They Stepped Forward To Say “Send Me, I Will Go,” And Never Came Home

Pausing today to remember the sacrifices of our fallen warriors, it has been difficult to watch the gains of ISIS in Iraq’s Anbar Province and the subsequent fall of Ramadi where America’s first Navy SEAL, Marc Lee, was killed in a ferocious firefight.

Gold Star mother Debbie Lee, Marc’s mom, traveled to Ramadi in 2007 and returned home with some of its powdery soil in a plastic bag where her son’s blood was shed.  She sat watching her TV as the black flag of ISIS flew above the city.  Her outrage and grief can never be fully imagined.

So deep was her anguish she wrote a letter to Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin E. Dempsey following his controversial comment about the fall of that city.  Dempsey said, “The city itself is not symbolic in any way.  It’s not been declared part of the caliphate on one hand or central to the future of Iraq.”

In her letter Lee wrote, “I’ve traveled to Ramadi and visited Camp Marc Lee in 2007. I brought back soil from that city where Marc breathed his last. I interviewed Iraqi General Anwer in 2010 when I returned. I asked him if you could say one thing to the American people what would you tell them. He paused and with deep emotion said, ‘We will tell our children and our grandchildren for generations to come what Americans have done. There is American blood poured out on our soil.’” Lee added, “It seems the Iraqis understand the importance more than you do sir.”

Dempsey sent a short letter of apology stating he did not mean to add to her grief writing, “Marc and so many others died fighting to provide a better future for Iraq.  He and those with whom he served did all that their nation asked.  They won their fight and nothing will ever diminish their accomplishments nor the honor in which we hold their service.”

Dempsey has gained a reputation for being more interested in his post-military career and future benefits than the well-being of our troops.  He has become, as Sen. John McCain stated, “the most disappointing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs that I have seen, and I have seen many of them…he has basically been the echo chamber for the president.”

On D-Day seventy years ago, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower said in his address to the troops who would storm the beaches of Normandy, “You are about to embark upon the great crusade toward which we have striven these months.  The eyes of the world are upon you…I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle.  We will accept nothing less than full victory.”  These inspiring words are inscribed on a wall at the World War II Memorial.

There are other inscriptions at the memorial referring to America’s “righteous might” and the “destruction of the enemy.”  At the northern end there is a monument that bears the words of Gen. George Marshall:  “Our flag will be recognized throughout the world as a symbol of freedom on the one hand and of overwhelming force on the other.”

There is no monument in Washington and there may never be one to the American soldiers who have fought and died in Iraq and Afghanistan thanks to the Commemorative Works Act of 1986.  The act prohibits new war memorials until at least ten years after the officially designated end of a conflict.  If military operations against the evil forces of terrorism mean a permanent state of war, there may never be any memorials in our nation’s capital.

The World’s Most Dangerous Community Organizer’s fixation on his legacy will prove most discomforting if his words were to be carved in stone.  After the Islamic State won major battles in Iraq and Syria last week he said, “I don’t think we’re losing.”

At Arlington National Cemetery, alabaster headstones are a sobering reminder that even in death our soldiers stand as sentinels of unquestionable courage and sacrifice and we must honor those virtues.

At sunrise this morning, I lowered the flag on the 20-foot flagpole in my yard to half-staff.  All morning it hung there motionless.  According to tradition, at noon I reverently hoisted it to full height.  As if on cue, it caught the wind and flapped proudly as if to signal hope beyond death.

Mr. President Tear Down This Wall

The second day of the Democrats’ government shutdown brought with it another day of World War II veterans “storming” the barricades and fences set up to keep them out of the World War II Memorial.

There will be 23 more Honor Flights during the month of October and the possibility of 23 more confrontations with Park Police and fake protesters.

It’s no coincidence that the National Parks Service released this statement yesterday:

"The Honor Flights are being granted access to the WWII memorial to conduct First Amendment activities in accordance with National Park Service regulations applicable to the National Mall and Memorial Parks."

What brought about this reversal of abuse of our treasured veterans who waited 65 years for their own memorial on the National Mall?

A team of legal experts at The American Center for Law and Justice led by Jay Sekulow and Robert W. Ash warned the president, “Should the closure of the memorial continue, we will be obligated to file a federal lawsuit seeking an injunction against the government.”

Their letter, delivered to the White House via oversight service, said the “Greatest Generation” as represented by the veterans who were scheduled to visit the memorial, and who actually moved the barricades and tore down barriers erected by workers on the orders of the administration, “stepped forward during some of the darkest days of our history and placed themselves in harm’s way to protect the country they loved and our way of life.”

“Veterans of the Second World War are dying at the rate of approximately 640 per day. In order to allow veterans to see the memorial that was erected in their honor, Honor Flights have been organized to bring interested veterans to Washington to see the memorial that was erected to honor them,” the attorneys explained.

“Whoever in your administration made that decision exercised extremely poor judgment and should be admonished.”

“What we are witnessing is a disturbing violation of the First Amendment rights of our nation’s heroes,” said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the ACLJ. “By spending money to bring in barricades to attempt to shut-down an open-air memorial is abhorrent and deeply insulting to WWII vets who defended the very freedoms that are now threatened by the Obama administration’s actions.”

The issue of the closure of the World War II memorial took over headlines nationwide on Wednesday, just a day after the first confrontation developed.

Additionally, Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-MS) issued this terse warning:

“With due respect, Mr. President, we demand: First, that the World War II memorial be reopened immediately for all veterans, their families, and the public to honor and recognize the courage and achievement of those who fought to keep us free; Second, that the memorial be opened once again for First Amendment expressive activity by all members of the public; Third, that the barricades be taken down and removed forthwith; and Fourth, that you issue a personal apology on behalf of your administration to the veterans and their families who have been affected by the current closure.”

As was reported yesterday, the closure of the memorial was deliberately ordered by this administration.  A despicable act to say the least and was clearly politically motivated. 

At the WWII Memorial, Carol Johnson w/the Park Service says they were told to close the site by White House's Office of Management & Budget.

— Stephen Hayes (@stephenfhayes) October 2, 2013

Shame on The World’s Most Dangerous Community Organizer who daily spits in the faces of active duty military service members and veterans.

Velvet Ropes, Barricades And The Democrat’s Government Shutdown

Photo Credit:  Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

At the World War II Memorial there is a Freedom Wall.  The Monument is known as the Field of Gold Stars.  The inscription there reads: 

Here We Mark The Price Of Freedom

At the entrance to the memorial is the Announcement Stone.  The inscription on that stone reads:

Here In The Presence Of Washington And Lincoln,

One The Eighteenth Century Father And The Other The

Nineteenth Century Preserver Of Our Nation,

We Honor Those Twentieth Century Americans

Who Took Up The Struggle During The Second World War

And Made Sacrifices To Perpetuate The Gift Our Forefathers

Entrusted To Us:

A Nation Conceived In Liberty And Justice

The memorial weaves the watershed event of the 20th century into the National Mall's historical narrative as it humbly pays tribute to America’s greatest generation. 

More than 125 Honor Flight veterans from Mississippi and Iowa arrived for a previously scheduled visit to the World War II Memorial Tuesday morning, the first day of the government shutdown, to find it barricaded by the National Park Service. Several members of Congress escorted them inside after cutting police tape and moving barriers that blocked the memorial.

The trip had been planned for months for a group of 91 veterans as well as family members and escorts.

The Daily Caller and Ace of Spades reported that The World’s Most Dangerous Community Organizer specifically denied a permit to allow these veterans to visit the memorial.

Former Senator Bob Dole said of the memorial:

“When World War II ended, the generation of Americans that defeated the forces of tyranny neither asked for nor expected a memorial. They came home. They went to work. And they built a nation that remains the world's most powerful example of democracy and freedom in action.” 

“Many heroes from that great conflict did not return home. They didn't live to see the fruits of their sacrifice.  More than 12 million of the 16 million who served in uniform will not live to see the memorial completed. We build this memorial in their memory. We build it so future generations of Americans never forget what the World War II generation was called to do. We build it so they never forget the cost of freedom.” 

“There will come a day when many of our youth will be called veterans. Although our prayers ask for peace, the lessons of history teach us that freedom is not free. It must be earned and it must be protected from those who would conquer and oppress.” 

“The World War II Memorial will reinforce the message of our National Mall—the message of freedom—for generations to come.”

We owe our World War II veterans—in fact, all our veterans—a debt we can never fully repay.

The kabuki theater over national park closings is a disgusting, vindictive and trivial antic by this president and his minions in the Democratic Party.  It is meant to give the American people the sense that the function of federal workers is to open velvet ropes and point to where Washington once slept.

For the troops, many of whom are wheelchair-bound and now in their 80’s and 90’s, who fought at Pearl Harbor, Wake Island, Bataan Corregidor, The Coral Sea, Midway, Guadalcanal, New Guinea, Buna, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Murmansk Run, Anzio, St. Lo, Alsace, The Battle of the Bulge and Remagen Bridge, storming the Memorial against National Park Police was an easy victory.

Erecting barricades to keep these honorable men and women from the memorial that was built in their honor became something vile.   All these elderly vets wanted to do was lay flowers and pay their respects to their fallen brothers— a generation that changed the world.

And the president remained silent.

A Prayer For The Greatest Generation

Anyone living in America today owes a debt thanks to the boys of the GI Generation. They were our Greatest Generation.

They were the boys who went off to fight in World War II—what many called the “Big One.” After defeating Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito, they came home and built our nation into an economic dynamo and a world leader. They knew the meaning of sacrifice, blood and treasure. They were humble men who never bragged about what they had done or been through.

On June 6, 1944, D-Day, General Dwight D. Eisenhower addressed the Allied Expeditionary Force before the Normandy landing saying, "Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well-trained, well-equipped and battle-hardened.  He will fight savagely.”

Back home, on the very same day, the Commander-in-Chief, FDR offered a prayer in a radio address to the nation.  It is that prayer that has stirred up a controversy.

A member of the Obama Administration, Bob Abbey, Director of the Bureau of Land Management, opposes a bill that was introduced by Rep. Bill Johnson (R-OH) known as the “World War II Memorial Prayer Act of 2011.”

Citing the Commemorative Works Act, Abbey’s written testimony offers this rationale for opposing Johnson’s bill. "It is not a judgment as to the merit of this new commemoration, simply that altering the Memorial in this way, as proposed in HR 2070, will necessarily dilute this elegant memorial's central message and its ability to clearly convey that message to move, educate, and inspire its many visitors."

Dilute it?

We are losing World War II veterans at the rate of 1,000 a day.  The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that by 2015 there will only be 50,000 left.

Honor Flight Network, working furiously against the clock, transports veterans to visit THEIR memorial.  In the first year of Honor Flight’s efforts, they safely transported 137 veterans to visit the World War II Memorial in Washington, DC.  In 2010, their sixth year, they transported 22,149 veterans, all at no cost to the veterans.

The plaques that currently adorn the memorial mean something to these heroes.  The proposed plaque will give meaning to those visitors who are too young to remember the conflagration that embroiled the globe, the gravity of that “Longest Day” or the overwhelming anxiety of the President of the United States.  The plaque will help to tell the story long after the last member of the greatest generation is gone from this earth.

Read the verbatim words of FDR’s D-Day prayer and then tell me it doesn’t belong at the memorial or that it would dilute its central message.

My fellow Americans: Last night, when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation. It has come to pass with success thus far.

And so, in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer:

Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.

Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.

They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.

They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest-until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men's souls will be shaken with the violences of war.

For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and good will among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.

Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

And for us at home—fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas—whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them—help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.

Many people have urged that I call the Nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.

Give us strength, too—strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.

And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.

And, O Lord, give us Faith. Give us Faith in Thee; Faith in our sons; Faith in each other; Faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.

With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogancies. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister Nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.

Thy will be done, Almighty God. Amen.