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LewWaters
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Joined: 18 May 2004
Posts: 4042
Location: Washington State
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 Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2010 4:29 pm Post subject: Veterans Day |
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I hope for all to have a memorable day Thursday as we once again take time out to reflect on where we've been, who we knew and what we all had to do.
My actual day will be tomorrow, Wednesday November 10 as I received an invitation from a local teacher to participate in her Elementary School's Veterans Day Assembly and then to speak to her 3rd Graders.
I know others have visited schools and spoke to students, but this is the first time I have been invited to a school and am excited to have this opportunity.
We served at a time it was unpopular and the war we fought remains one of the least understood.
I hope as many of you who desire to also receive invitations to speak to the young and remind them that we live in the freest country due to the sacrifices of many ordinary people who, when the time came, performed extraordinarily brave acts.
Welcome Home, brothers and sisters.
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Clark County Conservative |
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Navy_Navy_Navy
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Joined: 07 May 2004
Posts: 5777
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| Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2010 9:08 pm Post subject: |
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Amen! Ordinary citizens performing extraordinary acts of sacrifice and duty.
And I hope you have a great day at school, Lew!
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~ Echo Juliet ~
Altering course to starboard - On Fire, Keep Clear
Navy woman, Navy wife, Navy mother |
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Me#1You#10
Site Admin
Joined: 06 May 2004
Posts: 6503
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| Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2010 3:53 am Post subject: |
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Speaking to 3rd graders on so weighty a subject is certainly a tall order Lew, but I have every confidence the school has chosen their veteran representative well.
Just a thought, but perhaps you might work this into your "lesson plan"...
America's Youngest Civil War Soldier
He was about the same age as your 3rd grade audience. Might be an attention getter 
To all our vets (and supporters) and especially to those in our SVPT community, thank you for your service. |
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GenrXr
Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy
Joined: 05 Aug 2004
Posts: 1720
Location: Houston
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| Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2010 6:36 am Post subject: Re: Veterans Day |
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| LewWaters wrote: | I hope for all to have a memorable day Thursday as we once again take time out to reflect on where we've been, who we knew and what we all had to do.
My actual day will be tomorrow, Wednesday November 10 as I received an invitation from a local teacher to participate in her Elementary School's Veterans Day Assembly and then to speak to her 3rd Graders.
I know others have visited schools and spoke to students, but this is the first time I have been invited to a school and am excited to have this opportunity.
We served at a time it was unpopular and the war we fought remains one of the least understood.
I hope as many of you who desire to also receive invitations to speak to the young and remind them that we live in the freest country due to the sacrifices of many ordinary people who, when the time came, performed extraordinarily brave acts.
Welcome Home, brothers and sisters. |
Some of us continue to come back here to hear you guys, way past third grade. Our world is not safe without the men who have fought and lived to tell the tale, telling the tale.
I am 40 years old and some of the greatest insights learned to date, have been gleaned, from reading what you and others have written.
Continue on and thank you, Lew and others.
I would like to add something.
My father died two years ago and his best friend was my godfather, a man by the name of Jim Krell. Jim was a "simple" man who was extremely intelligent, but he was a poor Minnesota farmer. A farmer who would pick rocks from the ground, sun up to sun down, because he was working poor quality land, but it was his land. His families land. Often you do what it seems to be your purpose in life, but this does not make you smart or dumb. Jim serviced his family’s farm because it was his families land and they owned it. Great pride came from it.
My father and Jim were almost 20 years apart, but they were intellectual equals, according to my mother. My father, at the young age of 18 convinced him to come out to California and strike it rich. Being as my father entered in the Navy in 66' at 16 and served 2 years. Jim was 38 or 39 at the time.
When Jim arrived he was shocked at the Hells Angels and the way they would come into a small town outside San Bernardino and raise havoc. It was beyond his comprehension that in such a free and blessed country that people would choose to be bandits.
The first time my father went with Jim to educate the bikers about traditional American values was an awakening to the “dog who bites at birth” (my father always said only a few among many are born warriors and Jim was one. He bit before he opened his eyes). Jim asked where the bikers would be and back in those days everyone was asking for someone to put them in their place. So there was no shortage of answers as to where to find them, but Jim was not Hero-Seeking, rather he wanted to engage what he thought to be people who were less than American. Jim served in the Korean War and was a staunch Patriot and lover of the constitution. He wanted to enlighten the bikers about the beauty of America and its ideals. What he found was the antithesis of what he imagined to be liberty seeking individuals. He found lazy, irresponsible and unaccountable people.
He was in California all of a month or two before he got his first call to come to the Redlands outside San Bernardino, because the Hell’s Angels had come into town and were raising “hell” at a small bar called “The Pickle”. Jim called my father and he said of course I will come, being that my father was 18 and too “stupid” to know different at the time, although should really have been “smart” enough to know.
They entered a bar with over 30 Hells Angels and my father went immediately to the counter to act as if to buy a drink, while Jim immediately sought out the leader of the group. Jim found him fast and asked him if he was the leader, at which the person responded, “What does it matter to you”. Jim replied, “Well, I drove down here from San Bernardino to tell you to leave”.
The Hells Angel asked him “and what army did you bring to bear”, to which he replied “no army, just myself and my friend at the counter, but if you do not leave, we will give everyone of you the beating your fathers forgot”. At this, the Hells Angel leader started to get up and Jim said, “Sir, let it be known that if you leave your chair you will never fully erect”. The man laughed, started to rise and said something to the effect he was dead and at that moment Jim punched him once, then punched the 5 guys surrounding him once, knocking all to the ground.
The following 5 minutes consisted of my father hitting one individual over the head with a glass sugar shaker and Jim beating 15 men to the ground. The others gave up without even engaging.
The Hells Angels were the saddest excuse for tough men my father ever encountered in his life. Today, we have media trying to portray what it is to be a man through shows like ‘Sons of Anarchy’, a biker show of misfits. Nothing could be worse for the kids of today and they should know the truth.
A man who spends his formative years lifting rocks from the ground with the support of a family who loves him will build not only a great constitution, but a formidable mind.
_________________
"An activist is the person who cleans up the water, not the one claiming its dirty."
"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to stand by and do nothing." Edmund Burke (1729-1797), Founder of Conservative Philosophy |
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LewWaters
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Joined: 18 May 2004
Posts: 4042
Location: Washington State
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TEWSPilot
Admiral
Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 1235
Location: Kansas (Transplanted Texan)
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| Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 11:28 pm Post subject: |
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Wonderful experience, Lew. The company I work for bought a big ad in the newspapers all over the country (including our local paper) saluting veterans. They held a ceremony right on the company campus to honor all vets working for the company, and they invited local High School JROTC kids to be the Honor Guard. The colors were presented by active duty military from the local air force base. We were presented with a small flag and a special commemorative coin. Many of my coworkers are active with Reserve and Guard units, and several are currently deployed or TDY in support of the war. It was a moving experience.
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LewWaters
Admin
Joined: 18 May 2004
Posts: 4042
Location: Washington State
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| Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 12:38 am Post subject: |
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It's nice to see patriotism and love of America coming back, isn't it?
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