Take a Moment Today...

[Waymon Campbell]

If you haven't already, take a moment today to reflect on the service that our veterans have given, as well as those who serve right now around the world and here at home. Remember those who "gave the last full measure of devotion" by sacrificing their lives. If you're inclined, please say a prayer that every man and women serving in harms way makes it home safely to their families. If you're at a picnic or around the house with friends, raise a cold beverage in salute to their services. If you know a veteran, go shake their hand.

To all of the veterans here at SMC...this is my electronic handshake to you. Thanks for your service.

[John Miliunas]

Yes, ditto to what Waymon said, and that *includes* his signature line! Thanks to all the Vets, here at SMC and beyond! :cool:

[Chuck Wintle]

To the United States of America that was the "arsenal of democracy" in WW II and to all the vets in the US and in Canada a big "THANK YOU".

[Keith Outten]

The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. --Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislature.

He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states:

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing taxes on us without our consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury:

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses:

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule in these colonies:

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments:

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totaly unworth the head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare, is undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

[Ian Barley]

Ok Keith makes his point very eloquently but I have to make some effort to stand up for our corner on this.

It is fairly widely acknowledged that George was probably off his chump at the time so the first thing we would like to do is claim diminished responsibility on his behalf. He was also from a family which had been (and still is) swimming at the shallow end of the gene pool for a long time. In any case his familial line and personal lifestyle was more German than British. You may pick up that not all of us Brits are happy to be considered loyal subjects - long live the republic!

But on a more serious note, and kinda moving back to Waymon's original post, there has been quite a bit on our TV and Radio about commemorations of D-Day. I'm writing this on the 2nd of June 2004 and 60 years ago some of the men who took part in the Normandy landings would have already been on board the ships that took them there. Others would be preparing to play their part.

This is a period of our recent history that fascinates me as I wonder how my generation and all the ones in between would have reacted to the same task. I am constantly in awe, not of the magnificence of the overall effort or the planning or execution of the battle, but if the individual actions of young men who went about a supremely dangerous job.

One of the items which has played out on the radio quite a bit is a trailer which is based on unfinished poems by an officer who died during the landings. One line that I cannot get out of my head goes "We shall not know how much we owe our conduct to fear or fury"

I am also conscious that many nations were represented among those men who fought on that day and the days and months that followed.

The men from France and other European mainland countries like Holland, Belgium and Poland had good reason to be there because there homes had been invaded by a tyrannical regime and this was their chance to evict that regime and free their homes.

The British soldiers, sailors and airmen were there because a bully and an ogre was living in their neighbours territory and as long as he was there he would threaten their British homeland. Getting rid of him while he was next door would also liberate their neighbours which I am sure was also a major factor.

The many Canadians and other commonwealth forces may have been there partly because the old country had commanded it. But I suspect that they fought bravely and fiercely because many of them still had strong connections to people living in the Britain and that removing the threat would help them sleep easier at night.

And then there were the Americans. Keith's posting shows clearly enough history did not give them too many reasons to spill their blood in the protection of Britain and it was very unlikely that German aggression would have had too much direct impact on the American way of life for a long time. Obviously Japan's attacks had precipitated the US's entry into the war but this did not automatically translate to involvement in this costly endeavour. America was the nation that had the least strong reason to be in Normandy in 1944 but which undoubtedly committed itself fully to the cause. At the risk of sounding corny, I have to believe that this is bacause, on the average, they believed that doing the right thing, and doing it well, was important and that this was the right thing to do. I'm not talking about politicians or generals - I'm talking about 21 year old soldiers who climbed into landing craft and 23 year old paratroopers who jumped out of C-47s.

At the risk of being seen as political, I don't think that characteristic has changed much in the last 60 years.

As one of the generations that has benefitted from the sacrifices and efforts of veterans from this and other wars protecting liberty I too would like to thank them all. And if you are fortunate enough to be able to share time with any of the remarkable men who battled through Normandy sicty years ago - tell them I said thanks.

[Waymon Campbell]

I have to believe that this is because, on the average, they believed that doing the right thing, and doing it well, was important and that this was the right thing to do... I don't think that characteristic has changed much in the last 60 years.


Well said Ian...

[Jason Roehl]

Good reminder, Keith, of how we got our start, and a tip of the hat to you as well, Ian. It's good to know there are at least a few on the other side of the Atlantic who have an inkling (or more) of respect for what our boys did 60 years ago. That was certainly a time of unity and purpose in this country that brought men, women and children together under a common goal, the likes of which I cannot currently fathom seeing again in my lifetime. I simply cannot see this country being able to stomach the loss of 400,000 of our own in defense of another country.

[Keith Outten]

Ian,

It is clear that since the late 1700's the relationship between America and Great Britain has evolved into a friendship that the entire world has grown to respect. We have fought side by side through World Wars and various other conflicts and have shared burdens others have refused to support, we "Yanks" could not have a better friend :)

Of the 16 million American WWII veterens there are only 4 million left and we are losing them at a rate of 1100 per day. I believe that my Dad is the last surviving WWII vet in my family and I recently gave him a Freedom Pen and thanked him for his service to our country.

[David Klug]

Ditto Ditto Ditto

[Ed Falis]

Of the 16 million American WWII veterens there are only 4 million left and we are losing them at a rate of 1100 per day. I believe that my Dad is the last surviving WWII vet in my family and I recently gave him a Freedom Pen and thanked him for his service to our country.

My Dad, his three brothers and his 4 sisters' husbands were all WWII vets; they're all gone now. My uncle John was a D-Day vet. We all remember them.

- Ed

[Carl Eyman]

We didn't participate in D-Day (Europe) out of the goodness of our heart but in our own self-defense. Can you imagine what it might be like for us to have lived in a world where Europe was one nation under Hitler? Our mistake was not realizing we needed to get in early. The isolationists (largely Republicans from the mid-west - my father for one) said let Europe fight their own battles. Our failure to join the League of Nations and stronly support it was a major factor in our darn near getting beaten in WWII. (MHO) If it hadn't been for the gutsy Brits buying us time we would have been. Now the moral of this story (again MHO) is let us not make the same mistake again by acting outside the United Nations.

[Donnie Raines]

Carl,

I suspect that some would take an opposite idea/postion to yours here with respects to the UN.

We have seen three mass murdering take place in three seprate countries under the current UN general(Uganda, Rawanda and now Sudan) It has been stated that some 600,000 people have been killed simply for being the wrong color in these countries. The UN has done nothing.

Saddam was given some 12 opportunities over the last 13 years to present to the world(UN) his intentions to make things right...all items laid out under UN guidlines. He only played games. And time will show that many that opposed the war were getting kick backs from Iraq(includeing many within the UN..watch..you will see) be it oil money or food for Iraqis...it will come out.

I do not mean to start a political fight here..we all have our thoughts on the matter. Lets just not pull the same thing the media pulls everyday and tell only half the story..and normally it is just the negative side. I have the upmost respect for all that sacrificed in any war..whatever country you may be from. May god bless them and their families for their efforts.