News Blog for social, fiscal & national security conservatives who believe in God, family & the USA. Upholding the rights granted by God & guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, traditional family values, "republican" principles / ideals, transparent & limited "smaller" government, free markets, lower taxes, due process of law, liberty & individual freedom. Content approval rests with the ARRA News Service Editor. Opinions are those of the authors. While varied positions are reported, beliefs & principles remain fixed. No revenue is generated for or by this "Blog" - no paid ads - no payments for articles.Fair Use Doctrine is posted & used. Blogger/Editor/Founder: Bill Smith, Ph.D. [aka: OzarkGuru & 2010 AFP National Blogger of the Year] Contact: editor@arranewsservice.com (Pub. Since July, 2006)Home PageFollow @arra
One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics
is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. -- Plato
(429-347 BC)
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
THANK YOU, VETERANS!
by FTG-1 Norm Beznoska Jr., US Navy 1958-64, Strongsville, Ohio: When I was 17-years old, I proudly took the Oath of Enlistment in the United States Navy. Like the men and women who came before and after me, I took this Oath* seriously and its’ words mean even more to me, today, some 50 years later:
“I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed Over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”
How can I forget the men and women I was honored to serve with in the Armed Forces of the United States? - Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airmen, and Coast Guardsmen, who came from all parts of America. From farms of the Midwest, small towns of New England and the South, from the big cities of the West, the mountains and the prairies, and from all walks of life. I trusted and depended on them, just as they trusted and depended on me - for comradeship, for courage, and for our very lives. In a word, they were and will forever be my “shipmates.”
Recalling the words of an anonymous poem by a World War II Veteran, I ask you, my fellow citizens, whatever your opinions or beliefs, to respect and honor those who have and are answering the call to serve our country by saying “Thank You”, this 11th day of November:
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 community 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 was willing to give his life for you.
It is the VETERAN, who salutes the flag,
who served the flag and someday,
will be buried under that flag!
Please take a few moments from your busy day to pause, reflect, and thank those who have served and are serving our country. While military conflicts are never easy to accept, neither are the denial of basic human rights, or Freedom by those in government who would deny us all our constitutional rights under the guise of “social justice”, “redistribution of wealth”, or “change.”
Keeping that Oath of Enlistment I took in mind, I can’t help but recall the words of Samuel Adams, a Veteran of the American Revolution:
“If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin”.
To my fellow Veterans, if there ever was time to remember we swore a sacred oath to always defend Our Constitution, and our countrymen, and prevent the ruin of our beloved country, let that time be today…Veterans Day 2009!
Remember: “A Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever." -- John Adams Norm Beznoska is a Navy Veteran and known to his friends as "Navyman Norm." He and Mrs B. have 3 children one of them served in Operation Iraqi Freedom as a Navy pilot. He is a proud member of Rolling Thunder and subscribes to the ARRA News Service. He lives by the Navy motto: "Non Sibi, Sed Patriae".... Not for Self, but For Country!
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*Officers since 13 May 1884 take this Oath: "I, ------, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God." Tags:military, tribute, US Navy, veterans, Veterans DayTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
"A really great people, proud and high-spirited, would face all the disasters of war rather than purchase that base prosperity which is bought at the price of national honor." -- Theodore Roosevelt
One of the best things I have ever attempted, over came, excelled at, was terrified by, loved and cherished, was my service to my country and to have proudly served with my brothers and sisters in arms. Airborne!
I also feel compelled to thank those who were behind all of us through letters in support to us, our government and to the local/national papers exercising their rights that we have fought for... been injured for and died for. God bless America, God bless the American Spirit and God bless the Land of the FREE.
Please remember to vote in every election, those who don't are wasting the gifts that the veterans have paid for and will pay for for the rest of our lives.... I have seen oppression and I wish it on no one.
Fight tyranny at every chance you have for those who do not will quietly accept the yokes and headstocks destined in our future.
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by FTG-1 Norm Beznoska Jr., US Navy 1958-64, Strongsville, Ohio: When I was 17-years old, I proudly took the Oath of Enlistment in the United States Navy. Like the men and women who came before and after me, I took this Oath* seriously and its’ words mean even more to me, today, some 50 years later:
5 Comments:
"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." --Sir Winston S. Churchill
"A really great people, proud and high-spirited, would face all the disasters of war rather than purchase that base prosperity which is bought at the price of national honor." -- Theodore Roosevelt
Tribute to America's Veterans
"Those Honored Dead"
"Why do you fly the flag today?"
My Grandson wants to know.
I fly it for the graveyards
Where the countless crosses grow.
I fly the flag for children
Whose fathers are a name.
A half-remembered memory
of a face within a frame.
I fly it for the families
of sons and daughters lost.
They know the price of liberty
How terrible the cost!
I fly the flag for veterans
who lost their youth in blood.
And saw their comrades slaughtered
in the carnage and the mud.
I fly it for the ones who marched
In cadence off to war
To close their eyes forever
Upon some foreign shore.
I fly the flag for grief poured out
Upon a granite wall.
The laying-on of hands that heals
The scars within us all.
I fly it for the sound of Taps---
That melancholy tune
That lays to rest those honored dead
Who always die too soon.
Copyright 1994 Marion G. Mahoney
Thank you so much for publishing my Veterans Tribute in ARRA News. You honor me, sir.
One of the best things I have ever attempted, over came, excelled at, was terrified by, loved and cherished, was my service to my country and to have proudly served with my brothers and sisters in arms. Airborne!
I also feel compelled to thank those who were behind all of us through letters in support to us, our government and to the local/national papers exercising their rights that we have fought for... been injured for and died for. God bless America, God bless the American Spirit and God bless the Land of the FREE.
Please remember to vote in every election, those who don't are wasting the gifts that the veterans have paid for and will pay for for the rest of our lives.... I have seen oppression and I wish it on no one.
Fight tyranny at every chance you have for those who do not will quietly accept the yokes and headstocks destined in our future.
Brian Scott La Morte, SGM (Ret)
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