I listen to talk radio....a lot.  While listening to Laura Ingraham a few days ago I heard mention of a group I was not familiar with.  The Greatest Generations Foundation.



What caught my attention was the Journey One Tours.  Many of the veterans of World War II have never seen the beautiful WW II Memorial in Washington, D.C.  These heroes are dying at a rate of 1,000 a day.  The Greatest Generations Foundation is providing an opportunity for some of them to travel to Washington and visit the Memorial built in their honor.  The foundation is also offering combat veterans the opportunity to revisit  the sites of their battlefield campaigns.  Not only World War II, but also Korea and Vietnam.

My father passed away in 1999, while the Memorial was still in the planning stages. He never got to see it.   Last summer, my husband and I had our first vacation...ever, and we chose to spend it in D.C.  Standing at the foot of the Pacific Pavilion....I wished my father could be standing there with me.  So he could know, how proud I was of him.  I have kept in touch with his best Army buddy, who is now 88 years old.  He has told me some of the stories Dad never told.  My husband's father also served in the Pacific.  We wrote letters to our Dads and left them at the foot of the Pavilion.  It was our way of sharing it with them.

It's always a difficult decsion....what charities to give to.  I think this is one that I will support.  I like to think of a daughter or a son...standing with Dad at that magnificent monument...arm in arm...looking up.

Never forget.

 

The Tanker Brothers Rolling Victory Fast...faster... today….is me.  As always, today is for all of our troops, especially MG and Cav.

I’m also thinking of someone very special to me, my Mom.  We lost her 9 years ago today.  She was a Rosie the Riveter in World War II.  She taught me everything important.  The Lincoln quote, “All that I am or ever hope to be I owe to my angel mother” comes to mind.  That’s how I’ve always felt about her.  She is my inspiration.

                       Marcella Cipra 1916-1998

                               

On September 11, after watching the second tower fall, I called my husband.  I said to him, “this is the end of the world as we know it”.  In true husbandly fashion, he tried to calm me.  But I knew things had changed.  We were at war.  And the pictures forming in my mind were ones put there by Mom.  Of blood drives (she was a gallon donor), bond drives, rationing…you get the picture.  I was ready…and then…we were told…to go…shopping//?

Shopping?  Ok…the economy…don’t let the terrorists change our way of life.  But the sad fact is…they have  changed our lives.  This is a post 9/11 world.  Just as my mother’s world changed after 12/7.

We are fighting this war with an all volunteer force.  Most of us have not been touched by it…unlike Mom’s generation.  No discomfort, no sacrifice, no inconvenience…unless you count taking off your shoes at the airport.

After 12/7 my Mom and millions of other women went to work…building…for the war effort…for victory…to save their way of life. When they were done with a day’s work at the factory, they went home to meals without meat or butter or other rationed items.  They painted stocking seams down their legs with eyebrow pencil because there were no stockings.

Considering all that I don't think any of us have a darn thing to complain about.  We can shop till we drop for anything we can afford...and the only reason we go home without what we came for is the peghook was empty because the item sold out.  Not much of a hardship in a time of war.  One of the saddest photos I've seen recently, was this one.

America has  gone to the mall.  We've forgotten our history...12/7 after all was sixty five years ago.  9/11 only five years ago...but I often get the feeling that it has been forgotten. We need to do better.   I think of my Mom and I wonder how I can ever measure up to her.  I don't think I can.  But there are things I can do...in my  time...
prayerfully...this fast...Soldiers' Angels...for those that have taken up the fight...for me.  I can keep myself informed....

......and to remember...always remember... NEVER FORGET.

Thanks for the lessons Mom.

This Weeks Soldier Was Requested By Echo9er

This video says it all.

Wonder if this anniversary will be mentioned on the nightly news. 

Found this link at Michelle Malkin.  18 Doughty Street...Brits supporting Yanks.

Staff Sgt. Kara Opperman performs a quality control check Feb. 13 on fuel coming out of a fill stand at Balad Air Base, Iraq. Sergeant Opperman ensures the fuel is safe and meets Air Force specifications before it is used for aircraft and equipment


These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday.  For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll.  If you would like to participate in honoring the brave men and women who serve this great country, you can find out how by going here

Soldier's Response to the Coward Caucus in Congress
Comments from my son | February 17, 2007 | JemiansTerror

The following is a post from Free Republic

My son is currently serving in Iraq, at a post north of Baghdad. He is a gunner with an engineering unit; his main job is watch for bad guys and blast them. The following are comments he made to some friends last night. The episode he discusses was Saturday morning. I thought y'all might be interest in what he had to say about the situation over there. FWIW, his morale is great. You can see he is committed to the mission.

The friggin terrorists tried to hurt our friends today. The attacked some IPs not to far from us, and then when the armor near us responded to the IPs cries for help and came rushing over with some serious firepower, they ran like little girls. My unit saw no action, but we sure heard it. A round flew over us, and so some of the guys who were working with us who dont go out to much took cover. The rest of us just laughed. It was funny. We were behind a hill, and about a kilometer away, so we were pretty safe. A few IPs [Iraqi Police] got hurt, and so prayers go out to those wounded guys. They have to live in this country where thier families could be killed for thier involvement in the Iraqi Police, so I have alot of respect for them.

It really amazes me how the IPs and Iraqi Army persist even though our politicians doubt them back home. I've seen them take terrorists, and detain them. I've seen IA tanks hold the high ground. I dont know why we doubt these guys. They do more of the heavy stuff than we do. They really are stepping up, and though they pay the price (I saw them get hit, they took one KIA, and one more had his guts hanging out) they still fight on. These guys have some serious beliefs in what they can make their country into. I believe in them.

This whole thing going on back home is just not right. We should not run and abandon this country. Saddam needed to be punished. He had ridiculed the world, and had opressed his people. People say that we have brought carnage? We have not done nothing compared to Saddam. He was a killer and did it to his own people. I'm not sorry that we came here, and I'm sure not going to run out on these people. I'm no person to ever do that, and I'll stand by these people here.

One of the translators told me some about the former regime. His brother was killed by Saddam. Every time we talk he says more and more about how much better it is for Iraqis now. The kids smile and wave when they see us pass by. The people here are always nice to us as well. It might be because we carry automatic weapons, but so did Saddam and they sure didnt like him.

My turn at the Tanker Brothers Rolling Victory Fast again.  Read Master Gunner's original post for details here.

Thinking last night about "non binding resolutions"....if it's non binding....then what's the point?  To do damage to the Bush Administration?  To garner support from the "We support the troops but not the Mission" crowd?  To give aid and comfort to the enemy?  I read...and read...and read... trying to understand all of this.  The "strategeries", the politics, the unnamed motives.  Somewhere in the reading last night, I came across a comment.  It was late enough, and I was tired enough that I didn't make note of where I read it.  Could have been at the Victory Caucus.  Whoever it was, thank you...you've had me thinking all day......

The sky seems to have snowed itself out...finally.  I spent my snow day..... in between shoveling.......collecting quotations.  This was my favorite.

"The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with a friendship."

Emerson