OT: GREAT MESSAGE

[Guest guest]

Yo Cheryl,

 

> This came from a German friend of mine that now lives in Alaska.

> It really hit home for me and I thought I would share it with

> all of you.

 

Thanks .. I appreciate it for sure.

 

> I also wish to thank each and every one of you for supporting the

> US Military. Us that are disabled or retired or just plain got

> out early really appreciate it far more than you will ever know.

> Our sharing these tidbits that we come across is our way of sharing

> the military life that we loved with our friends and families.

 

And loved it we did .. that's a fact. :-)

 

> As Butch said in his 'I Remember' post we need to write down and

> share with friends and family what has happened in history and t

> this is just one way for us to do so. Cheryl

 

Right you are Cheryl. Some folks sometimes forget that the military of

the United States submits to civil authority because they want to .. but

there could be some points that they would not submit to regardless of

inappropriate congressional actions. Infringing on what we see as our

inherent patriotism and the symbols of same are one of those things.

 

Senator McCain's tale has been told by many ex-POW .. all heros they

were. The one that comes to my mind often was a feller a had a lot of

respect for .. Jim or Nick (he was called both) Rowe .. a Texas boy.

 

Jim was a Green Beret .. captured in 1963 .. I was in the 'Nam then. He

was treated like crap by the V.C. and escaped after five years .. fact

is, it was on the night of his scheduled execution. After his return

from Vietnam .. Jim wrote " Five Years to Freedom " .. by James Nicholas

Rowe, wherein he makes comments similar to those of Senator McCain.

 

Comments similar to Nick Rowe and Senator McCain's can be found in other

books from ex-POWs .. like:

 

A Code to Keep: The True Story of America's Longest-Held Civilian POW in

Vietnam (Jim Thompson) .. by Ernest Brace.

 

Glory Denied: The Saga of Jim Thompson, America's Longest-Held Prisoner

of War .. by Tom Philpott and John McCain.

 

Honor Bound: American Prisoners of War in Southeast Asia, 1961-1973 ..

by Stuart Rochester and Frederick Kiley.

 

P.O.W: A Definitive History of the American Prisoner-Of-War Experience

in Vietnam, 1964-1973 .. by John Hubbell.

 

When Hell Was in Session .. by Jeremiah A. Denton.

 

And MANY others.

 

Later, in 1981, Jim " Nick " Rowe used the many lessons he had learned in

captivity to form the Special Forces Survival, Evasion, Resistance and

Escape (SERE) course.

 

In 1987 I attended that course at Ft. Bragg .. first time I had met him

but I'd known of him a long time. Shortly thereafter, he headed out to

the Joint U.S. Military Advisory Group Philippines and I headed out to

the Joint U.S. Military Mission for Aid to Turkey. Within a year a hit

squad of the Communist New Peoples Army murdered Jim in Manila.

 

His headstone at Arlington National Cemetary tells the whole story:

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.com/jamesnic.htm

 

Just a few of the many URLs on Nick Rowe are:

 

http://www.guam-online.com/sfa46/rowe.htm

 

http://www.taskforceomegainc.org/r077.html

 

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/RR/frocv.html

 

http://www.military.com/Content/MoreContent?file=ML_rowe_keating

 

http://www.angelfire.com/wa3/160thcfc/

 

God Bless folks like Colonel Rowe .. and all the others who suffered

horrors difficult to imagine even when reading about them. But it was

their faith in God and Country that kept them going .. so nobody is

about to take the Pledge of Allegiance away from the U.S. Military.

They might pass laws .. but you will see blanket disobedience of them.

 

> > " The Pledge of Allegiance - Senator John McCain

> >

> > From a speech made by Capt. John S. McCain, US,

> > (Ret) who represents Arizona in the U.S.

> > Senate:

> >

> > As you may know, I spent five and one half

> > years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam

> > War. In the early years of our imprisonment,

> > the NVA kept us in solitary confinement or two

> > or three to a cell. In 1971 the NVA moved us

> > from these conditions of isolation into large

> > rooms with as many as 30 to 40 men to a room.

> > This was, as you can imagine, a wonderful

> > change and was a direct result of the efforts

> > of millions of Americans on behalf of a few

> > hundred POWs 10,000 miles from home.

> >

> > So the next time you say the Pledge of

> > Allegiance, you must never forget the sacrifice

> > and courage that thousands of Americans have

> > made to build our nation and promote freedom

> > around the world. You must remember our duty,

> > our honor, and our country.

> >

> > " I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United

> > States of America and to the republic for which

> > it stands, one nation under God, indivisible,

> > with liberty and justice for all. "

> >

> > PASS THIS ON... and on... and on!!!!!!