in total |
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sdpatriot
Ensign
Joined: 16 Jun 2004
Posts: 50
Location: SD
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| Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2004 2:35 pm Post subject: |
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Dear rbshirley,
thanks for another informative post. it was just what i was looking for.
i am going to print off some copies of it to hand out.
thanks again,
sdpatriot
_________________
"Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism."
George Washington, Farewell Address, September 19, 1796 |
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rbshirley
Founder
Joined: 07 May 2004
Posts: 394
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| Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2004 4:32 am Post subject: |
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| sdpatriot wrote: | | i am going to print off some copies of it to hand out. |
| Navy_Navy_Navy wrote: | Man, I wish I could buy this guy a beer or a cuppa something.
.................. BZ's, Tony Snesko!!!! ................. |
Larry Bailey, President of Vietnam Veterans for Truth, is looking into a way
to extend Tony's example by those of you who are unable to travel to the
Washington DC area to express their appreciation, but who want to do
something to make their feelings about Kerry known to the public. Right
now he is just looking for possible interest. In other words to see if enough
people would be interested in getting involved in an a small but important
endeavor such as this to justify and determine the size of a construction
and distribution effort for materials.
| Larry Baily wrote: |
A Swift Boat veteran, Tony Snesko, has come up with a neat idea and put
it into practice. He set up a little "story-board" display near the Viet Nam
Memorial that, among other things, tells the story of Bill Lupetti and his
visit to the Vietnamese museum that pays tribute to John Kerry for his role
in the communist victory. Tony tells me that a large number of people
stop by every time he sets up the display and ask questions. He is
changing minds ...
We think we can replicate this effort all over the country. Please send me
an e-mail at larryklr@cox.net and let me know if you're willing to put forth
the effort to construct a little cardboard display with pictures and words
provided by us and to man the show in your own hometown, whether large
or small. I can see hundreds of these displays all across America if we
handle it right.
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No need to respond to this posting. Please contact Larry directly at his email
address to let him know that you appreciate Tony's efforts and would like to
obtain some materials to put forth a similar display in your area.
Show not only your opposition to Kerry but also "WHY"
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