Remembering ALL Heroes This Weekend

Tyne Cot CWGC

This weekend is Memorial Day Weekend originally it was Decoration Day. The holiday began as a day to honor those whom gave their lives in the War Between the States but later on after the great wars of the early 20th century, it became known as Memorial Day. The original date for this scared holiday was 30 May, however, Congress changed the date to be the last Monday in May, thus creating a long weekend and defacto start of summer. It is unfortunate that especially right now with the news headlining the scandal within the Veterans Administration, most Americans, do not know or appreciate the true purpose of the day.

It would almost be desirable to say that the current scandal of mistreatment by the government of our veterans is the first such abuse, however, that would be grossly in accurate. Ironically, to know just how often and how long the government has mistreated those that have served so willingly this country and her people, the public needed to turn to satire. Shamefully, for MSM, that is, it was Jon Stewart, on his The Daily Show, that actually noted mistreatment after mistreatment of veterans going all the way back to the formation of our great nation. This article isn't for the slamming of the government in its treatment of our worthy veterans, that is for another post.

This moment is to give thanks to each and every hero that gave for this nation. Not just the heroes that wore American uniforms, but also those lesser known heroes that wore the uniform of our allies through out our short history. It was the French that rendered aid to the upstart colonists, whom were determined to throw off the chains of tyranny that held them to England. Of course, most do not know that American had to throw off those chains not once, but twice. And if you hail from the north you could even say three times, if you count that England rendered aid to the Confederate States, during the Civil War.

Fast forward to the 20th century; yes, I know I skipped over the War with Mexico and the Spanish American War and all the 'Indian' Wars. It was intentional for varying reasons. Now, I know we like to brag about saving the world, not once, but, twice from German aggressions; however, those wars were called World Wars for a reason. It seems that at most if we remember how the Great War or WWI began it was with the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, fewer still know that it was a Serbian youth defending the freedom and independence of his country that committed the attack. However, it is very very few Americans that know that at the time Serbia was an American ally. Matter of fact, the Serbian flag is the only foreign flag that has flown over the White House. 

Then President Woodrow Wilson gave a statement to the American public about 28 JULY 1918;


On Sunday, 28th of this present month, will occur the fourth anniversary of the day when the gallant people of Serbia, rather than submit to the studied and ignoble exactions of a prearranged foe, were called upon by the war declaration of Austria-Hungary to defend their territory and their homes against an enemy bent on their destruction. Nobly did they respond. So valiantly and courageously did they oppose the forces of a country ten times greater in population and resources that it was only after they had thrice driven the Austrians back and Germany and Bulgaria had come to the aid of Austria that they were compelled to retreat into Albania. While their territory has been devastated and their homes despoiled, the spirit of the Serbian people has not been broken. Though overwhelmed by superior forces, their love of freedom remains unabated. Brutal force has left unaffected their firm determination to sacrifice everything for liberty and independence.

It is fitting that the people of the United States, dedicated to the self-evident truth that is the right of the people of all nations, small as well as great, to live their own lives and choose their own Government, and remembering that the principles for which Serbia has so nobly fought and suffered are those for which the United States is fighting, should on the occasion of this anniversary manifest in an appropriate manner their war sympathy with this oppressed people who have so heroically resisted the aims of the Germanic nations to master the world. At the same time, we should not forget the kindred people of the Great Slavic race--the Poles, the Czechs and Jugo-Slavs, who, now dominated and oppressed by alien races yearn for independence and national unity.
This can be done in a manner no more appropriate than in our churches.
I, therefore, appeal to the people of the United States of all faiths and creeds to assemble in their several places of worship on Sunday July 28, for the purpose of giving expression to their sympathy with this subjugated people and their oppressed and dominated kindred on other lands, and to invoke the blessings of Almighty God upon them and upon the cause to which they are pledged.
Woodrow Wilson, President
The White House, July 1918

The War to End All Wars brought a peace that lasted barely 20 years, not even one generation was raised in peace before once again the call went out across nations for their young men to take up arms and defend what was theirs. It is said, and I believe it very true, 'war brings out the best and the worst in men'. It seems that in that 20 years, the worst was brought out in our politicians, but the best was brought out not only in our young men whom stepped up to protect not just America but the world from Hitler's delusion but the young men of each and every country that would not submit to such depravity. How frail our memory seems to be about which side people stood and how even the 'good guys' conducted themselves. Of course some of the issue is that being victors and 'good guys' they have been able to influence the story and thus adapt it to suit their goals over time.

During the hell that Hitler brought to Europe and the world, those nations that stood against such hatred driven aggression were both big and small, rich and poor, yet, it can be said, each was great in spirit and deeds.

Here in the States, as I am sure happened in other nations as well, gung-ho boys lied about age and even pretended to be older brothers or cousins to join the cause. On the surface there was a clear defined enemy in Hitler and the Nazis along with their imperialistic Japanese allies. The need to defeat the Axis powers was a palatable one. Every citizen of the world seemed to know the dire consequences if there were no victory.

Headlines of the time

There are several 'simplistic' actions that aided in the eventual defeat of Hitler's Nazi Germany. First, Hitler's own arrogance blinded him to the limits of his military resources and assets. Second, Hitler was not able to engage any enemy in a two-front scenario, instead he was the one trying to win on several fronts against several enemies. How did this happen? Hitler believed he could conquer both east and west at the same time, however, the western front was a battle fought mostly by the French and Brits with the inclusion of the Americans with the D-Day invasion. On the eastern front he fought the Russians, whose will to resist he greatly underestimated, he did understand the numbers as well as the disadvantage of fighting in winter. His answer to overcome the minor issues with Russia was to cut through the Balkans thus forcing Russia into a 2 front war, west and south.

In order to achieve this the German Army had to accomplish something that it had been unable to do in WWI, defeat the Serbs. Hitler's solution was to use Bulgaria to this end. History does tell us just how well that worked out for Hitler, so I will not retell that story.

However, I will refer to one that is little known to even students of history, that is of the Forgotten 500. The fact that Hitler was soundly defeated was not the fault of an incompetent or impotent military, on the contrary, it many ways the rest of the world spent the war playing catch up with German technology and weapons designs. No, what defeated Hitler was that those fighting against him were fighting for something larger than themselves, whereas, especially by the end of the war, most Germans were merely trying to get out alive.

via Tesla Memorial Society

The fight for the air was especially brutal. Allied pilots faced high mortality rates and even higher chance of being shot down and captured. Just such was the fate of over 500 Americans over Serbia/Yugoslavia during the war. Unknown to the American airmen was that politicians and intelligence community had already decided that Serbia/Yugoslavia would be a future enemy after the war. Thus American airman were warned about the brutal Serbs that would as soon kill them as look at them. The reality that a very lucky 500 Airmen discovered couldn't have been further from the briefings they received pre-mission. The reality that America never told its fighting boys or their public was the lengths to which regular Serbs went to not only rescue and hide downed Allied personnel but to care for them, not only when it was maybe inconvenient, but also fatal.

While we were there, those of us who were wounded were given whatever medical supplies they had even at the deprivation of their own troops.   If there was one piece of bread in the house, or one egg, it went to the American airmen while the Serb went hungry.
If there was one bed or one blanket, it went to us while the Serb slept on the bare ground.  No risk of sacrifice was too great to insure our safety and well being.  One experience which is forever seared in my memory is the time a village with 200 women and children was burned to the ground by the Germans because the Serbs would not tell them where they were hiding us.  To this day, I can smell the terrible stench of their burning flesh.  One does not forget such things. 

 So on this Memorial Day, as one American who knows, I want to thank, not only the men and women that wore the uniform of the US, but also those whom wore other uniforms or no uniforms that helped, aided, and stood side by side with the US in her past times of struggle. May we one day return to our honor and also to our truth! Veliki hvala Srbiji!

Please Help Those Affect by the Floods in Serbia

Floods Across Serbia

Below is a letter requesting help for those in need. Please read and pass along and share and let everyone you know that many in Serbia who had little before may now have nothing. And please do what you can to help it ALL makes a difference.
Below the Letter will be links for you. Thank you in advance for your support and assistance.

To send items:
 Srbi za Srbe
Palmira Toljatija 5/III
11070 Belgrade,
 Serbia, Republic of

To send funds click on: http://www.srbizasrbe.org/donacije/  
*In NOTICE checkbox please enter the code FLDSRB14

Natural Rights v Government Reach

There has been "Democratic Springs" taking place all over the world to one degree or another. For the last few years we have witnessed an Arab Spring flaming in countries across the Middle East. The result has been Egypt is changing governments for the third time, Libya is a combat zone, or as some are calling it 'Woodstock for Terrorists', Syria is in ruins and still burning. The result is not more democracy but violence and terror and horror. In Libya, there is no central control of the country, so the nation is divided up under the control of militias, most with terror ties, including Al Qaeda, a declared enemy of the US, yet the US does nothing for the citizens of Libya, after removing the standing government that had been in power for years. And Syria, has been flooded with outside 'jihadists' including many hardened Al Nusra fighters that are trained, supported and allied with Al Qaeda. They have seen combat in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya; some even have experience that goes back to the Balkans and former Soviet Republic.
While I certainly am for bad governments being removed, I think that the majority weight of responsibility for removing a bad government falls on the people of the nation in question. Yes, there may be times when outsiders need to step in due to complete and total inhumane actions by either side, those times need to be well measured and very well documented and the international community needs to stop picking sides and realize that in those situations there is no black and white division of actions. Both sides will be conducting themselves in less than honorable actions. War brings out the best in men; however, war also brings out the worse in men too.
Why do I think it is the responsibility of the 'oppressed people' to bear most or all of the burden of removing their government, when such government becomes unbearable by the majority of the public? I believe that in most circumstances today, the public under oppression by inaction or ignorance allowed the oppression to occur or at least expand. Thus, in these cases since they created the problem or increased and supported by inaction the problem it should fall to them to be the solution. It is after all their country and the future for their children that is at stakes.
It is only the masses, the people that can control the government. It is the right, duty and responsibility of people to accept and maintain their natural rights. What are your natural rights? As Jefferson put it, the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. However, Jefferson was not the first to state the fact that man is born with certain rights invoked by the laws of nature. Rights "inborn into our hearts" according to Marcus Tullius Cicero who went on to say 
         There exists a law, not written down anywhere, but inborn in our hearts; a law which comes      to us not by training or custom or reading but by derivation and absorption and adoption from nature itself; a law which has come to us not from theory but from practice, not by institution but by natural intuition. I refer to the law which lays it down that, if our lives are endangered by plots or violence or armed robbers or enemies, any and every method of protecting ourselves is morally right.

These rights were stated hundreds of years later again by Sir William Blackstone;
"[T]he principal aim of society is to protect individuals in the enjoyment of those absolute rights, which were vested in them by the immutable laws of nature, but which could not be preserved in peace without that mutual assistance and intercourse which is gained by the institution of friendly and social communities. Hence it follows, that the first and primary end of human laws is to maintain and regulate these absolute rights of individuals."

However, it seems that most peoples have forgotten that we have natural rights and that our natural rights out weigh the 'responsibility' of the government to keep us safe. Our personal safety is our individual responsibility not the job of government and by thinking that it is the job of government you indirectly forfeit your natural rights and the natural rights of all other members of the group, another action that is not your right. You are not better for shrugging your responsibility for your own personal safety and liberty and demanding the government handle a job that you are too lazy to perform and expect the government to do the job better than you would yourself. The bottom line you are YOU, a person to yourself; but, to the government you are only a number, you are no more valuable than the stranger you pass on the street. How much would you do for that stranger? Yet, you expect government to do more than that for you, so you do not have to do it for yourself. Then you think you have the right to complain about a bad government ignoring your safety and rights.
You are responsible for you!

The Experts Critize The Competition....

Maybe someone should put duct tape on Sec. Kerry or find him another speech writer. What a week for Kerry! First, he states as facts that there is PROOF of Russian military involvement in Ukraine unrest. He parades a pic that supposedly shows the Russian military personnel that is PROOF Moscow is calling all the shots in Ukraine chaos. While the State Department hasn't posted a retraction, the NYT has. Sec Kerry also stated how only one side of the parties involved were keeping their words, yet Ukraine's 'acting government' was the one that left the meetings and immediately threatened force against the protestors. And has since used that force against their own people, the very act that the US and EU used to justify supporting the overthrow of the legal government of Ukraine and prop up the illegal puppet government.
It is amazing how the US government is supporting the terrorists that are causing so much blood-shed and destruction in Syria; yet,are slamming protesters in Ukraine as terrorists. Well, I guess you could say that if anyone knows what makes a terrorist, it would be the US as they have trained, funded, supported and armed more than can be counted. The US government is slamming Russia for having any opinion or intention concerning Ukraine, however there are US agents openly and not so openly securing American interests from Mexico to Chile and from Cuba to Afghanistan.
The American public was told that bringing down the Iron Curtain was for the benefit of the people living politically oppressed lives under tyrannical governments, however in hind sight it appears that the sole and whole purpose was to switch the oppression from a political one to an economic one under the control of the EU and US. It is amazing how apathetic the American public is to the conditions of other peoples in the world. Which is shameful when considering that the US has helped to create the deplorable conditions in many of those places!
The upside for the rest of the world is that the American people are just as apathetic about their own lives as they are about everyone elses. They have allowed the US government to take away their rights with increasing leaps and bounds in the name of security. They have no concern about the treatment of their neighbors by law enforcement or security agents if the words 'national security' are used. Pathetically, there are many similarities between the current US government and the Nazi government of Germany in the 1930's. The only difference was the Nazi government lie was to reclaim the glory and honor of Germany, the US lie is to ensure the security of the people of America.

TSA Is Bad, But Last Experience Was With Good Agents........

Ok, so I do try to be a fair person. Which means if you do something that I think is beneath you, no
matter how much I like you, I will tell you and if you do something good, no matter how little I like
you, I will compliment you. In this case the 'you' is the TSA. So let me start with my compliment, no
matter how little I like them. Recently, my daughter's basketball team traveled to play in a National
Championship, which required flying basically cross country. I was one of the parents that traveled
with the team and the defacto 'travel expert'. Since all the girls were young most didn't have official
picture IDs, mine probably being the only exception, and only 3 girls were traveling with a parent and
my daughter and I do not share the same surname needless to say we were a challenge. The group was in total 17 travelers with about 10 being 'under-age' travelers. So I did my part to make things easy, but informing first the ticket agent and then the first TSA employee about our group number and ages. The TSA lady at the Florida airport that were left from actually opened up a new line just for our group. The next TSA employee that checked IDs against boarding passes personally handled our whole group so that there was no confusion. On the way back, we received similar accommodations from the TSA agents at O'Hare. With the exception of airline personnel at Detroit, who were great at the gate and on the flight, on this trip TSA actually seemed to understand customer service, something that is sorely lacking in airline travel in the last 10 or more years. Me complimenting TSA is huge considering what I think of the agency as a whole.
The above statement aside, let me say, in scope of extreme security that is the TSA today, I am
absolutely and categorically against their existence. The 9/11 Commission stated that the security
measures that were in place prior to 9/11 were adequate to prevent such actions as happened on that
day. The whole and entire failure of security on 9/11 was lazy security workers at the Maine airport
where they hijackers cleared security. It was also reported that a check of airline manifests and other
evidence suggested that the hijackers had traveled though various airports up and down the East Coast, looking for just such laziness and complacency in the security. Once this was determined the rest as they say is history.
Had it been my decision to make, I would not have changed one thing about our security at airports. I
would have fired the security personnel that were on duty at the time and their supervisor. I would have replaced them with more competent personnel and been done with it. What is my logic and rationale? The primary goal of terrorism is my logic and rationale. The whole goal of terrorism is to use terror to create such fear as to change your lifestyle or the actions of a government. That being said, once we totally changed how we fly; the terrorists won and we lost.
Which by that measure means that the GWOT was a complete and total waste. Why wage war against an enemy that you have already admitted defeat to by changing your lifestyle and the way the
government functions. It is no wonder that conspiracy theorists have had an absolute field day with
9/11 and the fall out of it for over 10 years now. Not to mention that in the rush to “keep us safe” not one single American seems to remember the words of Mr. Benjamin Franklin...'Those that would sacrifice liberty for the sake of security, will have neither and deserves neither.' And we have absolutely given up much too much of our liberty for complacent lazy people to 'feel secure'. Yet, in truth the only security is in their illusion that we are safer.
How so? Terrorists love to create carnage, the more blood and guts the better. Before 9/11 the number
of people clustered in a single area in the airport was limited to maybe say 100 people waiting in a
rather large and open area of a gate, now you have hundreds of people clustered and contained within
the security check point waiting lines, literally being sitting duck soft targets of a suicide bomber. Now you security dreamers can say well that shows that we are MORE safe, but the conspiracy theorist would say, that proves that it was the government and now that they have you sliding down that slippery slope of NO Individual Rights, they have what they want and we are safe until they want
more!