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[Kristin Meredith]

75 years ago today, Victory in Europe in World War II was proclaimed.  I had 3 maternal uncles and a father who served during WW II.  Not many are alive who lived and served during this time.  Please take a moment today and remember the sacrifices of all who served and all those who supported them at home in jobs and home life.

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[TravlinMan]

In following with the thought of the original post.

Here's a refresher on how some of our former patriots handled negative comments about our country.
 
 JFK'S Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, was in France in the early 60's when DeGaulle decided to pull out of NATO. DeGaulle said he wanted all US military out of France as soon as possible.
 Rusk responded, "Does that include those who are buried here?"
 DeGaulle did not respond. You could have heard a pin drop.

 When in England , at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of 'empire building' by George Bush. He answered by saying, "Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return."You could have heard a pin drop.
 
There was a conference in France where a number of international engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a break, one of the French engineers came back into the room saying, "Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intend to do, bomb them?” A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: "Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?” You could have heard a pin drop.
 
 A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the U.S., English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of officers that included personnel from most of those countries. Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English. He then asked, "Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French?” Without hesitating the American Admiral replied, "Maybe it's because the Brit's, Canadians, Aussie's and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have to speak German.” You could have heard a pin drop.
 
AND THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE...

Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on "You have been to France before, monsieur?" the customs officer asked sarcastically. Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously. "Then you should know enough to have your passport ready.” The American said, "The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it.” "Impossible. Americans always have to show their passports on arrival in France !” The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained, ''Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find a single Frenchmen to show a passport to." You could have heard a pin drop.

 
If you are proud to be an American, pass this on!
 

[Bentley]

Glad you posted, cuz the rest of the internet has no idea the significance or the day.

[Brushpopper]

That is a great read.  My dad served on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific Theater.  We couldn't get him to talk much about it.  I enjoy reading stories like these because it takes me back to the ones he was willing to tell.

[yorkdude]

That really is a great read, wow what so many take for granted.
Thank God for all of the Hero's before us and those to come.

[Kristin Meredith]

TravlinMan, in the same vien, two stories which are supposed to be accurate:

The German air controllers at Frankfurt Airport are renowned as a short-tempered lot. They not only expect one to know one's gate parking location, but how to get there without any assistance from them. So it was with some amusement that we (a Pan Am 747) listened to the following exchange between Frankfurt ground control and a British Airways 747, call sign Speedbird 206.

*Speedbird 206": ' Frankfurt , Speedbird 206! clear of active runway.'
*Ground" : 'Speedbird 206. Taxi to gate Alpha One-Seven.'

The BA 747 pulled onto the main taxiway and slowed to a stop.
*Ground": 'Speedbird, do you not know where you are going?'
*Speedbird 206*: 'Stand by, Ground, I'm looking up our gate location now.'*
*Ground (with quite arrogant impatience):* 'Speedbird 206, have you not been to Frankfurt before?'
*Speedbird 206 (coolly):* 'Yes, twice in 1944, but it was dark, -- And I didn't land.' *

Another one:

 Tour boats ferry people out to the USS Arizona Memorial in Hawaii every thirty minutes.  The writer just missed a ferry and had to wait thirty minutes.. He went into a small gift shop to kill time. In the gift shop, he purchased a small book entitled, "Reflections on Pearl Harbor" by Admiral Chester Nimitz.
 
Sunday, December 7th, 1941--Admiral Chester Nimitz was attending a concert in Washington D.C.  He was paged and told there was a phone call for him.  When he answered the phone, it was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on the phone.  He told Admiral Nimitz that he (Nimitz) would now be the Commander of the Pacific Fleet.
 
Admiral Nimitz flew to Hawaii to assume command of the Pacific Fleet.  He landed at Pearl Harbor on Christmas Eve, 1941.  There was such a spirit of despair, dejection and defeat--you would have thought the Japanese had already won the war.  On Christmas Day, 1941, Adm. Nimitz was given a boat tour of the destruction wrought on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. Big sunken battleships and navy vessels cluttered the waters every where you looked.

As the tour boat returned to dock, the young helmsman of the boat asked, "Well Admiral, what do you think after seeing all this destruction?"  Admiral Nimitz's reply shocked everyone within the sound of his voice. Admiral Nimitz said, "The Japanese made three of the biggest mistakes an attack force could ever make, or God was taking care of America. Which do you think it was?" Shocked and surprised, the young helmsman asked, "What do mean by saying the Japanese made the three biggest mistakes an attack force ever made?" Nimitz explained:

Mistake number one : the Japanese attacked on Sunday morning.  Nine out of every ten crewmen of those ships were ashore on leave.  If those same ships had been lured to sea and been sunk--we would have lost 38,000 men instead of 3,800.

Mistake number two : when the Japanese saw all those battleships lined in a row, they got so carried away sinking those battleships, they never once bombed our dry docks opposite those ships.  If they had destroyed our dry docks, we would have had to tow every one of those ships to America to be repaired.  As it is now, the ships are in shallow water and can be raised.  One tug can pull them over to the dry docks, and we can have them repaired and at sea by the time we could have towed them to America.  And I already have crews ashore anxious to man those ships.

Mistake number three : every drop of fuel in the Pacific theater of war is in top of the ground storage tanks five miles away over that hill. One attack plane could have strafed those tanks and destroyed our fuel supply.  That's why I say the Japanese made three of the biggest mistakes an attack force could make or God was taking care of America.
 
Any way you look at it--Admiral Nimitz was able to see a silver lining in a situation and circumstance where everyone else saw only despair and defeatism. President Roosevelt had chosen the right man for the right job.  We desperately needed a leader that could see silver linings in the midst of the clouds of dejection, despair and defeat.
There is a reason that our national motto is,   IN GOD WE TRUST.

I especially love the story of Nimitz.  He embodies the spirit of the America I grew up in and know and love.  I wish we had leaders like him at the helm at every level of federal, state and local gov't right now.
 
 
 

[cookingjnj]

Thanks for the posting Kristin.  Everyone should take a moment today to thank all those who have sacrificed to allow us the freedoms we have now.  I have not turned on the tv or radio yet today, I just hope all our media outlets take a break from the current crisis, and remind everyone of those who faced and defeated a crisis 75 years ago which kept our freedoms going.  That is the least they can do.

[Conumdrum]

I served for 21 years and am thankful I still see American values as positive.  In God we trust is true, and all the people from all over the world who can call themselves Americans.  I was born American, think of the millions who came to America by choice and pledged to become a citizen, and how many of them did not come home.... 

[hughver]

I was only 9 years old at the time but I vividly remember the celebrations that occurred on both VE and VJ days. My dad was an air force pilot and did not return home until 12/45.