Some good stories for Veteran's Day

[JKimball]

I just got this via email, so I'm not sure how accurate the stories really are, but I thought they were worth sharing.

>> When in England at a 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."
>> It became very quiet in the room.
>> **************
>>
>> Then 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 intended
>> 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?"
>> Once again, dead silence.
>> *****************
>>
>> 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 its because the
>> Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have
>> to speak German'
>> You could have heard a pin drop!

 

[Logan5]

I guess I've read enough contemporary accounts, and talked to enough WWII veterans, that I'm not comfortable bashing the French.

They took a savage beating, and they went down, and still a lot of them took to the woods and were derailing munitions trains, sheltering downed airmen, and shooting up Nazis, even though they were being hunted through the woods like animals. I can't imagine what that's got to feel like. Still, if you want to read up on it, you'll read about Maquisards doing some things that sound like they inspired some Mission Impossible movies.

As far as I'm concerned, they're entitled to the most obnoxious opinions they can hold, and while I disagree, I won't hear a word said against them.

 

[magsnubby]

I've posted this one before:

I have a co-worker that's a big history buff. Especially military history. Mike has more history books than most libraries. One day he was talking to another co-worker, Reggie. I'm not sure how the subject came up but Reggie said his dad was killed around Christmas at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. He wasn't sure but he thought his dad was with the 101st Airborne. All his life he never knew much about his dad. All his mother had ever told him was his dad was killed at Bastogne. Mike asked him if he would like to learn something about what his dad and fellow soldiers had gone through, he had a few books on the Battle of the Bulge. Reggie acceppted Mike's offer.

Mike thought "THE BATTERED BASTARDS OF BASTOGNE" by George Koskimaki would be a good one because most of it is based on interviews with veterns of Bastogne. Mike was thumbing through the book and ran across a section titled "RETRIEVING FALLEN COMRADES". The first story was about Reggie's dad. Mike wasn't sure if he should take Reggie that book, or grab a differenf one. He decided to let Reggie make that decision.

Reggie read the story. He told Mike "Thank you. That's the most i've know about my dad my entire life."

I just thought it was amazing that 63 years later a son finally learned something about the father that he had never known.

 

[barman]

If you're looking for nice WW1 movies to watch with your date/girlfriend/wife:

1. Merry Christmas (Joyeux Noel in French)
2. A very long engagement, by Jean Pierre Jeunet
4. Flyboys