Absinthe & Cookies (a bit bitter, a bit sweet)

Why So Bitter?

I've been thinking about Michelle Obama lately. I admit, I don't get her. She's my age, but that's about all we have in common. She has a loving husband, healthy children, an Ivy League education, and makes more money than me and my entire family combined. And yet, she seems so angry, and dare I say it, bitter. In Michelle Obama's world, living in America sucks. And yet, she is blessed with a life few of us will ever have. She doesn't have to worry about her next paycheck, or paying a credit card bill, or paying her rent when it goes up. I doubt she ever lived out of the family car when she was a teenager. But instead of feeling blessed at what being an American woman brings her, she's angry; all the time, it would seem.

I'm not rich, I never went to college -- I was too busy working as a teenager to help support my family. And no, not in the U.S.A., but in Canada, that perfect society, or so the liberals would have us believe. I have a roof over my head, and food on the table, and I'll never be rich and powerful like Mrs. Obama. But you know what? I thank God everyday I was born in this country. I am blessed. Mrs.Obama may not think she is, but I know I am. I can vote, I was educated, I know I won't be murdered by my family for besmirching some disgusting concept of honour, or stoned to death for talking to a man who isn't a male relative. I don't have to worry about armed gangs slaughtering me and my family, or wonder where my next bowl of rice will come from. Each and every one of us in this country is blessed beyond compare to so many who suffer in this world.

John Edwards talked about 'Two Americas', and perhaps he was right. There's the America he and Mrs. Obama inhabit, the one that's hopeless and never good enough. Then there's mine, the one I'm grateful for and wouldn't change for a life in any other country in the world. Sure, we all go through hard times. But that's life. No one promised us we'd have perfection. It isn't possible. All we can do is be the best people we can be with the life we have, and to be thankful for the blessings we've been given. And we've certainly been given many. It's sad that Michelle Obama will never realize that.

Beautiful

Rush just played the Army Chorus singing the Battle Hymn of the Republic from the Pope thing this morning. I actually started to cry at my desk. Really amazingly beautiful performance.

A Soldier & His Dogs

Two homeless Iraqi dogs – Mama and Boris – are now safely on American soil thanks to the efforts of a soldier’s family, a U.S. senator, and the Best Friends rapid response team.

Peter and doghouseSgt. Peter Neesley, on his second tour of duty with the U.S. Army, began feeding a mama dog and her two puppies when he patrolled a Baghdad neighborhood. After one of the puppies was hit by a car and killed, Peter built them a red-and-white doghouse – equipped with blankets, a mattress and an Army insignia above the door. He lured the mama dog and her remaining puppy to the doghouse, which he placed just outside the military base wall.

And then he e-mailed his family, sending them photos of the black Lab mix and her white-and-brown spotted puppy, and said he’d decided to fly the dogs home when he returned to the states in six months.

“Our family has always had dogs or cats and other little critters,� says his sister, Carey Neesley. “Peter was always bringing strays home.�

But on Christmas Day, Peter, just 28, died in his sleep in his barracks (no cause of death has been released) before he could send the dogs home. His soldier friends continued to feed Mama and Boris and watch out for them.

The rest of the story.

Something Different

French President Sarkozy's speech to congress was a nice change. You can read all of it here, but this bit...

.... I want to tell you that whenever an American soldier falls somewhere in the world, I think of what the American army did for France. I think of them and I am sad, as one is sad to lose a member of one’s family.

Hope Rides Alone

"Sgt. Eddie Jeffers was killed in Iraq on September 19, 2007. He was 23."

This is an essay he wrote in February. I encourage you to go read it all.

.... Democrats and peace activists like to toss the word "quagmire" around and compare this war to Vietnam. In a way they are right, this war is becoming like Vietnam. Not the actual war, but in the isolation of country and military. America is not a nation at war; they are a nation with its military at war. Like it or not, we are here, some of us for our second, or third times; some even for their fourth and so on. Americans are so concerned now with politics, that it is interfering with our war.

Terrorists cut the heads off of American citizens on the internet...and there is no outrage, but an American soldier kills an Iraqi in the midst of battle, and there are investigations, and sometimes soldiers are even jailed...for doing their job.

It is absolutely sickening to me to think our country has come to this. Why are we so obsessed with the bad news? Why will people stop at nothing to be against this war, no matter how much evidence of the good we've done is thrown in their face? When is the last time CNN or MSNBC or CBS reported the opening of schools and hospitals in Iraq? Or the leaders of terror cells being detained or killed? It's all happening, but people will not let up their hatred of President Bush. They will ignore the good news, because it just might show people that Bush was right.

Dead soldier's twin back in Iraq

A British soldier who watched his identical twin brother die in Iraq has returned to his regiment in Basra.

The story here.

Happy Independence Day!

This is one of my favourite holidays, and this year is no different. In fact, the older I get, the more I appreciate the meaning of this day. One of the reasons I'm really looking forward to the trip to Philly is to see the sights of American history I've never seen. It will be wonderful!

Stay safe, watch out for stray fireworks, and don't eat too much! I'm staying home, but I'll watch the Fourth of July concert on PBS and pretend I'm there. and I guarantee I'll cry more than once. And I'll probably sing 'Proud To Be an American' at least once out loud before the day ends, though probably after Nin's gone to work so my singing will only scare the cat! (We were testing sound equipment for the parade today at work yesterday, and I was humming the National Anthem till I fell asleep last night!) And maybe I'll walk over to the street and see if I can see the fireworks above the dunes tonight.

Random Observation

I could not get over how many multiple child familes I saw in Disneyland last week. Lots and lots of people with 3 to 4 little ones. Is there some sort of baby boom in progress, I wonder?

In Support of Our Troops

Let's Say Thanks

September 11, 2001

A photo essay.

For the 40th

The 40th Aniversary of Star Trek is coming up next month, and they have an official celebration blog up (on blogspot!). This post is by fan guest blogger, Army SPC Angelina Christian in Iraq.

Thought some of you might like to go read it.

Invitations to Cross Rivers In New Shoes

Yesterday, I posted the link to 'safe' churches. Today, it was linked by Robert at the Llamas, and I left a comment about my own search. Some of what I said:

... I'm going through a similar quest right now. There's no way I can ever be Roman Catholic, not to mention I don't see why I should have to abandon my church. I'd rather stay and fight, or find a related church. I have my great grandmother's Prayer Book, and I'm not giving that heritage up willingly. Now here, there is a traditional Anglican parish here that's always been 1928 BCP. But when I move to Utah, I'm in trouble. Oddly enough, for such a conservative state, it seems they have one of the most liberal dioceses going.

Confession: I really self edit on this subject. I shouldn't -- it's my blog after all. But whenever I do post about the troubles my Church is having, and my own personal struggle, I invariably get well meaning Roman Catholics telling me I should convert, 'cross the Tiber!'. The thing is, I would never say something similar if they were having issues with their church. Why would you tell someone they should abandon their faith? I just don't get that. I would offer my prayers and support, but not "Oh, you should convert!", like it's something akin to changing your shoes. The other part is that I have lots of RC friends, people I'm very fond of, and I don't want to inadvertently hurt their feelings. I don't even read a lot of religious posts on some blogs because frankly, they're hurtful. Maybe I take 'do unto others' a little too seriously. Yes, I probably do. But I couldn't say similar things about their faith, no matter what objections I have to their church, I just can't. Not only would I feel mean, but it's not very Christian in the way I was brought up to think of as 'Christian Behaviour'.

So I don't know if I'll post much about the current path I'm on or not. Experience has taught me it's not such a great idea, but maybe things can change. Who knows?

'Safe' Churches

Found this website over at MCJ: '...a list of "safe" churches that worship in the Anglican style.'

Nin has to work,

Nin has to work, so I'll be all alone from 330pm on. And since it's summer in Monterey, fireworks are mostly only going to result in coloured fog [g] But I'll watch the concert on PBS like I do every year, and see fireworks on TV.

Ninety Years Ago

Yesterday was the 90th aniversary of the Battle of the Somme.

The shrillness of whistles broke the silence on the killing fields of the Somme yesterday - just as they had 90 years before.

In 1916 they were the prelude to slaughter on an unimaginable scale. Yesterday the whistles gave way to a respectful hush for the thousands of soldiers who, at their signal, left their trenches and marched to their deaths in a hail of German machine-gun fire.

On the rim of a 300ft crater near the village of La Boisselle, where the Battle of the Somme began, several hundred people fell silent at exactly two minutes before zero hour - 7.30am.

Nine decades before, silence had replaced the week-long British artillery barrage, intended to soften the German defences. Moments later, on July 1 1916, a massive underground explosion behind German lines blew more than a billion pounds of chalk and mud a mile into the air and signalled the start of the onslaught.

[....]

Almost 20,000 young British and Empire soldiers - some aged just 15 - died in the opening hours of the battle, the bloodiest day in Britain's military history. During the following four and a half months of trench warfare, the Army suffered an average of almost 3,000 casualties a day.

By November 18, 1916, when the battle ended, the Allies had taken more than 600,000 casualties of whom more than 120,000 died. The German casualty rate was strikingly similar.

esterday's commemoration at the Thiepval Monument in northern France was led by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall. For both, the experience was a very personal pilgrimage. In an address at the monument, the prince told the congregation, many of them veterans or relatives of those who fell, that both he and the duchess had lost great uncles in the First World War - he one, his wife three.

"Being here today can only go a very small part of the way in helping us imagine how this beautiful countryside was devastated," he said.

"Great swathes of countryside, its mountains and glens, dales and fells, its villages and towns, an entire generation of their menfolk. In fact, nowhere was left untouched as their sons, brothers, husbands and fathers fell in one terrible day."

Describing the carnage of the Somme as "unutterable hell", the prince added: "The magnitude of the Allied losses on July 1, 1916 are unimaginable in these days of instant communication and ever-present media, but even 90 years ago they caused a most profound shock to our nations and left scars that remain with us today. It was not just the huge scale of our losses - some 50,000 casualties in one day, of which 20,000 were killed or missing presumed dead - it was also the fact that for the first time in our history we put mere boys into an assault against the bomb, bullets and the terrible wire entanglements, equipped with little more than raw courage and a deep trust in their young leaders."

The Royal couple later met Henry Allingham, 110, who served with the Royal Naval Air Service on the Western Front later in the war.

D-Day Remembered

John has a wonderful photo retrospective of D-Day up here.

NRO has the article that was was written for the 50th aniversary here.

...."You are a child, you cannot understand," a Dutch colleague told me, dabbing her eyes with tissues. She had lived through the bombing of Rotterdam. "We were waiting for the Allies to come, waiting, waiting. And then they came."

Indeed they did. For the peoples of Europe, D-Day represented redemption and hope; for the Allies, the making good on a promise that erased the hesitation of 1939 and embarrassments like Dunkirk. Although terrible battles were still to come and the Germans would exhibit an awesome capacity to fight under the most appalling of circumstances, everyone knew, Hitler included, that once the Allies established themselves on the beaches it would be but a matter of time. In his attic in Amsterdam, Anne Frank's father chalked off the days. In Paris my father walks under the Arc de Triomphe in the footsteps of his uncle Tom Bartley, who marched through on his way to the German border that summer fifty years ago with men who told each other, "We'll be home for Christmas." Little could he have known then what lay ahead of him at the Battle of the Bulge.

It was precisely this restoration of hope that explains why D-Day has always resonated more fully in the collective memory than even the end of the war, tainted by Yalta. At the American military cemetery at Ste-Laurent-sur-Mer above Omaha Beach, the winds are whipping and the rains cut to the bone. In the small reception house, an official kindly offers us help. "Are you looking for someone special?" he asks. We are not, but others are. Even on this nasty day, they have come: a fiftyish woman laying a rose on the grass over a father who probably hadn't been out of Iowa before being sent over to free Europe; a veteran of the 1st Infantry Division—the Big Red One—with white hair and a waist thickened by the interval of fifty summers, standing silently before the cross of a fallen comrade.

If you have a D-Day post, feel free to drop a link in the comments or trackback to this post.

"Almighty God, we remember this

"Almighty God, we remember this day before thee thy faithful servant, and we pray thee that, having opened to him the gates of larger life, thou wilt receive him more and more into thy joyful service; that he may win, with thee and thy servants everywhere, the eternal victory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."

~ A Prayer Book For Soldiers & Sailors

The Martyrdom of Thomas Cranmer

Russ gave me the "Collects of Thomas Cranmer" for Christmas, and I've found great comfort in his words. Now, via this newly discovered blog, I'm reminded that yesterday was the 450th anniversary of the Martyrdom of Thomas Cranmer.

Gathering 2006 Early Admission

Since there seems to be a lot of advance interest for the Gathering 2006, you can sign yourself up early by either using this email address -- TartanBlogs-subscribe@yahoogroups.com -- or following this link. This is an announcement list only, I swear to god. You will only get emails from me with related Gathering information. For example, last April I sent a total of 6 emails to the list. That was it. Honest. If you're totally Yahoo phobic, then send me an email and I'll do all the work of subbing you. My email is edithna AT yahoo (.) com

And there were in the

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

More Christmas Eve Programming

You can listen to The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols live from the Chapel of King's College in Cambridge that was recorded this afternoon. (I have this service on CD. It's quite lovely)

Later, you can listen to Carols by Candlelight sung by the Chapter House Choir, in York Minster's 13th-century Chapter House. And a couple of Midnight Mass selections. Schedule info here.

Before It Goes Away

If you haven't checked out the BBC Advent Calendar, you might want to. It's really lovely, with full carols sung by King's college, Cambridge, and a variety of readings by different people like Derek Jacobi. Right now I'm listening to "A Virgin Most Pure" on the 19th.

Inventing Christmas

I very much liked this article An excerpt:

.... Of course, both the anticipation and the celebration are essential to Christmas. Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem because of a "decree that went out from Caesar Augustus." How remarkable in the Gospel of Luke is this "coincidence," this linking of the first Roman emperor with the birth of the Son of Man in a manger, in that particular place at the origins of the House of David. But few knew of this event when it happened. Though angels were singing on high, it was a whole before a couple of Roman historians even hinted at it. Christmas is not a feast of great events in this world. Rather it is a feast that reminds that great things take place in small towns, in out of the way places, things that need time to grow, to flourish.

Rush Limbaugh one day talked of a book called The War Against Christmas. No doubt there is such a war. Christmas seems to bring out in some a certain kind of venom that strikes us Christians as bordering on the diabolical. "Why is this most tender of feasts subject to such resentment?" we wonder to ourselves. In these days of an often-intolerant tolerance, we hesitate to speculate. We know of the words spoken of this Child born amongst us that many would rise and fall because of Him. A sword would pierce the heart of His mother. He could not be ignored, even if rejected, perhaps especially if rejected. Such things go against the mood of our age, yet are more true in our age than ever before.

In the Breviary for Christmas Eve, we find a sermon of the great Augustine. "Awake, mankind!" he tells us. "For your sake God has become man.... I tell you again: for your sake, God became man." Is this the clue we need? "You would have suffered eternal death, had he not been born in time. Never would you have been freed from sinful flesh, had he not taken on himself the likeness of sinful flesh." We do not like to be reminded of our sinfulness. We do not like to know what is wrong so that we are left free to do what we will.

On Christmas Eve, our redemption is at hand. But it does not work itself out as we might like, as we would have done it if we were in charge. The shadow of the Cross hovers over the Manger. But what happens is for "our sake." We are to be "awake," almost as if it is possible for us to miss the most momentous thing that has happened to our kind. We can, indeed, choose not to see. .

King's College Cambridge

singing This is the Truth Sent From Above is the Advent selection for the 5th. Truly beautiful performance. And this just went on my Wish List

Advent

The BBC website has a nice Advent Calendar up here. And poking around the site, I find they have a whole season of readings and services available to listen to online, including two Midnight Mass services.

Appreciating America

There's a nice article in the Salt Lake Tribune about immigrants and Thanksgiving. I liked this bit:

One year, Kaufusi remembers her son's teacher coming by after Thanksgiving with a turkey. Her son had told the class that his family didn't have turkey because they couldn't afford it. "I had to keep a turkey on the table after that," says the 61-year-old Kaufusi. Kaufusi always makes a turkey for the family's Thanksgiving feast, but no one eats it. "It's a waste of time because the children don't enjoy it - only in sandwiches," she jokes. Pasa Tukuafu, Kaufusi's brother who was 8 years old when the family came to Utah, says the turkey in their family is symbolic of their appreciation. "It's not the food we long for," the now 41-year-old Tukuafu says of the big bird. "It's the food we use to pay respect to the United States."

We Remember

click image for larger view

This post will remain at the top today.

Good Guy, Bruce Willis

Over on the Corner, they have a transcript up of an interview with Bruce Willis and Michael Yon. Well worth reading.

I've Been Remiss...

in getting around to Kelly's blog as often as I used to. Bad me! She's has a very worthy cause she's helping to raise money for: Help Our Troops Come Home for the Holidays.

There's also lots of good stuff all over her blog on ways to help the troops, so make sure to visit her main page. And, there's more! She and her husband are expecting! Wonderful news!

Valour IT

Read -- and donate -- over at CTG's

Literal Interpretation

An excellent post, "An Old Canard Quacks Again", from the Confessing Reader on biblical interpretation. There's always much food for thought at CR, and this one gave my brain a workout.

A Special Email

Look what Beth got in her inbox.

Sacrifice

Gold Star day honors mothers of fallen soldiers

Amen

Via Fugitive Jen, this post on dealing with church and the single reality:

... But they have to stop pretending it's just temporary until everyone gets married, and focus on what a single person really needs: to know they do not have to face their life - in the the weeks/months/years ahead - alone.

Remebering Cody

Stacy has been writing this week about her nephew, Cody, who was killed, along with seven of his friends, by a drunk driver four years ago. Take a moment to visit her blog and share her memories of a beloved young man.

"Our People"?

This was the last line of an article about the telethons last night, this referring to the BET one:

"There's been a lot of telethons," Diddy said, "but this is our telethon. These are our people."

The whole concept of our people really rubs me the wrong way. The money I've donated wasn't earmarked for anyone of a certain colour. I wasn't thinking, "gee, I hope this goes to help white people. 'Cus, they're you know, my people". Should there be a telethon that's ours? Should there be some sort of extra feeling of do-gooding for helping your own people? Call me naive, but "my people" are Americans. Not white, or black, or brown, just Americans who need help. Silly, huh?

I'm hoping what he meant was people who live in the Gulf in general, but somehow, I doubt that's going to be the case. I'm not quite that naive.

Oh, and BTW, money raised for *our people by our people:

Less than two weeks after the storm hit the Gulf Coast, private gifts have soared to nearly $700 million, a pace exceeding the response to the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The American Red Cross alone had received $503 million in gifts and pledges as of Friday, nearly equaling the $534 million collected for its Liberty Fund over two months following the Sept. 11 attacks.

*our being my definition, not Diddy's.

Hurricane Katrina Relief Effort

Beloved in Christ,

As you know, the Gulf States (particularly Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi) have been devastated by Hurricane Katrina and its after-effects, and the needs for supplies and other relief in that area are great. Relief efforts are underway, and the AAC has joined those efforts through the creation of a "Hurricane Katrina Relief Effort" fund. We will be coordinating with AAC chapters and congregations to distribute funds on the local level in the Gulf Coast region.

We encourage your participation in this important work. You may make a contribution in three ways:

1. Mail your contribution to:

The American Anglican Council
2296 Henderson Mill Road, NE, Suite 406
Atlanta, GA 30345

2. Make a secure financial contribution online. (Select "Hurricane Katrina Relief Effort" as the Donor Designation.)

3. Call the AAC to make a secure credit card contribution over the phone toll free at 1-800-914-2000.

In all cases, please designate your contribution as “Hurricane Katrina Relief Effort".

We at the AAC mourn with those who have lost loved ones and/or property and continue to pray that God would comfort and draw each hurting person and family to Himself during this difficult time. Please keep all those affected by Katrina in your prayers during the aftermath of this devastating hurricane.

Blessings and Peace in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,

The Rev. Canon Ellis E. Brust
AAC Chief Operating Officer/Chaplain to the President

"Be devoted to one another in brotherly love... Share with God's people who are in need."
(Romans 12:10a,13)

Do you read Michael Yon?

If you don't you should.

This is a story I'm sure you won't read anywhere else. And every man in it is a hero, except the terrorist scumbags.
(h/t Van der Leun, crossposted to NERS)

In The Company Of Heros

FNC has a show on tonight, called "In the Company of Heros". They just finished an interview with the parents of J.P. Blecksmith, a Marine who was killed and is featured in tonight's program. Talk about a total opposite from the current parent in the news.

The show airs at 9pm EDT.

Tentative Victory

St. James (Newport Beach) Wins Tentative Victory in Property Rights Battle with Diocese

Ruling for Breakaway Parish: Judge rejects Episcopal diocese's attempt to get property back from the conservative St. James, which cut ties with the national church

An effort by the six-county Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles to claim ownership of buildings and other property of a conservative breakaway congregation in Newport Beach was tentatively rejected Thursday by an Orange County Superior Court judge.

St. James Church was one of three former Episcopal parishes to bolt from the diocese and national Episcopal Church one year ago over differences in church teaching and the national church's controversial decision to ordain an openly gay priest in a committed relationship with another man as bishop of New Hampshire.

The diocese sued St. James and two other breakaway parishes for the property after they severed ties and placed themselves under the jurisdiction of a conservative Anglican bishop in Uganda.

The Episcopal Church is the U.S. member of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

In the tentative ruling Thursday, Orange County Superior Court Judge David C. Velasquez said the diocese had not shown that it would probably prevail in the property dispute with the St. James congregation, a dispute that also involved issues touching on 1st Amendment freedom of speech rights.

"Plaintiffs have not presented evidence that title to the parish property has ever been held in the name of any person or entity other than the parish since the time it was conveyed to the parish," Velasquez wrote.

The judge also said the parish had made a prima facie case that it had been sued by the diocese after it had publicly disagreed with the national church's views on homosexuality and other issues by issuing press releases and severing its ties with the diocese.

"Such acts arise out of and are in furtherance of the defendants' exercise of the right to speak on a matter of 'public interest,' " Velasquez wrote. "How churches in America are reacting to the different viewpoints on homosexuality is currently a topic of much public significance."

Via the AAC

"Sworn Friends"

I didn't realize such a liturgy had existed in my church.

The Church of England is being accused by a leading bishop of sexualising friendship. The charge is levelled by the Bishop of Lincoln, the Rt Rev John Saxbee. Yet centuries ago, the church officially recognised "sworn friends" who would participate in a liturgy specially devised for the purpose, the bishop says. And in the new issue of The Lincoln Bulletin, his diocesan magazine, he gives as an example a 14th century prayer which said: “Send your holy angel upon these your servants, N and N, that they may love each other, as your holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and Andrew and James, and John and Thomas ... not through the bonds of birth, but through faith and by the love of the Holy Spirit, that they may abide in the same love all the days of their life."

Bishop Saxbee says: "Sadly, such respect for friendship as a faithful commitment made between a man and a woman, or between two people of the same gender, no longer finds expression in our repertoire of pastoral services. "One reason is that the Church has succumbed to the current tendency to sexualise friendship, so that any prayers said to support or celebrate a committed friendship, say, between two men or two women are assumed to be promoting homosexuality."

The bishop describes this situation as "so sad" because in the Bible friendship is something to be celebrated "as the image of God's faithfulness and commitment" and the church through the centuries has "offered opportunities for such Christian friendship to be prayerfully supported and celebrated."

I agree with the Bishop, it does seem that the trend is to sexualize relationships. There's almost always the assumption that Nin and I are in a sexual relationship. That's why we started introducing each other as "my sister" -- it was just easier. But I do like the term "sworn friends", because that's what we are. I've always mentally used the term Anne used in "Anne of Green Gables": kindred spirits :) I wish the service described in the article was something still being performed, because I'd love to be able to participate in it.

When It Becomes Personal

I try to use "must read" sparingly, but I think this post: Domine Dirige Nos, merits it.

WWII Day

A Lancaster bomber dropped 1m poppies over the crowds in a flypast

One million poppies have been dropped on thousands of people gathered in the Mall for Commemoration Day, marking 60 years since the end of World War II.

Part of a flypast of World War II aircraft, the poppies were released by a Lancaster Bomber over The Mall as the Queen and Royal Family looked on.

The Queen earlier addressed the crowd, speaking of the "present difficult days for London" after Thursday's bombings.

She said the people of the war generation had set an example.

In her address, she told those gathered in Horse Guard's Parade that the years of war had not been in vain - but sadly, it could not be claimed the world had been free from conflict or terror since 1945.

"It does not surprise me that during the present difficult days for London, people turn to the example set by that generation, of resilience, humour, sustained courage, often under conditions of great deprivation," she said.

"That example, and those memories, should be kept alive by younger generations as they in turn strive to keep the peace in our troubled world."

For The Fourth

Yeah, I'm still around, but barely. Thought I'd share this article from the Scotsman. It's a small piece of it, but all of it can be found here.

.... But it is also important to say, this 4 July , that one need not have ever visited the US to feel in tune with what it means to be an American. It is an empire of the mind (and the imagination) as much as it is a military and economic superpower. The principles of the American Revolution remain sound. The World Trade Centre no longer stands, but the language of the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights does.

No other country has embedded the "pursuit of happiness" - the great goal of mankind - in the foundations of the state; nowhere else is the idea of liberty so revered. There is such a thing as an American sensibility and it can be felt from the Baltic to the Pacific.

Could the United States be doing better? Wrong question. If not America, then who? No-one, that's who. At its best, America and American ideals remain, in Lincoln's famous words, "the last, best hope of mankind". The United States still believes in a place called hope. As it celebrates its 229th birthday today, we should too.

A bit later: The Cotillion has a special 4th salute to Milbloggers.

A bit more later: I just wanted to thank everyone for their good thoughts with the job loss this last week. Both Nin and I really appreciate it. Even though things pretty much suck right now, we're still feeling blessed to have such great friends and to live here in the U.S.A.. God bless America, and each and every one of you. And a special shout out to all those that serve our country here at home and all over the world. You guys and gals rock! Happy Fourth!

Mail From Home

SonraK is looking for pen pals for the 82nd Airborn Division. Head over to her place for the details.

Via Claire.

Normandy

Via Ilyka, this post about a trip to the beaches of Normandy. Very moving. There's something indefinable and overwhelming that you feel when you visit a battlefield or the graves of the fallen. Everyday Stranger does an excellent job of capturing that emotion.

Go Say, "Thank You"

Via Joanie, I went to this website today where you can send a message to any service member. I just sent one to each branch of the armed forces. So go tell a service person, "Thanks".

Memorial Day 2005

"Almighty God, we remember this day before thee thy faithful servant, and we pray thee that, having opened to him the gates of larger life, thou wilt receive him more and more into thy joyful service; that he may win, with thee and thy servants everywhere, the eternal victory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."

~ A Prayer Book For Soldiers & Sailors

Memorial Day 2004 at the Presidio in San Francisco. Click for larger photo. An entire gallery of photos from last year can be found here.

Memorial Day

You should go read Russ's Memorial Day post. He's also keeping a list of link to other Memorial Day posts.

On Suffering

Much to think about after reading this post at the "Anchoress".

Suffering is a mystery, and it is an intimate one, bound up in all of your love, all of your fear, all of your hate, all of your failings and joys. It is literally for the Christian, where the rubber meets the road.

I'm saving that in my 'to keep' folder and sharing it with my mum. Suffering and faith has been a frequent topic of discussion between the two of us over the years.

Mary Musings

Peter Sean had a thread on his blog about Mary and the paper that was released recently in regards to Roman Catholics and Anglicans coming to some sort of arrangement on the matter. I'd pretty much said my piece at the time, but today, I was visiting Huw's always excellent blog, and came upon a link to the Orthodox viewpoint. I found it very illuminating.

Chastity

Good article here on the subject, via Peter Sean. And nicely coincidental after having just visited Fugitive Jen's blog a few minutes ago and reading this.

May God continue to bless us with the strength to live our lives the way we know He wishes us to.

"He Is Responsible That We Live in Freedom Now"

Grateful Dutch still honor fallen Americans

.... As Martin Salden grew older, his parents told him many stories about the German occupiers terrorizing the residents of Kerkrade, of Dutch collaborators, and of two Jews the family hid from the Nazis in his grandmother's cellar.

And "they always told me to always pay respect for the American soldiers because they paid their lives for our freedom," he says.

After the Allied liberation of Holland, the American Battle Monuments Commission took over operation of the cemetery. Dutch residents of Margraten helped American military gravediggers break through the frozen earth and bury the American dead. And they started adopting the graves, visiting them the way family would, honoring the ultimate sacrifice they represented.

Today about 4,000 graves are adopted officially, and more unofficially, said Joseph Purnot, a volunteer administrator of the grave adoption program.

A couple that owned a bakery and lived in nearby Maastrichtadopted Rutledge's grave and sent Hamner snips of grass, photographs and chocolates for the children. The correspondence faded in the 1970s. The couple passed away.

'Getting to know my daddy'

In 2001, Ginger's brother, Robert Leron Rutledge, 63, gave her a duffel bag filled with letters that had been passed down in the family.

"I couldn't read them fast enough," writes Gregory, who is now married with three grown children.

She recently retired as vice president of a bank and lives in Statesboro, Ga. "I was 62 years old and I was finally getting to know my daddy."

She contacted Salden through an Internet tribute he had posted in honor of the Margraten war dead, and when he heard her story, he took over Rutledge's grave.

"It just makes me feel so good, because I feel that my father's not alone," Gregory said.

Salden, a retired newspaper layout man, is in training for a 100-mile bicycle race and rides horses in his free time. He says he becomes emotional every time he walks among the sea of crosses.

He brings Rutledge flowers on the anniversary of the date he died, on his birthday and for Christmas, Easter and Memorial Day. When he visits, he offers a prayer and thanks.

"He is responsible that we live in freedom now," Salden explains. "And that's what I do and I feel good."

Read the entire story here.

A Loss

DeoDuce lost a dear friend today.

Habemus Papam!

So that's what Ith was doing in Rome...

In case you haven't heard the news yet or seen it anywhere, the College of Cardinals has selected Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger of Germany as the new Pope. He has chosen the name Benedict XVI.

To see other possible names he was considering, go here.

To see what would have happened if they had chosen Jimi Hendrix, click here.

In Sympathy

My sympathies to all my Roman Catholic readers on your loss today.

Holy Assertions!

Peter Sean passes on the link to this interview with David Klinghoffer, who has a new book out — Why the Jews Rejected Jesus: The Turning Point in Western History. Sounds like a book to add to the Wish List!

Schism?

Robert at Llama Butchers has a post on the latest in the ECUSA/Anglican Communion wars, and points out the latest news. I don't have much to add, other than what I said in his comments section, other than it's all very sad.

Is It Just Me?

I love inaugurations, no matter whose it is. I always watch them/listen to them, and it always leaves me feeling all emotional with pride for my country and our way of life. Granted, I'm happier when it's my guy taking the oath, but regardless of who it is, my pride doesn't waver. It's in poor taste for these protesters to be physically trying to disrupt (and just generally being nimnulls) the festivities. Can't they have one moment of something other than anger and bitterness? I just don't understand people like that, they're like aliens. Maybe it's true that some people just aren't happy unless they're miserable -- and making sure everyone else is miserable right along with them.

God Of Our Fathers

Always one of my favourite hymns, and the combined military groups did a wonderful job. Brought tears to my eyes.

God Bless America

And God bless our President.

It's days like this that remind you just why we're so fortunate to be Americans.

Troop Wristbands

Just saw the guys who make these on FNC. Nin got out her Lance Armstrong one to show me what they're like, and it's so big it slipped down my hand! Maybe the child size is for me... ya think? Anyway, this seemed like a kewl thing, and even though I'm probably the last person to know about it, I thought I'd give it a mention.

Merry Christmas!

One More

DG also has a wonderful photo she's sharing, along with a story I'm glad I read -- you will be too.

A Must Click

Cassandra has a photo on her blog that I'd encourage all of you to go take a look at.

Prayers

Prayers for the Vice President who has been hospitalized.

We Remember

click image for larger view

This post will remain at the top today.

He's Leaving...

on a jet plane. So go read this post.

Disenfranchised Defenders

Good news here on Donald Rumsfeld's plan to make sure that the Dems can't disenfranchise military overseas votes like they've tried to in the past.

.... This problem is not unique to Florida, and it didn't just happen in 2000. According to the results of a survey by the Reserve Officers' Association, ROA estimates that the disenfranchisement rate among military personnel who try to vote in Florida, Missouri, and South Carolina is 40-45 percent.

It's not the hypocrisy of what the Florida Dems did that still rankles; what's most bothersome is who they tried to do it to. Every American has the right to vote, but were it not for the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen who put themselves in harm's way, none of us would have that right. The warriors and their families have long memories, and this time they're determined to vote.

For once, at the insistence of Don Rumsfeld, the folks in Fort Fumble are acting, not reacting, to solve this problem before it repeats itself.

On March 17, Rumsfeld sent a memo to the Joint Chiefs and Combatant Commanders telling them how the services will make sure all military members — and their family members — who are overseas, or stationed here but are away from home, get the chance to vote, and vote so that no Mark Herrons can disenfranchise them.

At the heart of Rumsfeld's plan is putting some teeth into the old Voting Assistance Officer idea. On top of it is a strategy — now underway — to use both the internet and the Postal Service effectively to help servicemen and their families request absentee ballots and get them returned in time to be counted.

84

On this day in 1920, the 19th Amendment was ratified.

An excerpt from an email I received today from Feminists for Life:

....In a peaceful revolution led by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, women won the right to keep their own earnings, sign contracts, sit on a jury, testify on their own behalf, to secure a divorce if a husband drank the family’s income away or physically abused his wife and share custody of their children. When these two feminist foremothers were born, no women were admitted to college. By the time they died, colleges and universities opened their doors to women, and they started down the path to equal opportunities in the workplace.

[....]

Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton passed the torch to two more generations before women’s suffrage—their most cherished goal—was realized. By the time the struggle ended, women had suffered greatly for what too many today take for granted—or sadly, don’t exercise at all.

In 1913, Alice Paul, author of the original Equal Rights Amendment, organized a magnificent pageant to parade down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. Women dressed all in white were led by New York attorney Inez Milholland Boissevain, who was dressed like Joan of Arc on a white horse. At the end of the parade women were pulled off their horses, grabbed by jeering men as police stood by smirking. By the time the cavalry had been brought in to restore order, 100 people were hospitalized—but not one man had been arrested.

Later, a perpetual delegation of dignified, silent, peaceful protesters were organized by Paul to hold vigil outside the White House—just a few blocks from FFL’s current office. Angry men tore their banners down. Alice Paul was knocked to the ground by a sailor and dragged down the street. Another man tore a woman’s blouse off in order to remove her purple and yellow suffrage sash as the police looked on. Later the women were arrested and forced to remove all their clothing—one by one—in front of a company of men, and incarcerated for days, weeks, or months at time. Their mail was cut off and they were made to perform hard labor. They were terrorized by the guards, some tossed like dolls headfirst into their prison cells and rendered unconscious. One political prisoner was left handcuffed above the cell door all night long.

Women became more resolved than ever to win the vote—and men in ever-increasing numbers began to support the fight for women’s suffrage.

By the time the 19th amendment was ratified on August 18, 1920, Inez Milholland Boissevain had died of exhaustion from traveling the country with her message of “votes for women.” She is known as a martyr for women’s suffrage.

VJ Day

August 15, 1945

90 Years Later

I read about this yesterday, and today . there's an article on the ceremony

Four of the 23 known surviving veterans of the First World War have led a service commemorating the 90th anniversary of the conflict's outbreak.

The veterans, who are all over 100 years old, met at the Cenotaph in London for the 11am service, which was also attended by Lord Kitchener, the great nephew of Field Marshall Kitchener, who commanded British forces during the war.

Evening Prayer

Evening Prayer from The Book of Common Prayer, Friday, 30 July 2004:

O Lord, open thou our lips
All and our mouth shall shew forth thy praise.

O God, make speed to save us.
All O Lord, make haste to help us.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
All as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Praise ye the Lord.
All The Lord's name be praised.

Follow Up

I've gotten two letters/comments on this post, "A Letter From Iraq", from those serving in the Middle East.

Books For Soldiers

Julie points out a great cause she's personally involved in.

What A Way To Spend A Saturday

Take a look at what Smash and DaGoddess got up to this weekend.

Happy 228!

Wishing you and yours a happy Independence Day!

Even the moose are celebrating :)

And don't forget I'm still looking for your Fourth of July stories!

Fourth Of July Stories

I'm still looking for your Fourth of July stories!

And over at Girls! we want to know about your summer plans, amongst other things :)

Holiday Happenings

Since we're heading into a long holiday weekend, I don't know how many of you are out and about in BlogLand. But if you are around, how about sharing a special Fourth of July moment? It can be something from your childhood, something more recent, or maybe it's a family tradition or story that means something to you.

Use the comments or trackback to this post on your own blog.

Looking forward to reading your stories!

Disney Unleashes Star-spangled Riposte

Walt Disney, which refused to distribute Michael Moore's controversial Fahrenheit 9/11, is using the Fourth of July holiday to launch a feelgood feature film about the American people.

Borrowing a tactic from the grassroots campaign that made Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ a surprise hit, the media giant has used early screenings for select groups and is encouraging people to "spread the word" about the patriotic film, with invitations, posters, and guidelines for group outings on its website.

America's Heart & Soul, which opens today on 100 screens across the US, offers a flag-draped look at the country. The 88- minute film, directed by Louis Schwartzberg, is told through the voices of "ordinary Americans with extraordinary stories": an Olympic boxer, a blind mountain climber, a dairy farmer and an aerobatic pilot.

The rest here.

More Impressions...

... Lady Margaret Thatcher singing along with the Star Spangled Banner -- now how many Americans know the words to somebody else's national anthem, do you suppose?

... Gorbachev can spin all he wants to for the Washington Post about how "nobody" won the cold war -- but for cryin' out loud, at least he showed up! (Then again, how dare he refer to our beloved Gipper as 'nobody', on the day we buried him!)

... the stirring Wilhousky arrangement of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" performed at both the National Cathedral and the Reagan Library. For anyone who didn't get enough of that music on TV already, here is a site where you can listen to a recording of it, performed by the US Army Band, with an all male chorus. Here is a USAF Band recording with a mixed voice chorus, which I actually like better. Both sites allow you to download an MP3. I downloaded both, and will never hear it again without thinking of President Reagan.

... Mrs. Reagan's whimper as she broke down over the casket, clutching the flag, and the three Reagan children hurrying to her side to comfort her.

... Lady Thatcher giving her old friend a final bow as the sun set.

Brrr.

Kleenex, anyone?

Reagan's Final Send-Off

For the lucky ones who have the opportunity to watch live, or for those who need to set their VCRs... the schedule for Friday's events can be found here.

Comfort

(As I'm doing this post, KTOM has started playing "America the Beautiful" by the late Ray Charles.)

What Can I Say?

What can I say that hasn't already been said by so many already? From the riderless horse bearing President Reagan's own boots backwards in the stirrups, to Nancy Reagan patting the casket and smoothing the flag that lay over his coffin, it was, to me, the essence of America, and the best of what we are as Americans. The celebration of a life, the grief of parting, and the promise of the reunion still to come.

Some Impressions

Just a few things from watching the proceedings yesterday....

... the spontaneous outburst of love and respect from the gathered crowd when Mrs. Reagan got out of the limo to watch the transfer of the casket from the hearse to the caisson.

... the certain conniption fits of the left, especially the separation of church and state crowd, at the blatant religious content, even in the music played by the marching military bands, although I wonder how many of them even recognized "God of our Fathers."

... the incredible honor given to those young service members who were chosen to carry the casket, and to stand guard, and their precision and professionalism in carrying out those duties. How many of those youngsters had even been born when Reagan became Commander in Chief?

... Mrs. Reagan looked like she hadn't slept in a week but still held her head high, and every time the cameras focused on her limousine during the procession, she was still waving to the crowd.

Many writers far more eloquent than I have much more to say, so I will hand it off to those folks for now.

Thanks, Ith, for letting me put in my 2 cents' worth on your airwaves.

It Could Be Better

I'm tired, my head hurts, I want to go home. All of a sudden, I feel kind of sad and wistful. I dunno, I think it's just been that kind of week hasn't it?

When I get home, I'll watch the tape of President Reagan's last journey to D.C., and I expect I'll get a little more sad and that crying will be involved. I think I'll get Nin to make me one of her uber-strong Rusty Nails.

Help Me! I'm a blogger

I have been mulling over this excerpt that I grabbed from the Belmont Club for a while.

Mr Gardner, BBC's security correspondent and an Al Qaeda expert, was left for dead by the fleeing attackers, local newspapers said. But he survived and pleaded for his life, shouting to bystanders to help a fellow Muslim, a police officer told AFP.

"I'm a Muslim, help me, I'm a Muslim, help me," the father of two daughters cried in Arabic, the officer said. Mr Gardner, fluent in Arabic, was carrying a small copy of the Quran, a device used by Western reporters to try to reassure extremists.

Wow. Life is certainly different on the Arabian peninsular. Let us go over the incident. A man is shot and lies bleeding on the ground. He seems to know that the only way he will get help from bystanders is if he identifies himself as a Muslim. He calls out "I'm a Muslim, help me, I'm a Muslim, help me,".
From the article, I cannot definitively say that help was only offered to the man...

after he identified himself as a Muslim. For all I know, people may have been planning to help whether he made the remarks or not. What sickens me is that the fallen man felt that he had to yell out his religious association in order to get help in that part of the world.

The article says that the man is indeed a Muslim (he was not fibbing) and that he is fluent in Arabic. This of course means that he was not just a foolish foreigner trying to elicit help by grovelling for sympathy but rather that he indeed knew the culture very well and must have had some inkling that help would not be offered to him if he was not a Muslim.

This saddens me.

This story suggests that if I were visiting Saudi Arabia, I would have to pretend that I was a Muslim in order to get help or else I would be left to die in a pool of my own blood or vomit or entrails or whatever ailed me at the time.

Is it possible that a similar scenario could occur in North America?

I certainly don't feel like I have to explain that I am an Episcopalian to my family doctor before he agrees to treat my throbbing haemorrhoids. I am particularly glad about this because it is difficult to go over the finer points of Episcopalian theology while sitting on one cheek.

If I happen to be lying in a bloody mangled mess on the side of the highway anywhere in North America (except New Jersey), I would feel comfortable flagging down any passing vehicle no matter who was in it. I don't believe that I would have to hold up a small sign with the MovableType logo in hopes of getting a passing blogger to stop and help.
I don't think I would look at the driver of a passing car and upon seeing a turban, decide not to wave for help because the driver and I were plainly from different religions. It just would not cross my mind that such a difference would matter and I think this is true of most people in North America.

I believe I would flail my shattered arms at any vehicle that passed feeling very confident that because driver's licences are issued primarily to human beings, I have enough in common with any driver to prompt them to screech to a halt and have them help roll my carcass out of the lanes of traffic.

Then again, maybe that’s just me.

Just The Radio

Rush broadcast the sounds from the ceremony in CA where President Reagan is being flown to D.C.. He did so with very little commentary, and even without pictures, I found myself getting weepy standing by the radio. It's going to be a sad week.

(I'm taping it all so I'll be able to see it when I get home.)

Ae Fond Kiss

This poem of Robert Burns has been going through my head the last few days, and this photo has just intensified it. (the Alex Beaton perfomance of it set to music is what's in my mind's ear)

The Prisoners' Conscience

In 1983, I was confined to an eight-by-ten-foot prison cell on the border of Siberia. My Soviet jailers gave me the privilege of reading the latest copy of Pravda. Splashed across the front page was a condemnation of President Ronald Reagan for having the temerity to call the Soviet Union an "evil empire." Tapping on walls and talking through toilets, word of Reagan's "provocation" quickly spread throughout the prison. We dissidents were ecstatic. Finally, the leader of the free world had spoken the truth – a truth that burned inside the heart of each and every one of us.

At the time, I never imagined that three years later, I would be in the White House telling this story to the president. When he summoned some of his staff to hear what I had said, I understood that there had been much criticism of Reagan's decision to cast the struggle between the superpowers as a battle between good and evil. Well, Reagan was right and his critics were wrong.

Read the whole thing.

Memorial

The Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign site has been turned into a memorial page for President Reagan.

Remembering D-Day

You can find Blackfive's roundup of D-Day posts here. My contribution to the project, "The Life That I Have" is here.

Later: The Untold Stories of D-Day. I think this is a great companion to the subject I chose for my D-Day post.

This post will stay at the top till Monday. Scroll down for new posts over the weekend.

Reagan In Pictures

A few of the photos I came across today.

Staying Up

Anyone else up getting ready to watch the D-Day ceremonies live?

I made dinner, Nin made drinks, we watched Master & Commander with my mum and brother, and now I'm settling in in front of the TV watching FNC for as long as I can stay awake. Isn't it odd that these two events have coincided? I was reading President Reagan's speechs in Normandy twenty years ago, and was struck by how the fates work.

I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down, but it is not this day. This day we fight! For all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West! ~ Aragorn, "Return of the King"

Later: I can't keep my eyes open. Chirac managed to get his UN bit in. I guess France and the UN share the value of skimming money off the top. The President's speech at times made me cry. Say what you will about his speaking ability, but what he does say is from his heart, and it makes that connection.

Till later today, good night.

Remembering A President

Ronald Reagan has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. When I was in second grade, I won a state wide art award, and I got a certificate signed by Govenor Reagan. My father often spoke of him when the governor would visit the Hotel Durant in Berkeley where we lived. He was resident manager, and Governor Reagan came for gatherings at the hotel where my father would meet and welcome him. The first Presidential election I was old enough to vote, I voted for Ronald Reagan. There are so many things I admired about him, but I suppose the top of that list was bringing the downfall of Soviet Communism. All the years of my childhood, participating in atom bomb drills at school, and being pretty sure I'd be dead by 20 due to nuclear war, and then the Berlin Wall fell. I thought I was dreaming. It was a day I'd never thought to see. He showed us that we didn't need to be ashamed to be Amreican, that we could be strong and secure. After Watergate, Vietnam, hostages in Iran, years of MAD, Ronald Reagan brought a new era, and one I'm very grateful for. Thank you, President Reagan, and may God bless you.

Later the Next Day: I really like Michele's eulogy. Her memories of the Cold War and fear of nuclear war are ones I so empathize with. One of these days I need to do a post on what happened in first grade when I thought the Soviets were going to attack while I was at school.

Sad

Watching FNC and it's like a pre-eulogy right now for President Reagan. My first election, I voted for Reagan. A man I have greatly admired for so many years.

My prayers go out to him and his family.

1:50pm: President Reagan has died.

Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, died today at his home in California. He was 93 years old and had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Reagan, known as "The Great Communicator," was elected to office in a landslide victory over incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter in 1980 and is credited with revitalizing the country's stagnant economy and forcing the end of the Cold War during his two terms in office from 1981 to 1989.

His charismatic personality and staunch conservatism led the nation in a Republican resurgence that kept the GOP in the White House for 12 years.

Reagan remained largely out of public view since announcing he had Alzheimer's disease in November 1994. He came to symbolize Alzheimer's, which has no cure, during the last decade of his life. Reagan turned the disclosure of his disease as an opportunity to make a final address to the nation, expressing in an open letter to the American people the same patriotic fervor that had catapulted him into the presidency.

"When the Lord calls me home, whenever that may be, I will leave with the greatest love for this country of ours and eternal optimism for its future," Reagan wrote at the time. "I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead."

Treating Our Vets Right

Good to see the French are treating our D-Day vets with kindess and respect:

With armfuls of gifts, France on Friday welcomed back American veterans who helped free Europe from Nazi occupation when they landed on Normandy's beaches 60 years ago.

One hundred former World War II fighters saluted and waved as they climbed off a chartered Air France plane that brought them from Washington, D.C., to receive France's highest honor at D-Day anniversary commemorations this weekend.

Several leaned on canes as they walked down a red carpet on the tarmac at Charles De Gaulle Airport outside Paris. Many wore military caps and medals on their chests, some toted video cameras and all placed hands over their hearts when a French military band played "The Star-Spangled Banner."

[....]

French Veterans Minister Hamlaoui Mekachera promised the Americans they'd find a warm, grateful welcome here.

"For the French people of 2004, just like for the French people of 1944 ... you are true heroes," he said.

"We are fully aware of what we owe you, we have not forgotten the immense sacrifices that you have made for the liberation of our country."

France is to bestow the Legion of Honor, its most prestigious civilian and military award, on the 100 veterans who were chosen by U.S. officials. France says it wants to honor them as representatives of all the Americans who fought against Nazism.

[....]

The honorees and their relatives traveled for free on a flight paid for by Air France and other French businesses. Some of the top hotels in Paris are putting them up without charge.

Joseph Kuhar, 87, of Washington, D.C., said French kindness had been overwhelming.

"If they keep giving me souvenirs, I'm going to have to hire a truck," he laughed. Many of the veterans carried shopping bags full of gifts, including bottles of champagne.

The Life That I Have

Last week, I received an email from Blackfive asking if I would participate in his D-Day Project. I was honoured at being included, but I wasn't sure if I could contribute anything worthwhile. He convinced me to give it a shot, so this is the result.

I've chosen the women of the SOE as the subject of this post because I've long admired their contributions to our freedom. In fact, when I was a little girl, and I first learned of them, they were some of my heroines. From movies like "Carve Her Name With Pride" and the series "Wish Me Luck", there stories were brought to life. I was nine or ten when I first saw, "Carve Her Name With Pride", about Violette Szabo, an agent with the Special Operations Executive in Britain. She was a wife, a mother, and a hero:

.... After training Violette went into France twice. On the second occasion she was captured after a shoot-out in which she killed several German soldiers.

After torture and interrogation in which she gave nothing away, she was sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp where she was eventually shot through the back of the neck with two other women SOE agents, Lillian Rolfe and Denise Bloch. Another French section agent, Odette Hallowes, was in the camp with them and gave details to the authorities at the close of the war.

There is an anonymous memorial on the wall of a chapel in Kensington to six women of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, the cover used by SOE for female agents. All six died in concentration camps. Violette Szabo is one of the names. She was posthomously awarded the George Cross, which was presented to her four year old daughter Tania Szabo by King George VI on 28th January 1947. She was also awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French Government in the same year.

Violette was 23

Her story is a remarkable one, but not a unique one. There were many woman like Violette that risked their lives to get vital intelligence to the Allies. They were the girls next door, someone's wife, sister, mother, or daughter. And of these women, probably the most famous is Nancy Wake, the "White Mouse".

....Her missions with the Resistance mean