USMC Quantico Band
Triangle, VA – The newly built “Semper Fidelis Memorial Chapel” was dedicated on 22 OCT 2009 with hundreds of people attending the glorious event on the grounds of the National Museum of the Marine Corps.
Someone in my growing network of friends extended an invitation to attend and capture this historic moment in time. It was a special invite and I was honored & humbled by it.
It had been nearly two years since a good friend, who’s a Marine and I went to spend what turned out to be a day at the museum. Likewise, I also “spent the day” mingling among the noted attendees, from the Commandant of the Marine Corps: GEN James Conway, and President & CEO of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation:LTG Ron Christmas USMC (Ret.) and many US Marine Corps Generals…
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GHTime Code(s): 3dd38 32680 674ec 58a87 Posted 2 years, 3 months ago at 2:23 pm. 5 comments
On Saturday 10 OCT, Honor Air Louisiana will be transporting another group of “the Greatest Generation” for a day in Washington DC to see the WW II Memorial among others and pay a visit to Arlington National Cemetery. The group sponsoring this wonderful visit has been in operation for a while and this will be their 19th trip since inception.
Their escort for the day is a Sentinel at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers…
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GHTime Code(s): f9a6f 3b584 Posted 2 years, 3 months ago at 11:59 pm. Add a comment
THE FORGOTTEN – OTHER D-DAY….
At the Rhone American Cemetery north of St. Tropez, in the little city of Draguignan, above all the graves, a stone wall is inscribed:
“We who lie here died that future generations might live in peace.”
In all, 250,000 Allied soldiers stormed France’s Mediterranean shores on Aug. 15, 1944, just 70 days after the D-Day landings at Normandy, catching German troops in a pincer so tight that Hitler muttered to aides, “This is the darkest day of my life.”
GHTime Code(s): db21e nc Posted 2 years, 5 months ago at 9:36 am. Add a comment
“Time will not dim the glory of their deeds.”
- General of the Armies, John J. Pershing
Below in the photo are only 9,387 reasons why Freedom is not Free… Here in France, the Normandy Cemetery just near the shore where the D-Day landings occurred…
Photos Courtesy American Battle Monuments Commission
“Count your blessings
that they were willing to give, so you can be.”
- John Michael
Posted 2 years, 8 months ago at 3:11 am. Add a comment
During WW II, MG G. M. Barnes was the chief of research and development of the US Army’s Ordnance Branch. In that capacity, his unit produced many many weapons to help the United States & the Allies win WW II – from artillery, to armor to hand held weapons, Ordnance delivered.
Another development that has changed the world is that today 17 MAY 1943, some 66 years ago, US Army & the University of Pennsylvania developed the ENIAC, a computer containing 17,468 vacuum tubes.
Posted 2 years, 8 months ago at 8:01 am. Add a comment
On December 8, 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed the UNITED STATES Congress in response to the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbor of the island of Oahu in Hawaii.
The speech began…. “Yesterday, Dec. 7, 1941 – a date which will live in infamy – the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”
“The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with the government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific….”
President Roosevelt went on to itemize that other US sovereign soil was also attacked and in the end posed a request to Congress:
“No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.”
“Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger.”
“With confidence in our armed forces – with the unbounding determination of our people – we will gain the inevitable triumph – so help us God.”
“I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, Dec. 7, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire.”
Posted 3 years, 2 months ago at 7:05 am. Add a comment
On December 7, 1941, Japanese planes attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory killing more than 2,300 Americans. The U.S.S. Arizona was completely destroyed and the U.S.S. Oklahoma capsized. The attack sank three other ships and damaged many additional vessels. More than 180 aircraft were destroyed.
Posted 3 years, 2 months ago at 2:12 pm. Add a comment
“… It’s in a Texas rodeo, in a policeman’s badge, in the sound of laughing children, in a political rally, in a newspaper…In all these things, and many more, you’ll find freedom. And freedom is what America means to the world. And to me.”
-Audie L. Murphy, Actor and Most Decorated Combat Soldier of WWII
Posted 3 years, 3 months ago at 6:00 am. Add a comment
Over 14 million troops were involved in the world’s second greatest war when the madman of the Nazis attempted to take over the world. It was because of the ingenuity, persistence and drive of the Americans that this evil was overcome. But at what cost?
The photo below shows the field of crosses that show only a part of those who defended the freedoms that most take for granted. What will you sacrifice?
Posted 3 years, 4 months ago at 5:48 am. Add a comment
I just finished the book that was sent to me – “A Tale of Two Subs” by Jonathan J. McCullough is an intensive read. I couldn’t put the book down, despite my busy schedule. I found the information presented in such a way that it became a “page turner” for me.
The book tells of the interaction of a pair of sister submarines in WW II and a series of events that occurred fifty-five years ago ending in Novemeber of 1943 in the Pacific.
The author does a great service to this much ironic set of events, while interspersing the lengths that the Allies went to uncover the secret codes of the Japanese and the Germans.
Thumbs Up and thanks for the great insights.
Posted 3 years, 5 months ago at 10:52 pm. Add a comment
