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Let us all take a moment this morning and pay humble respects to those servicemen that gave their "last full measure" for our freedom 63 years ago on the beaches of Normandy, France! They, my friends, are the real hero's...especially, those that did not come home as any WWII veteran will tell you! Those servicemen gave up their life so their "brothers in arms" could go on and break the Nazi ! Without those sacrifices, we would not be here today enjoying our freedom to fish and exist - history is the great teacher!

It saddens me to think that some of the soldiers that survived that "hell on earth" of yesteryear will finally pass on to join their "brothers", who perished so long ago. Those of you out there that are veterans of one war or another can fully understand what I mean!

Sometimes I think that many of this "newer generation" will not understand the courage, determination, and dedication to duty, honor, & country it takes to be a volunteer soldier. If any are out there now reading this statement and have a problem with that statement, then I challenge you to come out to the Big Bend Classic and talk to one of the 25 soldiers going back over to war! God Bless the USA!!!

AMEN!

I was thinking the same thing last night when I watched Saving Private Ryan.

Ooh Aah!

Capt. Reggie, thank you for reminding us of the great men who help keep us free.

God Bless the "Great Generation" and their dwindling survivors!

I'm sure most of them look down on this country today and
wonder what happened to the United States of America
they loved and served and so many died for.

Hooahh! God bless all Vets!

RHTFISH wrote:God Bless the "Great Generation" and their dwindling survivors!

I'm sure most of them look down on this country today and
wonder what happened to the United States of America
they loved and served and so many died for.

I promise you my father is doing that very thing right now...hopefully he is not mad at me for not trying to change it more than I have in life (after all, his generation did leave our generation in charge of it). Guess what? We passed it on and, oppppps Ah shucks, you do what you can in life "and keep on keepin' on..." I do!

I have always been in awe of the balls it took to run on a beach with machine guns blazing at you. I have been very lucky not to have had to go to war anywhere.

Capt Reggie: Thanks for reminding us of the sacrifices made by a Great Nation, both past and present.

June 6 has other military history of extreme importance also:

1942...in pivotal battle of Midway, the Japanese realize they have had
their butts kicked and begin to break off the battle

1967...Israel begins 6 day war showing the world they don't need
permission from anyone to kick ass!

307th Medical BN, 82nd Airborne Division
http://www.ww2-airborne.us/units/307med/307med.html

To those who have served and those who sacrificed all..



We Salute You.

Redbelly wrote:I have always been in awe of the balls it took to run on a beach with machine guns blazing at you. I have been very lucky not to have had to go to war anywhere.

Redbelly, it's not "the balls", it's the training you go through and the mindset that you develop during training with a group of guys that "you are not going to let your buddy down"! I used to be in awe of things like amphibious landings, gunfire, mortars, cannon shells, getting killed, etc. My father was an old Navy chief from WWII - North Atlantic Convoy duty on a Minesweeper - and he warned me not to get mixed up with the Marine Corps, too.

Well, one day in 1970, I found myself out in the middle of the Gulf of Tonkin, on what we called Yankee Station (off North Vietnam waters), on board the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk, as hospital corpsman, on the flight deck watch, with countless numbers of 500# and 1,000# bombs, missiles, and other ordinance passing by my "aid station" during what the Airedales called an "Alpha Strike". My corpsman partner was a more seasoned veteran than I, so I did what he was doing...standing around looking for accidents to happen!

One bomb or missile going off or one plane crashing on deck and...well, that's why we trained for "damage control". It sort of put death on the beach landings and various kinds of gunfire in it's proper prospective...the one that gets you is the one you will never hear coming! Later on, I defied my father's wishes and hooked up with the USMC - I never had more fun in the service than with those guys.

RHTFISH wrote:June 6 has other military history of extreme importance also:

1942...in pivotal battle of Midway, the Japanese realize they have had
their butts kicked and begin to break off the battle

1967...Israel begins 6 day war showing the world they don't need
permission from anyone to kick ass!

Thank you, RHYFISH, for pointing out the most important historical significance of June 6th, 1942...we beat the Japanese i.e. Admiral Yamamoto's Master Plan, sent to destroy our fleet and push the US forces back to the western hemisphere. They wanted to put us in a better frame of mind to sue for peace! Ah, but that crafty ole' Nimitz sent Fletcher & Spruance out there and they "bushwhacked" 'em, sunk all four carriers, and killed most of the experienced Jap pilots. Secretly, I always thought that they "drew to an inside straight" and pulled out the Ace of Hearts!

We still have a lot to learn from our Israeli brothers and sisters - but ya gotta luv that spirit they have to kick ass!

Very timely excerpt from obit for Mr. Bill Reed of Albany

....from Albany Herald:

Bill E. Reed

ALBANY — Bill E. Reed, 86, of Albany died Tuesday at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital.

His funeral service will be 11 AM, Thursday (today) at First Baptist Church of Albany. Dr. William E. “Butchâ€