All we have to do is vote. Today, commemorating D-Day, President Biden said, “To surrender to bullies, to bow down to dictators is simply unthinkable. Were we to do that, it means we would be forgetting what happened here on these hallowed beaches.”
The D-Day commemoration had a special resonance for me (as I'm sure it did for thousands of American families and families of our allies). My uncle was one of the "volunteered" medics with the 82nd Airborne (307th Airborne Medical Company) who landed by glider behind the Pathfinders on Utah Beach, before the main body of troops arrived by sea. The first in a family tradition of combat medics. The Germans expected them and had planted telephone poles in landing fields just beyond the beach. They were designed to tear the wings off the gliders and they succeeded, but Uncle Al survived to initially minister to the wounded paratroopers of the 82nd and the 101st who also arrived by glider and made the famous night jump shortly after midnight on June 6. Unfortunately, he fell victim to a sniper's bullet less than a year later. It shouldn't have happened to a guy wearing a large red cross on his uniform but a lot of things happen that shouldn't in a war. He lies in the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy with more than 9,000 of his fellow unsung heroes. My telling this story is not so much to honor Al and the 4,000+ allied troops who died on D-Day 80 years ago and the tens of thousands more killed in the ensuing Battle of Normandy, but to point out that our fight to be able to continue to form a "more perfect union" --- it will always be aspirational --- is every bit as important in the context of the present rise of authoritarianism, as it was in combating it then. Courage my friends. The same courage mustered up by a frightened 19-year-old in the belly of a fragile wooden glider flying into the unknown.
A salute to your uncle, Dale. War is hell. I am the wife of a Vietnam Vet and the daughter of a Holocaust victim who enlisted into the Army in hopes of being sent back to Europe to fight the Nazis. Instead, he was sent to Papua New Guinea to fight the Japanese. It was something to watch Biden address our 160 still living soldiers who fought that same battle as your uncle. The admiration from the French was immense. May your uncle, my father, and the others always be remembered and revered.
I was at the cemetery and commemorating ceremonies yesterday where your uncle is buried. It was very moving and wonderful to see many of the vets get the Medal of the French Legion of Honor. Thank you for sharing his story.
That guy Brown in Joyce’s photo got one of those 3 medals 🎖️French Legion of Honor ! Yes 🙌 the French ceremony on the beach with so much careful artistic expression was amazingly beautiful and moving ! Dance, song, piano, bagpipes, texts …
<<Arlester Brown – né le 1er avril 1924 à Homer, Louisiane – Armée de terre.
Il intègre l’Armée de terre américaine en juin 1943 puis, après une période de formation, embarque à New York pour rejoindre l’Angleterre. Affecté au sein d’une compagnie de soutien, dans le domaine de l’intendance, il débarque à Omaha Beach en juillet 1944. La compagnie suit l’avancée des Alliés d’Omaha Beach à Saint-Lô, puis à travers la France. Il sert en Belgique, aux Pays-Bas et en Allemagne. En janvier 1945, il est blessé au visage en Allemagne par des éclats d’obus et est évacué vers l’Angleterre. M. Brown a été décoré à quatre reprises.>>
…<<…Arlester Brown – born April 1, 1924 in Homer, Louisiana – Army.
He joined the American Army in June 1943 then, after a period of training, embarked from New York to join England. Assigned to a support company, in the field of stewardship, he landed at Omaha Beach in July 1944. The company followed the advance of the Allies from Omaha Beach to Saint-Lô, then through France. He serves in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. In January 1945, he was injured in the face in Germany by shrapnel and was evacuated to England. Mr. Brown has been decorated four times.>>…
Wow! I am just reading The Longest Day, a very detailed, heartbreaking and unbelievably inspiring account of the D Day invasion. Utah and Omaha beach invasions were especially horrific for those brave men who glided in. I honor your uncle, my Dad who was in the ETO in North Africa and all the thousands and thousands of men and women who served humanity and our freedoms.
My parents had their own business, a clothing store. They worked 6 days a week. When the movie came out (The Longest Day), my dad went to the movie theater for a very long time for 2 days straight. The movie was 6 hours long. That was in 1962. I was 11 years old. He fought in WWII but in the Philippines for 4 years. He only ever took days off if he was traveling to merchandise marts outside of the state.
Oh, you are a young one, Marlene! I was ten in 1944 when news of The War was all that counted. We waited anxiously daily not to receive the dreaded telegram of death!When my skinny cousin came home from a POW camp in Germany (having hid his religion with the aid of his fellow prisoners), we danced for joy and cried for freedom. We have another chance at that in five months, don’t we? Let’s make the most of it folks— go all out!! It’s Our Time!
What a wonderful day your family witnessed, Ira! You’re a youngster with so much energy. We will win this war, Ira, and when we do, dancing in the streets and tears of joy will be heard around the wotld!
Love your response! Let’s have a reminder every week to everyone on this and other preferred sites: what have you done individually this week to encourage nonpartisan voter registration or to urge 18 to 29s to register and turnout by contributing to www.TurnUp.US? We are in this to WIN! And we WILL!
I worked at a theatre while in hightschool. Our theatre showed the movie when it was still a special event. Week after Week the theatre sold out and it was amazing. The Longest Day was an amazing education for me. It still interests me more than any other subject. I enjoy every movie, documentary, book; you name it. And yet, so many stories to be told. Keep telling them because we need to be reminded.
Hi Beatrice. How amazing to experience the film at an age where you could appreciate the gravity of it and D Day. I don’t remember anything about the film when I was a kid. My Dad was in the Air Command in Casablanca and his stories were vastly different than the horrors of D Day. He was a major and never in combat. It is only now that my heart has been broken open by the planning, horrors, and incredible sacrifice of ordinary citizens. I am in awe. I would like to read more. Do you have any recommendations? And thank you. I will keep telling the stories!
Thank you, Dale for sharing this story. My uncle too, was a medic in the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps. Fortunately my uncle survived the war, but when he was aboard a hospital ship in the Mediterranean, A ship clearly marked with huge red crosses, it was torpedoed by the Nazis, Uncle Archie made it to shore. This is the same fascism trump and Project 2025 are planning for America.
We won't! We must fight just as these heroes fought on hallowed ground. They were maimed, killed and endured horrible conditions. We have comforts they never knew.
I have lived for 75, and never dreamed I’d see this threat. My husband’s beloved Uncle Pat was in the 6th wave at Normandy. He survived only to be strafed in the Battle of the Bulge and carry shrapnel and life long injuries until his death in 2000. My husband, each year as we gather for Thanksgiving, recounts Pat’s sacrifice and that of thousands of others for the benefit of our grandchildren. I pray somehow they remember Gramps tears as he describes the hell of that invasion and the wounds Pat suffered. I pray somehow they grasp the meaning of sacrifice for the greater good. Soon there will be no living survivors, and it will be these stories that convey the horror and the gratitude. May we never forget.
There is no excuse not to vote, you don’t even have to make it to your precinct,vote by mail, or,vote from your car, as needed. Just do it. Help others who may be discouraged because of a disability. We owe it to all the military folks who risk their lives, for the privilege!
The brutality and inhumanity of war reaches the darkest limit when a medic is gunned down by a Nazi sniper. That is the apex of hatred and inumanity. My first reaction to crimes like this is 2025.
This is forshadowing reminder of the vindictive, revenge based actions that will take place if the Orange 34-0 convicted felon returns to power.
Today, for me, it reaches its darkest limits when grandmothers, young women, little girls, are raped to death, tortured, murdered by Russians in Ukraine, by Hamas in Israel for instance. Rape and Torture is NOT acceptable as a weapon of war or anything else. Targeting medics and clerics was just the beginning of the depths of depravity, it seems.
As the Russians pushed back the Nazis in 1944-45, they raped, beat and murdered the German women as well. History repeats itself and humanity never seems to learn that hard truth.
Humanity never learns. Or we would have learned by now. And while I know there is no such thing as a monolith in an entire people, like Russians, Russians have never shown themselves to be respectful or peace loving. Though there might have been a window missed 100 years or more ago. One brief moment where Russia looked at democracy.
This is a beautiful tribute and I honor him and them. I found myself in tears multiple times watching commemorations take place this week. Does America still have that courage? Are we still the "land of the free or home of the brave"? For the first time I have come to doubt that. I continue to pray.
My dad was on a minesweeper on D-Day. His was the first ship in the invasion. When someone attacks antifa I proudly claim that my dad was an OG Antifa and actively engaged fascists as did every patriotic American of his generation.
We need to start teaching better history in schools. Most younger people don’t seem to know history of the wars America has participated in and something I noticed after going to my local rodeo was how the announcer praised General Lee and how the American flag was hoisted by the rebels, was shot at but kept flying. They talked of Lee winning the war. This is a complete distortion of history as the south never adopted the stars and bars of the American flag but their flag was mostly the confederate battle flag. I was waiting on that flag but they didn’t bring it out. Then they broke out and paraded the Christian flag as the only flag recognized by the population which really flew in my face as we don’t salute this flag as there’s many different religions. I thought that there were federal guidelines for teaching history but apparently not in the south or they ignore the fact based reality. Maybe we should start with revamping the education system for grades 1-12.
I don't know what state you live in, but the people who run that local rodeo sound frightening. And I second your suggestion that we need to do a better job of teaching children in this country. I'm not sure Republicans want an educated public, but that's just one more reason to vote them out of every office from President to dog catcher
I live in Georgia, I used to live in the Atlanta burbs but after a 14 year stay in Florida I moved back but to the mountains as I’ve always watched to retire in mountains.
The mountains - the middle of unreconstructed Confederate territory over the past 100 years. If only they knew their real history! The mountain people in Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi were the center and the backbone of the Southern Unionists in the Civil War. Also the people in northern Louisiana where MAGA Mike comes from, and the mountain regions of Arkansas. These were not the Southerners who spread inland from the coast, but the ones who came south down the Appalachians and didn't own slaves. They were looked down on by the Southern enslavers, most of whom had to suppress the votes of these people to pass their Articles of Secession (it took three tries in Alabama and only won when they expelled the representatives from northern Alabama). Over one third of the Southerners who served in the Civil War served in the Union armies, not that of the Confederacy. Draft resistance to the South was so entrenched in these areas that the Confederates had to send armed gangs into those areas to shanghai men into the Confederate Army. But 100 years of Lost Cause propaganda and not wanting to be seen as pariahs (which most were treated as after the North abandoned the Southern Unionists after the war) ended up with them losing their history and learning that day is night, up is down,and left is right.
Thanks for that bit of lost history. There were also a large group of Unionists in Texas. Sam Houston was impeached as Governor because he opposed secession.
Yes! There are a number of books out in recent years about the true South, the people who were patriots and believed in America. That history needs to be thrown in the faces of these "lost cause" MAGA traitors every day.
Absolutely! I had no idea so many people from the South fought for the Union.
The MAGA crowd may never change their views, but they should be seen more and more by the majority of democracy lovers in this country as they actually are... a relatively small group of brain-washed or fact deprived cult followers of a fascist loving felon.
My only question is how to get this information past the high walls built by conservative media that has kept the MAGA crowd and many of their "truth deprived" neighbors susceptable to Kellyanne's "alternative facts."
(I'm leaving out the shameful, corporate/political morally bankrupt crowd who know the truth about their criminal leader, but care more about tax cuts and power than they care about our democracy.)
Didn’t know that! I was educated in Tx. I really don’t remember if I was taught that bit of history or not. It was a long time ago, when I never questioned the “facts” being taught as reality.
It is interesting that, as I've read through all the comments about the history of the south and west, that it throws a bright light on a simple fact that as humans we gather things; people, animals, recipes, and all else, into groups. When we are taught about groups as youngsters, we assume that all things within the group are the same. As we mature and continue reading, we are expanded to find they all are not the same and some are acutely different. Keep reading and thinking and enjoying the comments Substack. Combat book banning. Read slightly right and slightly left leaning news. Fine tune your critical thinking. We stand at the precipice of such an important decision. It is up to every person to think hard and vote.
On D-day we celebrated our freedoms at the expense of hundreds of thousands of lives lost. We must all do our part to keep the freedoms they fought and died to preserve. Voting is our strongest weapon.
Yes, excellent. The First Alabama Cavlary US Volunteers was also the first non-segregated unit in the US Army. There were several former slaves who were with them.
Those people you watched at the rodeo who live in an alternate reality sound like the Germans in the 1930's who "went along to get along", only to witness their country being bombed mercilessly while those who instigated the catastrophe either fled the country or committed suicide.
Everyone should beware of that happening here, since the fascist way of life will leave no one on the sidelines. Even those at the rodeo.
I feel like we put enormous even impossible burdens on teachers and a 6-7 hour school day. Could we use our imaginations to come up with extracurricular events that engage young people in their non school hours other than sports and social media? Do we need adult volunteers to start math clubs, history clubs, drama, science exploration in the afternoon hours once schools are out? Is this a way an older retired generation can engage with a younger generation as mentors and share wisdom? I think we assign way too much responsibility to very overworked and underpaid teachers and we are losing teachers in droves.
Christy, you put forth an excellent proposal. Teachers are under enormous stress.
Teachers, the schools, and the parents of our school kids need our help, not only from a retired generation, but from any of us adults who can do something small or large.
Mentor a science fair project group? Count me in.
If I could I knit like Joyce does, heck, I'd start a knitting group for the kids. Knitting is an excellent introduction for learning to code. All those knitting patterns are all about coding for the knitting project! Knitting would be tremendously helpful for kids that might need a leg up on math. Adding and subtracting.
Also excellent for focus and paying attention as well as hand eye coordination. Duh. Why did I not think of this before? Think I better learn to knit.
Yes!! More knitting would mean less mental health issues too, I’m sure of it!!
My grandson went to town on a knitting project during art week thanks to a local volunteer! ♥️
The concept of our communities being involved in raising our children, (actively discouraged by many on the right) would be such a wonderful step for humanity. So much for us to learn from indigenous peoples. All any child needs is one adult to really connect with and think of all the opportunities it would encourage for youngsters to flourish in their strengths.
I remember when my boys were younger and they would really connect with another adult on a special interest that was not my strength and how amazing that was for me to watch that flourish ♥️♥️♥️
The world would be far less lonely. We don’t have the luxury of living within multigenerational families in the modern world. We expect teachers to perform miracles. It’s crazy!
It’s hard to find people that want to volunteer for anything outside of schools except for sports. We should teach history starting in 4th grade all the wet to 12th. I did have one civics class in 11th grade.
We need a culture shift. Corporate America has changed our culture by advertising things and places and now everybody wants what they see 24/7. We have lost so much. How do we get a culture to shift back towards respecting our earth and each other again and away from material possessions and cursory travel?
I think seeing a problem and talking about it is the beginning of getting more creative ideas on more positive and life affirming pathways forward. After all, knowing better has always been my first step in my efforts to do better.
Rusty, I grew up in Southern California, where we studied American history in 5th, 8th, and 11th grades. Our classes never got further than the time before the Civil War. I couldn't agree more about better teaching of history, both general and local.
What a travesty, and this story should be a warning to anyone who does not support our Republic, that they are insulting the vets and their families and, in my mind should be wary of anyone who tries to teach something different. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸💙💙💙💙💙💙It is your duty to vote for someone who supports our Republic!
Each State provides its own public education. The Federal Department of Education may suggest what should be taught, but they have NO power to enforce those rules. Education was another matter the Constitution leaves for each State to legislate.
And each individual school district. It has been a Republican aim to take over local school boards across the country for decades now. And NOW our local district has been taken over by MAGA Charis Bible College people who have hired propagandists, dismissed teachers and admin, and funded a churchbased charter school while closing a local elementary school. (They tried to take over city council next but people were so appalled by the school board that city council votes went the other way. For now.)
It’s complicated for sure but Feds have gotten involved in K-12 curriculum along the way with old GW’s being the most aggressive, perhaps? I have not done a deep dive but it does seem that if the Feds were to fund a mandate for an informed citizenry, it would be contentious in today’s regressive Confederate politics, however it could be something to advocate for? The very definition of democracy requires participation and surely an electorate informed on the workings of their own government and the basic information needed to pass a citizenship test shouldn’t be contentious 🤷🏻♀️ I took Civics in 9th grade in 1970. I have no idea if it was required or not. Given the vulnerability of our democracy to authoritarian forces in the last decade maybe we need stronger advocacy.
A quick google search revealed a number of recent journalistic efforts on the subject. Perhaps it needs an activist group or two to put some weight into it?
Rock band Lynard Skynard used/uses the stars and bars on the albums. Rusty, that never seemed right to me ever. Anyone having comments on that would be great. As a kid, I climbed Little Round Top and saw the fields where Picketts Charge took place.
I grew up near Petersburg Battlefield and City Point Hopewell. My neighbor was the historian for both and was the previous historian for other battlefields in VA. He retired from Saylors Creek/Appomattox recently as he’s got Parkinson’s.
My Dad was in the 30th Army Infantry Division and landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day +2; I taught AP European History and World History for 38 years at a public High School in SoCal. I wanted him to come to my classes for an Oral History lesson but he couldn't, so I wrote down him story, sketched the badges on his uniform, took his uniform and his Army photo, along with other WWII visuals tomy classes every year during the WWII unit, let student wear his uniform while I explained everything. What he wouldn't let me take was the pictures HE took during the liberation Buchenwald Concentration Camp. (My brother still has these pictures) Students loved this! I would also invite other WH teachers to join my classes, luckily I had a really big classroom! It saddens me greatly that States are revamping/sanitizing their curriculums, banning books, crimminalizing Truth, etc... Knowing my Dad, he's probably trying to dig himself out of his grave at Riverside National Cemetary! My Mom, too; she was a nurse at a Tennessee Army Hospital and German POW camp. That's where they met and married 6 1/2 weeks later!
We need to reinstitute the teaching of civics. It's absence leave a gapping hole in our youths understanding and our publics ability to participate in meaningful discussions and decisions.
We also need to teach Civics in the schools again. But first we need to save public education from the likes of MAGA and so called Christians or evangelicals who have been taking over school boards for decades. My county is facing such a threat today. School as propaganda, brain washing rather than critical thinking.
They are defunding the public schools by taking federal money for charter/private school vouchers and many of those schools are religious. You want to send your kid to a religious school then you pay for it! Don’t used public school money for it.
Exactly. Property taxes are sky high and they are supporting religious charter schools and propagandized public schools, neither of which I want to support.
Second cry today. Reading this post by Joyce and watching a video clip posted by Steven Beschloss, of one of these men meeting Zelenskiy: "A heartbreaking encounter between two men who know the ultimate price of defending democracy"
OMG, I cried and cried when Zelensky knelt down to give him a beautiful and sincere hug. The way they thanked each other was moving and came from their hearts. When Zelensky stood up, it seemed as if he wanted to hold on to his hand as long as he could, the way old friends would do, knowing that they may never see each other again.
Though it was a brief moment, it showed that neither of our two countries can afford to take democracy for granted.
So very touching. Tears running down my face. The pride and gratitude I feel for these two men are indescribable. If you love our country, take the time to go back through Joyce’s post and click on something to do. Things aren’t going to magically happen. We are the hands and feet to do it.
My Dad landed on Utah Beach in the D-Day invasion. He died in 1995. He served under General Eisenhower. He proudly called himself an “Eisenhower Republican” when General Eisenhower became President Eisenhower. Today was a special day of remembrance because the fascist monster is rearing its ugly head once again.
Eisenhower was the first president I knew; he reminded me of my grandfather so I thought all presidents were like my grandpa and would keep the country safe and sound. Ike earned the presidency. The last great Republican president.
It is also being respectful to older persons who today are too often discounted as if they have no value to society when what they do have raises their value to a most immense degree! We saw a few of those today.
Being respectful is one thing, putting criminals including the orange turd in jail is another, those two things aren’t mutually exclusive, in fact they go hand in hand.🖐️🤚🙏
May I respectfully disagree (though I understand your High Road sentiment)?
I have zero respect for MAGA Republicans and less than zero for them on SCOTUS and in House and Senate much less White House. ZERO. I will attempt to ACT respectfully but I have no respect for fascists.
Also think about supporting The States Project, which is doing a brilliant job of supporting turning some states blue. Recognizing the GOP has focused on this for decades, and an enormous amount of good can be done when the Democrats win a trifecta in a state -- and much evil avoided, like anti-abortion laws and efforts to steal elections.
And please support www.TurnUp.US registering tens of thousands of 18 to 29s to support abortion rights;run by brilliant Harvard students;the best registration program!
I'm also supporting Sarah Longwell's Republican Accountability Project and Republican Voters Against Trump and Defending Democracy Together. They are doing a billboard ad campaign in swing states, which is fabulous. https://www.ra-pac.org/about
What a wonderful experience, for you! My Dad served with the NZDF during WWII. Even those who returned, sacrificed a lot so that we might live in peace. I noticed one of these gentlemen behind President Biden today. They must be well into their 90’s.
Most were between 99 and 107 years old. We got to greet them and cheer them as they came through the parking lot back to the busses after the ceremony. American Airlines was a big presence here assisting those that were not with family.
99 year old Rosie the Riveter from Wichita was there too and a few other women as well. You can Google her name - Connie Palacioz - and read how she helped to build Boeing airplanes for the war effort. It would be nice to know each and everyone’s stories. I saw her name tag on a picture shared by one of the folks on our day outing from Paris. And then I looked her up.. We are all members of Democrats Abroad living in Paris. We left Paris
My mother worked for the Brooklyn Naval Yard during WWII; although she didn’t talk much about it, I think those years were some of the best of her long life. Respect.
Gives me goosebumps. Good for Delta to honor them.
My dad enlisted before Pearl Harbor because he believed American Jews had to fight Hitler. He fought in Italy and Germany. My stepfather was in the Battle of the Bulge and was also in Germany. Neither of them talked about the war, and when pressed gave short answers.
Wonderful that parents who were on that flight had an opportunity to teach their children at that moment. I hope they will never forget seeing those old men who fought for our country.
The letters I write for Vote Forward ask us to answer the question “I vote because….”. I always say that when I was born my mom and grandma had been able to vote for less than 30 years; they never missed an election and always talked about how important it was to them. So this Civil Discourse today hit on that theme, thank you Joyce (and Hillary)
Sorry I went off on a tangent. The video of Zelensky and the veteran brought tears to my eyes and the singing of happy birthday to one of our vets really made the day special for all those veterans that knew they were still loved and appreciated.
Rusty, Please do not apologize. I'm glad you posted about your horrifying experience at the rodeo with the Christian flag flying and the absence of the American Flag. It seems that some people are living with a different history of the United States. This is very disturbing.
It is imperative that history be taught in schools!
I miss that America. It’s what we’re all working to regain in the coming election. It’s what we mean when we talk about keeping the Republic.
Amen!
In case you didn't know, Joyce, you got a real privilege in meeting those two guys beyond what you said. The black vet is Colonel Enoch "Woody" Woodhouse, the last Tuskeegee Airman alive able to travel. Also a hero in Korea and Vietnam.
Thank you again again dear Joyce!! It was so great to see a real President honoring our Vets today. Glad you got to see some in Boston. I'm going to share this with my Group of "Nasty Women" here in Indiana so they too can get more involved. Can't wait to get some Swag as well.
The D-Day commemoration had a special resonance for me (as I'm sure it did for thousands of American families and families of our allies). My uncle was one of the "volunteered" medics with the 82nd Airborne (307th Airborne Medical Company) who landed by glider behind the Pathfinders on Utah Beach, before the main body of troops arrived by sea. The first in a family tradition of combat medics. The Germans expected them and had planted telephone poles in landing fields just beyond the beach. They were designed to tear the wings off the gliders and they succeeded, but Uncle Al survived to initially minister to the wounded paratroopers of the 82nd and the 101st who also arrived by glider and made the famous night jump shortly after midnight on June 6. Unfortunately, he fell victim to a sniper's bullet less than a year later. It shouldn't have happened to a guy wearing a large red cross on his uniform but a lot of things happen that shouldn't in a war. He lies in the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy with more than 9,000 of his fellow unsung heroes. My telling this story is not so much to honor Al and the 4,000+ allied troops who died on D-Day 80 years ago and the tens of thousands more killed in the ensuing Battle of Normandy, but to point out that our fight to be able to continue to form a "more perfect union" --- it will always be aspirational --- is every bit as important in the context of the present rise of authoritarianism, as it was in combating it then. Courage my friends. The same courage mustered up by a frightened 19-year-old in the belly of a fragile wooden glider flying into the unknown.
A salute to your uncle, Dale. War is hell. I am the wife of a Vietnam Vet and the daughter of a Holocaust victim who enlisted into the Army in hopes of being sent back to Europe to fight the Nazis. Instead, he was sent to Papua New Guinea to fight the Japanese. It was something to watch Biden address our 160 still living soldiers who fought that same battle as your uncle. The admiration from the French was immense. May your uncle, my father, and the others always be remembered and revered.
Amen
Tout a fait
You and your Uncle make us all proud. What a touching moving story. Thanks for sharing
I was at the cemetery and commemorating ceremonies yesterday where your uncle is buried. It was very moving and wonderful to see many of the vets get the Medal of the French Legion of Honor. Thank you for sharing his story.
That guy Brown in Joyce’s photo got one of those 3 medals 🎖️French Legion of Honor ! Yes 🙌 the French ceremony on the beach with so much careful artistic expression was amazingly beautiful and moving ! Dance, song, piano, bagpipes, texts …
<<Arlester Brown – né le 1er avril 1924 à Homer, Louisiane – Armée de terre.
Il intègre l’Armée de terre américaine en juin 1943 puis, après une période de formation, embarque à New York pour rejoindre l’Angleterre. Affecté au sein d’une compagnie de soutien, dans le domaine de l’intendance, il débarque à Omaha Beach en juillet 1944. La compagnie suit l’avancée des Alliés d’Omaha Beach à Saint-Lô, puis à travers la France. Il sert en Belgique, aux Pays-Bas et en Allemagne. En janvier 1945, il est blessé au visage en Allemagne par des éclats d’obus et est évacué vers l’Angleterre. M. Brown a été décoré à quatre reprises.>>
English. Pardon 11 men were decorated yesterday !
…<<…Arlester Brown – born April 1, 1924 in Homer, Louisiana – Army.
He joined the American Army in June 1943 then, after a period of training, embarked from New York to join England. Assigned to a support company, in the field of stewardship, he landed at Omaha Beach in July 1944. The company followed the advance of the Allies from Omaha Beach to Saint-Lô, then through France. He serves in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. In January 1945, he was injured in the face in Germany by shrapnel and was evacuated to England. Mr. Brown has been decorated four times.>>…
Thank you so much for sharing this.
Merci beaucoup for sharing his story. (I am rusty in French)
Absolutely Beautiful. Thank you
Wow! I am just reading The Longest Day, a very detailed, heartbreaking and unbelievably inspiring account of the D Day invasion. Utah and Omaha beach invasions were especially horrific for those brave men who glided in. I honor your uncle, my Dad who was in the ETO in North Africa and all the thousands and thousands of men and women who served humanity and our freedoms.
My parents had their own business, a clothing store. They worked 6 days a week. When the movie came out (The Longest Day), my dad went to the movie theater for a very long time for 2 days straight. The movie was 6 hours long. That was in 1962. I was 11 years old. He fought in WWII but in the Philippines for 4 years. He only ever took days off if he was traveling to merchandise marts outside of the state.
Oh, you are a young one, Marlene! I was ten in 1944 when news of The War was all that counted. We waited anxiously daily not to receive the dreaded telegram of death!When my skinny cousin came home from a POW camp in Germany (having hid his religion with the aid of his fellow prisoners), we danced for joy and cried for freedom. We have another chance at that in five months, don’t we? Let’s make the most of it folks— go all out!! It’s Our Time!
What a wonderful day your family witnessed, Ira! You’re a youngster with so much energy. We will win this war, Ira, and when we do, dancing in the streets and tears of joy will be heard around the wotld!
Love your response! Let’s have a reminder every week to everyone on this and other preferred sites: what have you done individually this week to encourage nonpartisan voter registration or to urge 18 to 29s to register and turnout by contributing to www.TurnUp.US? We are in this to WIN! And we WILL!
I worked at a theatre while in hightschool. Our theatre showed the movie when it was still a special event. Week after Week the theatre sold out and it was amazing. The Longest Day was an amazing education for me. It still interests me more than any other subject. I enjoy every movie, documentary, book; you name it. And yet, so many stories to be told. Keep telling them because we need to be reminded.
Hi Beatrice. How amazing to experience the film at an age where you could appreciate the gravity of it and D Day. I don’t remember anything about the film when I was a kid. My Dad was in the Air Command in Casablanca and his stories were vastly different than the horrors of D Day. He was a major and never in combat. It is only now that my heart has been broken open by the planning, horrors, and incredible sacrifice of ordinary citizens. I am in awe. I would like to read more. Do you have any recommendations? And thank you. I will keep telling the stories!
Thank you, Dale for sharing this story. My uncle too, was a medic in the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps. Fortunately my uncle survived the war, but when he was aboard a hospital ship in the Mediterranean, A ship clearly marked with huge red crosses, it was torpedoed by the Nazis, Uncle Archie made it to shore. This is the same fascism trump and Project 2025 are planning for America.
I have lived for 77 years as a free American citizen. To lose that now would break my heart..
We won't! We must fight just as these heroes fought on hallowed ground. They were maimed, killed and endured horrible conditions. We have comforts they never knew.
Lets vote the wackos out and put in fresh blood.
I have lived for 75, and never dreamed I’d see this threat. My husband’s beloved Uncle Pat was in the 6th wave at Normandy. He survived only to be strafed in the Battle of the Bulge and carry shrapnel and life long injuries until his death in 2000. My husband, each year as we gather for Thanksgiving, recounts Pat’s sacrifice and that of thousands of others for the benefit of our grandchildren. I pray somehow they remember Gramps tears as he describes the hell of that invasion and the wounds Pat suffered. I pray somehow they grasp the meaning of sacrifice for the greater good. Soon there will be no living survivors, and it will be these stories that convey the horror and the gratitude. May we never forget.
Exactly! We have to fight it as hard as these brave men who served in WWII. It is equally important.
There is no excuse not to vote, you don’t even have to make it to your precinct,vote by mail, or,vote from your car, as needed. Just do it. Help others who may be discouraged because of a disability. We owe it to all the military folks who risk their lives, for the privilege!
Beautiful writing;wonderful recollection and inspiring calls to activism! Thank you Dale; we each have our stories to tell from those days!
The brutality and inhumanity of war reaches the darkest limit when a medic is gunned down by a Nazi sniper. That is the apex of hatred and inumanity. My first reaction to crimes like this is 2025.
This is forshadowing reminder of the vindictive, revenge based actions that will take place if the Orange 34-0 convicted felon returns to power.
Today, for me, it reaches its darkest limits when grandmothers, young women, little girls, are raped to death, tortured, murdered by Russians in Ukraine, by Hamas in Israel for instance. Rape and Torture is NOT acceptable as a weapon of war or anything else. Targeting medics and clerics was just the beginning of the depths of depravity, it seems.
As the Russians pushed back the Nazis in 1944-45, they raped, beat and murdered the German women as well. History repeats itself and humanity never seems to learn that hard truth.
Humanity never learns. Or we would have learned by now. And while I know there is no such thing as a monolith in an entire people, like Russians, Russians have never shown themselves to be respectful or peace loving. Though there might have been a window missed 100 years or more ago. One brief moment where Russia looked at democracy.
My grandmother escaped frum Ukraine during the 30's when Stalin created the great famine.Their farm was stolen and they had to flee or be murdered.
It was so bad that when the Nazis arrived in 41-42, they were welcomed as liberators.........that soon changed as they are one in the same.
This is a beautiful tribute and I honor him and them. I found myself in tears multiple times watching commemorations take place this week. Does America still have that courage? Are we still the "land of the free or home of the brave"? For the first time I have come to doubt that. I continue to pray.
God bless him…..🙏
Been crying off and on since 0645 when I turned in the live feed on C-SPAN.
My son is there with the Navy Leap Frog team re-enacting the parachute drops onto the ground and onto the beaches of France. ❤️🇺🇸💙🇫🇷❤️
May God bless him..
How proud you must be. We share in your pride.
Thank you ❤️
My dad was on a minesweeper on D-Day. His was the first ship in the invasion. When someone attacks antifa I proudly claim that my dad was an OG Antifa and actively engaged fascists as did every patriotic American of his generation.
So was my Dad. (8th Air Force)
Charles, did you read the book, “ The Mighty Eighth”?
I haven't. I'll need to do that.
We need to start teaching better history in schools. Most younger people don’t seem to know history of the wars America has participated in and something I noticed after going to my local rodeo was how the announcer praised General Lee and how the American flag was hoisted by the rebels, was shot at but kept flying. They talked of Lee winning the war. This is a complete distortion of history as the south never adopted the stars and bars of the American flag but their flag was mostly the confederate battle flag. I was waiting on that flag but they didn’t bring it out. Then they broke out and paraded the Christian flag as the only flag recognized by the population which really flew in my face as we don’t salute this flag as there’s many different religions. I thought that there were federal guidelines for teaching history but apparently not in the south or they ignore the fact based reality. Maybe we should start with revamping the education system for grades 1-12.
I don't know what state you live in, but the people who run that local rodeo sound frightening. And I second your suggestion that we need to do a better job of teaching children in this country. I'm not sure Republicans want an educated public, but that's just one more reason to vote them out of every office from President to dog catcher
.
I live in Georgia, I used to live in the Atlanta burbs but after a 14 year stay in Florida I moved back but to the mountains as I’ve always watched to retire in mountains.
The mountains - the middle of unreconstructed Confederate territory over the past 100 years. If only they knew their real history! The mountain people in Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi were the center and the backbone of the Southern Unionists in the Civil War. Also the people in northern Louisiana where MAGA Mike comes from, and the mountain regions of Arkansas. These were not the Southerners who spread inland from the coast, but the ones who came south down the Appalachians and didn't own slaves. They were looked down on by the Southern enslavers, most of whom had to suppress the votes of these people to pass their Articles of Secession (it took three tries in Alabama and only won when they expelled the representatives from northern Alabama). Over one third of the Southerners who served in the Civil War served in the Union armies, not that of the Confederacy. Draft resistance to the South was so entrenched in these areas that the Confederates had to send armed gangs into those areas to shanghai men into the Confederate Army. But 100 years of Lost Cause propaganda and not wanting to be seen as pariahs (which most were treated as after the North abandoned the Southern Unionists after the war) ended up with them losing their history and learning that day is night, up is down,and left is right.
Thanks for that bit of lost history. There were also a large group of Unionists in Texas. Sam Houston was impeached as Governor because he opposed secession.
Yes! There are a number of books out in recent years about the true South, the people who were patriots and believed in America. That history needs to be thrown in the faces of these "lost cause" MAGA traitors every day.
Absolutely! I had no idea so many people from the South fought for the Union.
The MAGA crowd may never change their views, but they should be seen more and more by the majority of democracy lovers in this country as they actually are... a relatively small group of brain-washed or fact deprived cult followers of a fascist loving felon.
My only question is how to get this information past the high walls built by conservative media that has kept the MAGA crowd and many of their "truth deprived" neighbors susceptable to Kellyanne's "alternative facts."
(I'm leaving out the shameful, corporate/political morally bankrupt crowd who know the truth about their criminal leader, but care more about tax cuts and power than they care about our democracy.)
Didn’t know that! I was educated in Tx. I really don’t remember if I was taught that bit of history or not. It was a long time ago, when I never questioned the “facts” being taught as reality.
You piqued my curiosity re: Houston. I didn't see anything even mentioning him being impeached. Would you be able to refer me to a source?
Profiles in Courage by John F Kennedy.
It is interesting that, as I've read through all the comments about the history of the south and west, that it throws a bright light on a simple fact that as humans we gather things; people, animals, recipes, and all else, into groups. When we are taught about groups as youngsters, we assume that all things within the group are the same. As we mature and continue reading, we are expanded to find they all are not the same and some are acutely different. Keep reading and thinking and enjoying the comments Substack. Combat book banning. Read slightly right and slightly left leaning news. Fine tune your critical thinking. We stand at the precipice of such an important decision. It is up to every person to think hard and vote.
On D-day we celebrated our freedoms at the expense of hundreds of thousands of lives lost. We must all do our part to keep the freedoms they fought and died to preserve. Voting is our strongest weapon.
Hear! Hear!
"Silent Cavalry" by Howell Raines is an excellent retelling of this American history.
Yes, excellent. The First Alabama Cavlary US Volunteers was also the first non-segregated unit in the US Army. There were several former slaves who were with them.
Thanks, I will take a look!
Those people you watched at the rodeo who live in an alternate reality sound like the Germans in the 1930's who "went along to get along", only to witness their country being bombed mercilessly while those who instigated the catastrophe either fled the country or committed suicide.
Everyone should beware of that happening here, since the fascist way of life will leave no one on the sidelines. Even those at the rodeo.
I feel like we put enormous even impossible burdens on teachers and a 6-7 hour school day. Could we use our imaginations to come up with extracurricular events that engage young people in their non school hours other than sports and social media? Do we need adult volunteers to start math clubs, history clubs, drama, science exploration in the afternoon hours once schools are out? Is this a way an older retired generation can engage with a younger generation as mentors and share wisdom? I think we assign way too much responsibility to very overworked and underpaid teachers and we are losing teachers in droves.
Christy, you put forth an excellent proposal. Teachers are under enormous stress.
Teachers, the schools, and the parents of our school kids need our help, not only from a retired generation, but from any of us adults who can do something small or large.
Mentor a science fair project group? Count me in.
If I could I knit like Joyce does, heck, I'd start a knitting group for the kids. Knitting is an excellent introduction for learning to code. All those knitting patterns are all about coding for the knitting project! Knitting would be tremendously helpful for kids that might need a leg up on math. Adding and subtracting.
Also excellent for focus and paying attention as well as hand eye coordination. Duh. Why did I not think of this before? Think I better learn to knit.
Yes!! More knitting would mean less mental health issues too, I’m sure of it!!
My grandson went to town on a knitting project during art week thanks to a local volunteer! ♥️
The concept of our communities being involved in raising our children, (actively discouraged by many on the right) would be such a wonderful step for humanity. So much for us to learn from indigenous peoples. All any child needs is one adult to really connect with and think of all the opportunities it would encourage for youngsters to flourish in their strengths.
I remember when my boys were younger and they would really connect with another adult on a special interest that was not my strength and how amazing that was for me to watch that flourish ♥️♥️♥️
The world would be far less lonely. We don’t have the luxury of living within multigenerational families in the modern world. We expect teachers to perform miracles. It’s crazy!
It’s hard to find people that want to volunteer for anything outside of schools except for sports. We should teach history starting in 4th grade all the wet to 12th. I did have one civics class in 11th grade.
We need a culture shift. Corporate America has changed our culture by advertising things and places and now everybody wants what they see 24/7. We have lost so much. How do we get a culture to shift back towards respecting our earth and each other again and away from material possessions and cursory travel?
If I only knew but that’s for someone that has more understanding in combating corporate America.
I think seeing a problem and talking about it is the beginning of getting more creative ideas on more positive and life affirming pathways forward. After all, knowing better has always been my first step in my efforts to do better.
That’s how it starts. Plus we need a civics class mandate too.
Same distortion of history in the rural west. Being an American is only allowed if you are a Good Christian (and white).
Rusty, I grew up in Southern California, where we studied American history in 5th, 8th, and 11th grades. Our classes never got further than the time before the Civil War. I couldn't agree more about better teaching of history, both general and local.
What a travesty, and this story should be a warning to anyone who does not support our Republic, that they are insulting the vets and their families and, in my mind should be wary of anyone who tries to teach something different. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸💙💙💙💙💙💙It is your duty to vote for someone who supports our Republic!
Each State provides its own public education. The Federal Department of Education may suggest what should be taught, but they have NO power to enforce those rules. Education was another matter the Constitution leaves for each State to legislate.
And each individual school district. It has been a Republican aim to take over local school boards across the country for decades now. And NOW our local district has been taken over by MAGA Charis Bible College people who have hired propagandists, dismissed teachers and admin, and funded a churchbased charter school while closing a local elementary school. (They tried to take over city council next but people were so appalled by the school board that city council votes went the other way. For now.)
It’s complicated for sure but Feds have gotten involved in K-12 curriculum along the way with old GW’s being the most aggressive, perhaps? I have not done a deep dive but it does seem that if the Feds were to fund a mandate for an informed citizenry, it would be contentious in today’s regressive Confederate politics, however it could be something to advocate for? The very definition of democracy requires participation and surely an electorate informed on the workings of their own government and the basic information needed to pass a citizenship test shouldn’t be contentious 🤷🏻♀️ I took Civics in 9th grade in 1970. I have no idea if it was required or not. Given the vulnerability of our democracy to authoritarian forces in the last decade maybe we need stronger advocacy.
A quick google search revealed a number of recent journalistic efforts on the subject. Perhaps it needs an activist group or two to put some weight into it?
https://www.google.com/search?q=civics+education+in+the+us&client=safari&sca_esv=4ce04de13f7e18f6&sca_upv=1&channel=iphone_bm&sxsrf=ADLYWIKaqdyXX4FPm-3q6M6NzQg6ecovfA%3A1717777016139&ei=eDJjZpmPCPCj5NoP2MeD8AQ&oq=civics+education+in+the+us&gs_lp=EhNtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1zZXJwIhpjaXZpY3MgZWR1Y2F0aW9uIGluIHRoZSB1czILEAAYgAQYkQIYigUyCxAAGIAEGIYDGIoFMgsQABiABBiGAxiKBTILEAAYgAQYhgMYigUyCBAAGIAEGKIEMggQABiABBiiBDIIEAAYgAQYogRIujNQsRpYzS9wAngBkAEAmAGfAaABoQaqAQMwLja4AQPIAQD4AQGYAgigAskGwgIKEAAYsAMY1gQYR8ICBxAAGIAEGA3CAggQABgIGA0YHsICBhAAGAcYHsICCBAhGKABGMMEmAMAiAYBkAYIkgcDMi42oAfnHA&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp#ip=1
So basically the south gets to lie about the civil war.
Rock band Lynard Skynard used/uses the stars and bars on the albums. Rusty, that never seemed right to me ever. Anyone having comments on that would be great. As a kid, I climbed Little Round Top and saw the fields where Picketts Charge took place.
I grew up near Petersburg Battlefield and City Point Hopewell. My neighbor was the historian for both and was the previous historian for other battlefields in VA. He retired from Saylors Creek/Appomattox recently as he’s got Parkinson’s.
Exactly.
My Dad was in the 30th Army Infantry Division and landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day +2; I taught AP European History and World History for 38 years at a public High School in SoCal. I wanted him to come to my classes for an Oral History lesson but he couldn't, so I wrote down him story, sketched the badges on his uniform, took his uniform and his Army photo, along with other WWII visuals tomy classes every year during the WWII unit, let student wear his uniform while I explained everything. What he wouldn't let me take was the pictures HE took during the liberation Buchenwald Concentration Camp. (My brother still has these pictures) Students loved this! I would also invite other WH teachers to join my classes, luckily I had a really big classroom! It saddens me greatly that States are revamping/sanitizing their curriculums, banning books, crimminalizing Truth, etc... Knowing my Dad, he's probably trying to dig himself out of his grave at Riverside National Cemetary! My Mom, too; she was a nurse at a Tennessee Army Hospital and German POW camp. That's where they met and married 6 1/2 weeks later!
We need to reinstitute the teaching of civics. It's absence leave a gapping hole in our youths understanding and our publics ability to participate in meaningful discussions and decisions.
Gosh, Rusty. That is nearly unbelievable!
No, teach it at home first. To make sure what is taught in schools is correct.
Wow Rusty, this blows my mind!
We also need to teach Civics in the schools again. But first we need to save public education from the likes of MAGA and so called Christians or evangelicals who have been taking over school boards for decades. My county is facing such a threat today. School as propaganda, brain washing rather than critical thinking.
They are defunding the public schools by taking federal money for charter/private school vouchers and many of those schools are religious. You want to send your kid to a religious school then you pay for it! Don’t used public school money for it.
Exactly. Property taxes are sky high and they are supporting religious charter schools and propagandized public schools, neither of which I want to support.
Second cry today. Reading this post by Joyce and watching a video clip posted by Steven Beschloss, of one of these men meeting Zelenskiy: "A heartbreaking encounter between two men who know the ultimate price of defending democracy"
https://www.threads.net/@ukraine/post/C74yabStJNa/?xmt=AQGzgyz7CqqAx9acEiAceiwzP2AdxE2ExikhLrFJma6t6Uo&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Yes, thank you Kathleen.
That choked me up, too.
OMG, I cried and cried when Zelensky knelt down to give him a beautiful and sincere hug. The way they thanked each other was moving and came from their hearts. When Zelensky stood up, it seemed as if he wanted to hold on to his hand as long as he could, the way old friends would do, knowing that they may never see each other again.
Though it was a brief moment, it showed that neither of our two countries can afford to take democracy for granted.
I sensed Zelensky also crying.
I thought so, too, but then my eyes were filling up with tears.
So very touching. Tears running down my face. The pride and gratitude I feel for these two men are indescribable. If you love our country, take the time to go back through Joyce’s post and click on something to do. Things aren’t going to magically happen. We are the hands and feet to do it.
Wow, Joyce. Thank you. God bless America 🇺🇸!
My Dad landed on Utah Beach in the D-Day invasion. He died in 1995. He served under General Eisenhower. He proudly called himself an “Eisenhower Republican” when General Eisenhower became President Eisenhower. Today was a special day of remembrance because the fascist monster is rearing its ugly head once again.
Wonderful! President Eisenhower was the last great Republican president. Smart, respectful and respected.
Eisenhower was the first president I knew; he reminded me of my grandfather so I thought all presidents were like my grandpa and would keep the country safe and sound. Ike earned the presidency. The last great Republican president.
Brings tears to one’s eyes….
A big part of rebuilding a kind America is being respectful to the people we disagree with the most.
It is also being respectful to older persons who today are too often discounted as if they have no value to society when what they do have raises their value to a most immense degree! We saw a few of those today.
Right? Biden flew them to Normandy to honor them. Tffg and his goon Kushner tried to use the Covid pandemic to kill off as many as he could.
Being respectful is one thing, putting criminals including the orange turd in jail is another, those two things aren’t mutually exclusive, in fact they go hand in hand.🖐️🤚🙏
Agreed. Judge Juan Merchan and the jury treated judge with complete respect as they convicted him.
May I respectfully disagree (though I understand your High Road sentiment)?
I have zero respect for MAGA Republicans and less than zero for them on SCOTUS and in House and Senate much less White House. ZERO. I will attempt to ACT respectfully but I have no respect for fascists.
Also think about supporting The States Project, which is doing a brilliant job of supporting turning some states blue. Recognizing the GOP has focused on this for decades, and an enormous amount of good can be done when the Democrats win a trifecta in a state -- and much evil avoided, like anti-abortion laws and efforts to steal elections.
Also a lot of bang for the buck.
Learn more here. https://statesproject.org/
I agree. I supported The States Project last year and will again this year. Excellent suggestion.
And please support www.TurnUp.US registering tens of thousands of 18 to 29s to support abortion rights;run by brilliant Harvard students;the best registration program!
Thank you Mitchell, I'll head to the states project.org site right now.
There are many large and small acts anyone can do. Anything and everything each one of us can do counts. After all, we're all in this together!
Attention ⚠️ here’s the link for The States Project
Learn more here. https://statesproject.org/
Thank you for the correct site address.
I seem to have butterfingers here!
Thanks for that link.
I'm also supporting Sarah Longwell's Republican Accountability Project and Republican Voters Against Trump and Defending Democracy Together. They are doing a billboard ad campaign in swing states, which is fabulous. https://www.ra-pac.org/about
https://www.defendingdemocracytogether.org/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC03-Q9vq-JyiStTnqasADVg
Thanks. Looks like a good project. I didn't see anything about billboards at the links. ???
I think some of them are on the youtube link. I know they're on a youtube channel which is where I've seen them.
What a wonderful experience, for you! My Dad served with the NZDF during WWII. Even those who returned, sacrificed a lot so that we might live in peace. I noticed one of these gentlemen behind President Biden today. They must be well into their 90’s.
Most were between 99 and 107 years old. We got to greet them and cheer them as they came through the parking lot back to the busses after the ceremony. American Airlines was a big presence here assisting those that were not with family.
99 year old Rosie the Riveter from Wichita was there too and a few other women as well. You can Google her name - Connie Palacioz - and read how she helped to build Boeing airplanes for the war effort. It would be nice to know each and everyone’s stories. I saw her name tag on a picture shared by one of the folks on our day outing from Paris. And then I looked her up.. We are all members of Democrats Abroad living in Paris. We left Paris
My mother worked for the Brooklyn Naval Yard during WWII; although she didn’t talk much about it, I think those years were some of the best of her long life. Respect.
Lovely to hear that. (And also let’s get out the vote so that we women can have our full body rights restored… or rather enshrined).
Thank you 🙏 from an Expat also following Joyce’s posts and all the comments. The French ceremony was absolutely stunning and moving. https://www.youtube.com/live/Sh-3NYQcudM?si=Z9RPwcp_F04Nhgz6
Gives me goosebumps. Good for Delta to honor them.
My dad enlisted before Pearl Harbor because he believed American Jews had to fight Hitler. He fought in Italy and Germany. My stepfather was in the Battle of the Bulge and was also in Germany. Neither of them talked about the war, and when pressed gave short answers.
Wonderful that parents who were on that flight had an opportunity to teach their children at that moment. I hope they will never forget seeing those old men who fought for our country.
The letters I write for Vote Forward ask us to answer the question “I vote because….”. I always say that when I was born my mom and grandma had been able to vote for less than 30 years; they never missed an election and always talked about how important it was to them. So this Civil Discourse today hit on that theme, thank you Joyce (and Hillary)
Sorry I went off on a tangent. The video of Zelensky and the veteran brought tears to my eyes and the singing of happy birthday to one of our vets really made the day special for all those veterans that knew they were still loved and appreciated.
Rusty, Please do not apologize. I'm glad you posted about your horrifying experience at the rodeo with the Christian flag flying and the absence of the American Flag. It seems that some people are living with a different history of the United States. This is very disturbing.
It is imperative that history be taught in schools!
They flew the American flag but claimed it belonged to the rebels.
That is even more appalling
I miss that America. It’s what we’re all working to regain in the coming election. It’s what we mean when we talk about keeping the Republic.
Amen!
In case you didn't know, Joyce, you got a real privilege in meeting those two guys beyond what you said. The black vet is Colonel Enoch "Woody" Woodhouse, the last Tuskeegee Airman alive able to travel. Also a hero in Korea and Vietnam.
Thanks, Tom for this additional information. The Tuskeegee Airmen were all heroes.
Love this story. My father fought in WWII and many people never have met anyone who did.
Thank you again again dear Joyce!! It was so great to see a real President honoring our Vets today. Glad you got to see some in Boston. I'm going to share this with my Group of "Nasty Women" here in Indiana so they too can get more involved. Can't wait to get some Swag as well.
Thanks so much for all you do!! ❤️🇺🇸💙