Air Force Memorial Dedicated

Memorial Dedication Video x

President Bush: "A soldier can walk the battlefields where he once fought, A Marine can walk the beaches he once stormed, but an Airman can never visit the patch of sky he raced across to defend freedom. And so it is fitting that from this day forward, the men and women of the Air Force will have this memorial." Air Force Memorial Foundation

Navy's 231st Birthday: Still Defending Freedom

Special message from Adm. Mike Mullen Video

For the fifth straight year we will celebrate our Navy’s birthday -- this one the 231st -- at war. In fact, it was five years ago this month that naval forces launched the first strikes against the Taliban from ships steaming in the Indian Ocean. Today, from the Western Pacific into the Persian Gulf and Mediterranean, all the way to the Horn of Africa and even to our own shores, tens of thousands of deployed Sailors continue to take the fight to the enemy.
Adm. Mike Mullen article

Hanoi Jane's 1972 broadcasts on Radio Hanoi

The Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation has just made available the first online collection of Jane Fonda's 1972 broadcasts on Radio Hanoi.
The 19-transcript collection provides fascinating reading for anyone interested in leftist propaganda techniques.

Here are some of Hanoi Jane's classic anti-military / anti U.S. rants:

To American POWs: "Brave heroes of the war would come back from Indochina and I was told that it is we who committed crimes, it is we who burned villages and massacred civilian people and raped the Vietnamese women. It is we who did it and we are sorry, and we want the Amer1can people to know what is being done in their names."
To American pilots: "The men who are ordering you to use these weapons are war criminals according to international law, and in, in the past, in Germany and in Japan, men who were guilty of these kind of crimes were tried and executed."

To South Vietnamese students: "We have understood that we have a common enemy -– U.S. imperialism. We have understood that we have a common struggle and that your victory will be the victory of the American people and all peace-loving people around the world."

On women in the U.S. military: "I heard horrifying stories about the treatment of women in the U.S. military. So many women said to me that one of the first things that happens to them when they enter the service is that they are taken to see the company psychiatrist and they are given a little lecture which is made very clear to them that they are there to service the men." MORE

"Monsters and the Weak"

A poem about the valor and commitment on display everyday in Iraq and Afghanistan by our troops.

"Monsters and the Weak"
The sun beat like a hammer, not a cloud was in the sky.
The mid-day air ran thick with dust; my throat was parched and dry.

With microphone clutched tight in hand and cameraman in tow,
I ducked beneath a fallen roof, surprised to hear "stay low."

My eyes blinked several times before in shadow I could see,
the figure stretched across the rubble, steps away from me.

He wore a cloak of burlap strips, all shades of grey and brown,
that hung in tatters till he seemed to melt into the ground.

He never turned his head or took his eye from off the scope,
but pointed through the broken wall and down the rocky slope.

"About eight hundred yards," he said, his whispered words concise,
"beneath the baggy jacket he is wearing a device."

A chill ran up my spine despite the swelter of the heat,
"You think he's gonna set it off along the crowded street?"

The sniper gave a weary sigh and said "I wouldn't doubt it,"
"unless there's something this old gun and I can do about it."

A thunderclap, a tongue of flame, the still abruptly shattered;
while citizens that walked the street were just as quickly scattered.

Till only one remained, a body crumpled on the ground,
The threat to oh so many ended by a single round.

And yet the sniper had no cheer, no hint of any gloat,
instead he pulled a logbook out and quietly he wrote.

"Hey, I could put you on TV that shot was quite a story!"
But he surprised me once again -- "I got no wish for glory."

"Are you for real?" I asked in awe, "You don't want fame or credit?"
He looked at me with saddened eyes and said "you just don't get it."

"You see that shot-up length of wall, the one without a door?
before a mortar hit, it used to be a grocery store."

"But don't go thinking that to bomb a store is all that cruel,
the rubble just across the street -- it used to be a school.

The little kids played soccer in the field out by the road,"
His head hung low, "They never thought a car would just explode."

"As bad as all this is though, it could be a whole lot worse,"
He swallowed hard; the words came from his mouth just like a curse.

"Today the fight's on foreign land, on streets that aren't my own,"
"I'm here today 'cause if I fail, the next fight's back at home."

"And I won't let my Safeway burn, my neighbors dead inside,
don't wanna get a call from school that says my daughter died;

I pray that not a one of them will know the things I see,
nor have the work of terrorists etched in their memory."

"So you can keep your trophies and your fleeting bit of fame,
I don't care if I make the news, or if they speak my name."

He glanced toward the camera and his brow began to knot,
"If you're looking for a story, why not give this one a shot."

"Just tell the truth of what you see, without the slant or spin;
that most of us are OK and we're coming home again.

And why not tell our folks back home about the good we've done,
how when they see Americans, the kids come at a run."

You tell 'em what it means to folks here just to speak their mind,
without the fear that tyranny is just a step behind;

Describe the desert miles they walk in their first chance to vote,
or ask a soldier if he's proud, I'm sure you'll get a quote."

He turned and slid the rifle in a drag bag thickly padded,
then looked again with eyes of steel as quietly he added;

"And maybe just remind the few, if ill of us they speak,
that we are all that stands between the monsters and the weak.

Author unknown

Veterans Report

Become a Guardian Angel
Operation Guardian Angel is a national campaign that encourages families, friends, neighborhoods and communities to remind servicemembers to practice safety when they return home. Anyone can become a guardian angel if they care enough to help our Servicemembers stay safe once they return home. To become a guardian angel and apply for an official "Guardian Angel" Certificate of Appreciation, visit the Operation Guardian website.

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The Search For America's World War I Veterans
Time is running out to find and recognize the last remaining veterans of "The Great War." The rolls of World War I veterans have declined so rapidly that the day is fast approaching when there will be one remaining, then none. The VA, with assistance from historians, state agencies and others, is keeping a roster of those veterans. Three years ago, there were about 250 remaining WWI American veterans. Yet, there may be other WWI veterans out there, perhaps in private nursing homes or in the care of family members, who have not been identified by VA. If you know of any WWI veterans in your area, please contact VA's Office of Public Affairs in Washington, DC, at opaweb@va.gov.

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Uphold the Code Of Honor
Uphold the Code Of Honor with fellow wartime veterans and active duty military - Join The American Legion - "Still Serving America", a strategic partner of Military.com.