Veterans: Thank you.

[CERuppel]

The following is from Joy, though the author is unknown:

**************************************************

A protest raged on a courthouse lawn,
round a makeshift stage they charged on.
Fifteen hundred or more they say,
had come to burn the Flag that day.
A boy held up the folded Flag,
cursed it and called it a dirty rag.
A man pushed through the angry crowd,
with an old gun shouldered proud.
His uniform jacket was old and tight,
he had polished each button, shiny and bright.
He crossed the stage with military grace,
until he and the boy stood face to face.
Then the old man broke the silence.
"Freedom of speech, is worth dying for,
Good men are gone, they live no more.
All so you can stand on this courthouse lawn,
and ramble on from dusk to dawn.
But before the Flag gets burned today,
this old veteran is going to have his say.
My father died on a foreign shore,
in a war they said would end all wars.
Tommy and I weren't even full grown,
before we fought in a war of our own.
Tommy died on Iwo Jima's beach,
in the shadow of a hill he couldn't reach.
Where five good men raised this Flag so high,
that the whole world could see it fly.
I got this bum leg that I still drag,
fighting for this same old Flag.
There's but one shot in this old gun,
so now it's time to decide which one.
Which one of you will follow our lead,
to stand and die for what you believe?"
The boy who had called it a dirty rag,
handed the veteran the folded Flag.
The crowd got quiet as they walked away,
to talk about what they heard that day.
So the battle for the Flag this day was won,
by a loyal veteran with a single gun.
Who for one last time, had to show to some,
That these colors will never, never run.
It is the veteran, not the preacher,
who has given us freedom of religion.
It is the veteran, not the reporter,
who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the veteran, not the poet,
who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the veteran, not the campus organizer,
who has given us freedom to assemble.
It is the veteran, not the lawyer,
who has given us the right to a fair trial.
It is the veteran, not the politician,
Who has given us the right to vote.
It is the veteran, who salutes the Flag,
who serves under the Flag,
whose coffin is draped by the Flag.

The author is unknown.

*************************************************

Thanx dad. I won't forget.

[korgul]

Very nice gonna send that out to a few friends

[Terminal23]

I 2nd ,third,and fourth that.Salute.

[Warthog]

Hell yeah.

[Warthog]

Found this quote:

A man who will not protect his freedom does not deserve to be free. - General Douglas MacArthur

[Mntsnow]

I proudly salute my brothers & sisters in arms both past and present every day and not just on this single holiday.

[U-96]

I'm sorry, I was under those impression those rights were bestowed by the Constitution, not by the largesse of the military?

The piece is hacked from the writings of Father Dennis O'Brien, USMC. Note how the last line is conveniently omitted to push the agenda...

It is the soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of the press.
-- It is the soldier, not the poet
Who has given us freedom of speech.
-- It is the soldier, not the campus organizer
Who has given us freedom to demonstrate.
-- It is the solder, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.

Note the original emphasis is not "rah-rah! STFU liberal protesters, vets rule and you owe everything to them!" but is rather more reserved ""I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend (and maybe, have defended), to the death, your right to say it"

[Mntsnow]

U96,
you are correct in that the Consitution is what "gave us the rights" but it is our military that has DEFENDED those rights and our way of life thus giving those rights our citizens long since the consitution was written.

[osprey4]

Originally posted by U-96
"I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend (and maybe, have defended), to the death, your right to say it"

...and by the way, vets are so committed, they'll even die for your right to be a complete idiot!

I like this...

It is the veteran, not the lawyer,
who has given us the right to a fair trial.

How many lawyers died in court protecting anyone's rights?

[U-96]

thanks mntsnow, I have known you from these boards for several years and I know you have served and that you speak from the heart. I'm just a little irked that O'Brien's quite elegant article about giving respect to veterans somehow gets warped into some kind of anti-peacenik polemic that does nothing but insult the veterans it refers to.

Veterans should be honoured in a fitting and respectful manner, not used as emotional blackmail for using ones freedom of speech, wrapped up in the glorification of war with pom-poms and cheerleaders on the sidelines. It's that kind of crap that got people wound up in two world wars.

I was reading recently about the invasion of Sicily in 1943. Men died when their landing crafts sank because the bilge pumps were blocked with vomit from seasickness. That's how stupid and random war is. That's the kind of pointless end a soldier can face, and it's that kind of war that O'Brien's article originally addresses. The type that ruins young lives before they've even started.
He should know, he was at Guadalcanal.