You could of heard a pin drop.....

[AK Caster]

Found this thread on another forum and it deserves to be repeated as much as possible:

I dont know if these are true or false.....But I sure hope that each is true. Good read

At a time when our president and other politicians tend to apologize for our country's prior actions, here's a refresher on how some of our former patriots handled negative comments about our country.

JFK'S Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, was in France in the early 60's when
DeGaulle decided to pull out of NATO. DeGaulle said he wanted all US
military out of France as soon as possible.

Rusk responded,
"Does that include those who are buried here?"
DeGaulle
did not respond.
You
could have heard a pin drop

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


When in England ,
at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the
Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of
'empire building' by George Bush.

He answered by saying,
"Over the years, the United States has sent many of
its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom
beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for
in return is enough to bury those that did not
return."

You
could have heard a pin drop
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There was a conference in France
where a number of international engineers
were taking part, including French and American. During a break,
one of the French engineers came back into the room saying, "Have you
heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft
carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he
intend to do, bomb them?"

A Boeing engineer
stood up and replied quietly: "Our carriers have three
hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are
nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to
shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to
feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand
gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a
dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and
from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships;
how many does France have?"


You
could have heard a pin drop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A U.S. Navy Admiral
was attending a naval conference that included
Admirals from the U.S., English, Canadian, Australian and French
Navies At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large
group of officers that included personnel from most of those countries.
Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a
French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many
languages, Americans learn only English. He then asked, "Why is it that
we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than
speaking French?"

Without hesitating,
the American Admiral replied, "Maybe it's because the
Brit's, Canadians, Aussie's and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't
have to speak German."

You
could have heard a pin drop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AND
THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE...

Robert Whiting,
an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane.
At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport
in his carry on.

"You
have been to France before, monsieur?" the customs officer asked
sarcastically.
Mr. Whiting
admitted that he had been to France
previously.
"Then
you should know enough to have your passport ready."
The American said,
"The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it."

"Impossible.
Americans always have to show their passports on arrival in France !"

The American senior
gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he
quietly explained, ''Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in
1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find a single Frenchmen
to show a passport to"

You could have heard a pin drop.
Advertisement

[Walla2]

Even if not true, but I believe that they are there is every bit of truth to them. We take the time to honor those that serve(d), Memorial day. According to Google the French have no such official day. I wonder why.

[Artful]

https://www.abmc.gov/multimedia/videos/french-citizen-honors-americans-died-during-world-war-ii

French Citizen Honors Americans that Died during World War IIJocelyne Brescia, a French citizen that lives near Epinal American Cemetery, has made it her personal mission to honor those Americans that died during World War II, helping to liberate the town where she lives. Video courtesy of American Forces Network Europe.



See link to view video

Video TranscriptNARRATOR, ABIGAIL WALDROP: She calls them her boys, soldiers who died fighting for their country and liberating the people of France. She goes out of her way to make sure they are never forgotten.
JOCELYNE BRESCIA: I only did my duty. I only did what I should do, you know. Being in debt with America, because of all that America brought me, gave me.
NARRATOR, ABIGAIL WALDROP: Jocelyne Brescia works hard to keep the memory of American soldiers alive in the Alsace and Lorraine regions of France.
JOCELYNE BRESCIA: So the people here remember and also in other places where it was not so rough. But here it was pretty bad for the French people and the American soldiers. So they remember. Yes, they really do remember.
NARRATOR, ABIGAIL WALDROP: This particular region of France suffered heavy casualties and some of the fiercest battles during World War II. One particular battle location claimed the lives of more than 20,000 U.S. and French troops in early 1945.
JOCELYNE BRESCIA: I want our boys to get recognition and so like when I started with the monument, there were 18 American soldiers who died behind my house. And one was a Medal of Honor. And so you know, I thought that it was not right that no one would think of these soldiers and no one would care.
NARRATOR, ABIGAIL WALDROP: Her devotion to the soldiers is sincere. For many she can tell you what unit they were in and even the day they died.
JOCELYNE BRESCIA: He was in the 79th Infantry Division. New York. Avid fan of the Yankees. He loved baseball. It breaks my heart when I come here.
NARRATOR, ABIGAIL WALDROP: She organizes memorial services for fallen soldiers. She arranges parades with U.S. and French participants. She takes the stories of the brave men into the French schools and teaches them songs of thanks. She’s part translator and part tour guide. Here she takes a family to the exact spot on the hillside behind her house where their loved one died in battle.
JOCELYNE BRESCIA: So your great uncle, he was a hero.
MAN: Very impressive
JOCELYNE BRESCIA: And tomorrow you will have the soil where he was buried for…excuse me…
NARRATOR, ABIGAIL WALDROP: And for families who can’t make it all the way to France, she keeps watch over their loved ones graves and encourages the locals to adopt a grave to ensure it always has flowers and someone to maintain it.
JOCELYNE BRESCIA: I love these guys and I try to do good for them.
NARRATOR, ABIGAIL WALDROP: Sgt. 1st Class Toby Knight met Jocelyne at a ceremony she organized and was inspired by her motivation.
SGT. 1st. CLASS TOBY KNIGHT: And I was incredibly impressed with the amount of work that it took for her to do all of this, and the other thing that impressed me was this was a French community and a French person did this for a U.S. Army Europe soldier during World War II. That really struck me. And then she did it again the next year.
NARRATOR, ABIGAIL WALDROP: Sgt. Knight thought she deserved acknowledgement herself and put her in for the Department of the Army’s Outstanding Civilian Service Award, which she received from the U.S. Army in Europe in a ceremony on Veterans Day.
JOCELYNE BRESCIA: From the deepest part of my heart, I do it with love and respect because they are all my boys.
NARRATOR, ABIGAIL WALDROP: In the last few years she’s worked to erect three different monuments and is underway working on a monument in another nearby village.
JOCELYNE BRESCIA: I have other plans and I have other projects, another monument for another soldier.
NARRATOR, ABIGAIL WALDROP: Jocelyne says she will continue her quest to make sure no one forgets the men and women who died in World Wars I and II. And to pass the knowledge of their sacrifices onto the next generation.

[Blackwater]

Great posts, guys. Thanks.

[xs11jack]

Yes, thank you, and God bless that dear Lady.
Ole Jack

[Frank46]

There was a short story in Precision Shooting some years back. Seems an airline pilot was getting landing instruction from the air traffic controller in germany. Seems the controller had asked wether or not he had ever been there before. The pilot replied that he had been there in 1944 and dropped off a few things and then left. Frank

[jonp]

My bucket list includes visiting every overseas National Cemetery. https://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memorials