A Passion to Serve the People Who Have Served All of Us.
When I noticed a man wearing dark athletic shoes with stars on the back, I asked if there was a story behind the shoes. Yes, and it’s a compelling and far-reaching one!
The Blue Line Shoes
A fellow blogger and friend, Joy Neal Kidney, has this great post on her site about a Marion [Iowa] Police Officer and U.S. Air Force veteran Ron Slagle and his family who designed a shoe so they could help first responders and military personnel with any mental health crisis they might be suffering.
Veterans Day is a day to thank all who have served our country in the United States Armed Forces. In the divisive climate we find ourselves in during these troubled days, I think it is important to remind ourselves what it means to be an American and why so many Americans have willingly served in the defense of Freedom, and many making the ultimate price to ensure our Freedoms continue.
In light of that, I thought I would share this poem I discovered by Lynne Carey
Veteran
I was a proud veteran That served my country well To those that would listen I had many stories to tell.
We fought for America’s freedom In far away places on foreigh land. Wherever the battle for Democracy raged, America’s finest made a stand.
We fought for your future And the right to remain free. For we saw what freedom meant To those without Liberty.
For you and yours We would gladly have given our life. We faced the fears and perils of battle We braved endless turmoil and strife.
Please remember us veterans And the sacrifices we made for you. Please share the blessings of freedom. Proudly wave the red, white and blue.
Lynne Carey Copyright 2004
With Respect, Honor, and Gratitude, Thank You Veterans!
Marine tradition holds that the Marine Corps was formed in a bar. The story dates back to November 1775, when two newly commissioned Captains, Samuel Nicholas and Robert Mullan, reportedly organized the first Marine Corps muster at the Tun Tavern, a popular bar in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to the tale, the two officers enticed potential recruits with mugs of beer and the promise of adventure on the high seas.
These recruits made up the first five Marine Corps companies that served aboard Continental Navy warships. Some historians maintain that a pub called the Conestoga Wagon was the more likely recruitment site; however, that is also a bar, and so, this tale remains a part of Marine lore to this day.
The National Museum of the Marine Corps in Virginia even features a restaurant appropriately named “Tun Tavern.”
Somehow, given the reputation of the US Marines as “life takers and heartbreakers,” this seems oddly entirely appropriate. I mean, how many other US military services can brag they were formed in a bar?
All joking aside, if you see a Marine today, wish them a Happy Birthday, and maybe buy them a beer!
The undertow of the Great Depression becomes poignantly personal as we experience the travails of Leora and Clabe Wilson, a displaced Iowa farm family. Gritty determination fuels this family’s journey of loss and hope, a reflection of what many American families endured during those challenging times.
In this true story the Wilsons slowly slide into unemployment and poverty. Leora must find ways to keep her dreams alive while making a haven for her flock of seven children in one run-down house after another.
My Thoughts …
Author Joy Neal Kidney has done it again.
After enjoying her first book, Leora’s Letters, I ordered a signed copy from the author when Leora’s Dexter Stories was released. I was not disappointed.
In this amazing second book, Author Joy Neal Kidney shares the struggles, trials, and heartbreaks her family experienced during the Great Depression while living in rural small-town Iowa. Leora’s Dexter Stories is a touching and enlightening story of family, struggle, pain, perseverance, and success.
Joy is the oldest granddaughter of Leora Wilson, who in this true story, faces the daily challenges of keeping a roof over her family’s head, putting food on the table, dealing with tragic losses, and ensuring her seven children’s dreams of success remain in focus. Along with her husband, Clabe, Leora Wilson exemplify what so many American families endured during this difficult period in American history.
However, it was not all gloom and despair. There were also times of fellowship, caring friends and family; and yes, moments of joy. Family trips to the fair, children’s school sports activities and other accomplishments are recounted, as well as moments of humor and laughter (I loved Rusty the Squirrel). Leora’s Dexter Stories is a book that will touch your heart.
While not a collection of short stories, each chapter is short enough and so well crafted, the reader can easily read a them one at a time, and return later to continue with no trouble picking up where they left off. Because of vacation and a crisis at work, this is exactly how I read this book. However, at the same time, it is a book you will not want to put down.
I highly recommend this wonderful book. It is my opinion that this book should be required reading in America’s school systems. I can’t help but think that learning and remembering a bit of what the parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents of this current generation endured and sacrificed to provide them with the freedoms they take for granted, and a country they often misunderstand, would be a good thing.
About the Author
Joy Neal Kidney, is the oldest granddaughter of the book’s heroine, and is the author of Leora’s Letters: The Story of Love and Loss For an Iowa Family During World War II. She is a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa and married to a Vietnam War Air Force veteran. Joy lives in central Iowa and is a regular storyteller for “Our American Stories.”
Growing up, my family used to spend several weeks every summer at Raquette Lake in upstate New York. We started out camping at Golden Beach Campground. I was 6 months old on my first camping trip. Later we purchased a lot in Burketown, essentially a marina and restaurant on the south bay of the lake. Lots had also been purchased by both sets of grandparents and a great uncle. Many of the other lots were bought up by other employees of Remington Arms Co. of Ilion, NY. So, on our sandy dirt road, almost every knew everyone. Summers at Raquette Lake were almost always a large friend and family get together.
We would typically go to the lake in late July or early August to avoid the black flies and the worst of the mosquito season. One year, for some reason, we had gone earlier, and we’re going to be at the lake for the fireworks on the Fourth of July. I was maybe twelve years old or so. We drove down to watch the fireworks at Old Forge, NY; about twenty minutes south of Raquette Lake on Route 28.
I’m not completely sure who was there. I know myself, my brother, and my Mom and Dad were there. And my Nanny and Grandpa Klippel were certainly there, because my Grandfather is the key figure in this tale. I do remember others being there and suspect my Aunt Carol and maybe my Uncle Ken were there. Grandma and Grandpa Gilbert may have been there, as well as various other cousins, aunts, uncles, etc.
We had found a spot to sit on the hill overlooking Old Forge Lake, or Fourth Lake (being the fourth lake in the Fulton Chain). It is not a particularly large lake; really more like a rather big pond. We were sitting there talking and waiting for the fireworks to begin when it began to cloud up and look like it was going to rain. I remember people trying to figure out if the fireworks would be canceled if it rained. The consensus was that it would depend on how hard it did rain, which seemed fair enough.
Once it got dark enough, the fireworks began. It was positively glorious. However, very shortly thereafter, the rain began as well. I remember being so disappointed as people began getting up to leave. My family, too, was getting ready to leave; everyone that is, except my Grandfather Klippel. He remained seated and simply took his handkerchief out and put it over his head. We had been hurrying to the car, but I had stopped and looked back. I watched as my Grandfather took the handkerchief, which by now had become soaked, and wring it out and place it back on his head. I was stunned, What was he doing? Even at that age, I knew my Grandfather was a bit of a character, but this was like nothing I had seen before. I walked back to where he was sitting.
“Grandpa, what are you doing? It’s raining.” It was actually raining quite hard by then.
“Well,” Grandpa replied, “if our ancestors could fight a war for this country and our freedom, the least I can do is sit through a little rain to thank them for doing so.”
That statement struck me, and I sat down next to my Grandfather. He asked me if I wanted the handkerchief, but I shook my head. It was too much fun watching him periodically wring it out and put it back on his head. We sat there together waiting for the rain to stop.
To be honest, I don’t remember if the rain ever did stop, or if the fireworks were canceled. I just remember sitting there in the rain, being proud as hell, and watching my grandfather once more wring the water out of his handkerchief, and place it back on his head.
A friend of mine shared a link with me to an article posted on The Federalist Pages. The article consists of an open letter written to the American Medical Association by Dr. Julio Gonzalez, M.D., J.D. Dr. Gonzalez is orthopedic surgeon and lawyer who lives in Florida. He is also a former Florida State Representative and former Congressional Candidate, and has published several books including The Federalist Pages, The Case for Free Market Healthcare, and Coronalessons.
I did not write this, but I agree 100% with the many points Dr. Gonzalez raises, which by the way, are historically and provably accurate. I have included the entire text of the letter here as well as a link to the post on The Federalist Pages. I hope Dr. Gonzalez and The Federalist Pages do not mind. Exposing the lies and disgusting assertions of the left has become of paramount importance in saving this country. Articles and letters such as this need to be read by as many Americans as possible. It is scary to me how many Americans accept the nonsense spewed forth by the Democrats who have sold their souls to the Left in an insane grab for total control of the government and the media that willingly goes along with them.
So, thank you again, Dr. Gonzalez. I will be supporting both you and The Federalist Pages in the future.
An Open Letter to the American Medical Association
Dear Sir and Madam,
I read with great disgust your “Organization Strategic Plan to Embed Racial Justice and Advance Health Equity.” Seldom have I read a more destructive, divisive, and inflammatory document by a professional organization, and I have never been more ashamed of being associated with the American Medical Association at any time in my career.
The suggestion that our country owes anyone “equity” because of “past injustices” is revolting. My family arrived in this country in 1961. We have not been a party to any of the injustices that occurred so many decades ago, yet you hold my family, my colleagues, and me in the same light that you hold the cruelest slaveholder. How dare you say that I, a person who is forced to answer on a census form as being white/Caucasian, but who on a different question answers Hispanic/Latino/Cuban, should be in anyway held responsible for those who traded slaves and the African chieftains who willingly sold their tribesmen and women to the Europeans four hundred years ago?
How dare you say that I, and every one of my colleagues who have spent our lives treating the poor, minorities, majorities, and anyone else who may stumble into our emergency rooms, legally or not, without bias or favor, and without any chance of being reimbursed for our training and our efforts, should be thought of as members of an oppressive consortium designed to inflict evil or inequity to those who we selflessly treat?
How dare you join the countless number of camouflaged communists who furtively and purposely try to confuse those around them by conflating equity with equality? Ours is a nation built on the premise of equal standing under the law and only that. Everything else is to be achieved through excellence, dedication, training, and hard work.
Equity, on the other hand, is achieved by fiat, by taking from some and giving it to others at the point of a gun. Few better ruses exist for the state control of the means of production than through the illusory promise of achieving equity instead of equal standing under the law. This is a dangerous track you are entering from which you and the social system you seek may never be able to return.
You claim that we live in a land that was taken from Native Americans hundreds of years ago. That may be so, but you neglect that the same is true of all other civilizations on earth. The Babylonians invaded Israel. The Norwegians invaded England. The Visigoths invaded Rome. Rome invaded Egypt and North Africa. The Turks invaded Constantinople. The Mongols invaded Europe. The Germans invaded Russia. The Russians starved their people. The Germans committed holocaust upon the Jews. The Calusas ransacked and sacrificed their neighboring tribes. The Caribes attacked and imprisoned the Taínos. The Mayans continuously conquered each other and tore their victims’ hearts out while they were still beating. Mao starved 69 million people and the People’s Republic of China killed millions with their latest virus.
Every single civilization, even those in Africa and the Far East, have conquered and been conquered. It is a fact of life and a staple of history. Your skewed and biased view of the events that took place between the Europeans and Native Americans while ignoring every other injustice carried out throughout history upon the very groups against which you point an accusatory finger is ignorant, hypocritical, and insulting to the 100% of us living Americans who played no part in the invasion nor were victims of the conquests.
You have abused your position as the self-proclaimed purveyor of the medical profession to promote a self-proclaimed social(ist) agenda against the will of so many of those whom you falsely claim to represent.
I will oppose you with all my being, all my strength, my intellect, and my voice. I will oppose you from here to the ends of the earth. I will oppose you because of your disgusting abuse of the great privilege that has been bestowed upon you, and because of the great insult you asperse upon me by suggesting that I carry anything other than love, charity, and good will towards every human being that I meet and have treated in my 30 years of practice as a physician.
There is a magnificent document whose signers pledged their Lives, their Fortunes, and their Sacred Honor to a cause much greater than themselves. Today, I pledge the same in opposition of you.
Here’s to seeing the end of your filthy, disgusting, and vile organization.
Julio Gonzalez, M.D., J.D. Former Florida State Representative Former Congressional Candidate
Click here to read the letter on The Federalist Pages.
Armed Forces Day is for those currently in uniform.
Veterans Day is for those who once wore the uniform.
Memorial Day is for those who never made it out of their uniform.
As you celebrate the beginning of summer, and try to put the stress and turmoil of 2020 behind you, take a moment to reflect on your freedoms and to thank those who fought and died to keep those freedoms intact and to protect them for others.
IT IS FOOLISH AND WRONG TO MOURN THE MEN WHO DIED. RATHER, WE SHOULD THANK GOD THAT SUCH MEN LIVED
Today, a Veterans Referring Veterans social is being held at Four Brothers Mead in Festus, Missouri. Sadly, I was unable to attend due to a previous engagement. These are a great bunch of people.
A Silent Auction for a Great Cause
At this social, a silent auction is being held to raise money for Lukas, the young son of a Marine Corp veteran and the owner of True Allegiance Flag Co, who was recently diagnosed with Leukemia.
Rob, the owner of this amazing veteran-owned company, makes rustic wooden American flags you can proudly display in your home or office.
A signed set of my JD Cordell Action Series books was donated for this auction, as well as many other amazing products from veteran-owned businesses across the nation.
Meet Lukas
#FightLikeLukas
Lukas was taken to the local emergency room on Friday, October 16, 2020 for fever, bruising, and soreness. After blood work, it was discovered that Lukas’s platelets were extremely low and his white blood cell count was extremely high. The doctors decided to transport Lukas via ambulance to Children’s Hospital in St. Louis (2 hours away from home).
It was there, around 1:30am, October 17, 2020, that the doctors delivered the news to Lukas’s parents that he has Leukemia. It was determined they would immediately start a blood transfusion to get his platelet count up (which had dropped even lower since the previous test), then later on in the day decide which type of Leukemia he has and start chemotherapy Monday, October 19, 2020.
Later that day, it was determined that Lukas has Type B Leukemia (which apparently is the better of the two types). The plan to start chemotherapy Monday is still in place, and no surgery or radiation will be needed. He will also have a bone marrow biopsy and spinal type very soon. Lukas will be in the hospital for 2-3 weeks as of right now.
Jessie and Rob have 4 other children between the two of them that will be at home during this time. Jessie has two full time jobs, and Rob owns his own business making fantastic works of art out of wood. However, with them being two hour away from home and family, neither of them will be able to work during this time to provide for their family.
It is our hope to be able to raise enough money for lodging, gas money, food, and ALL bills while their little family undergoes this hardship. We know that our God is a mighty God and He will provide!! Thank you for taking the time out of your day to support this magnificent family!
I know a lot of people are having a tough time right now, but …
If you can and would like to help, donations are also welcomed on their GoFundMe account, https://www.gofundme.com/f/fightlikeLukas. No donation amount is too small.
As I watched the news on this morning, 09/11/2019, the images of the two towers, the destruction, the victims, the dust, the debris, the first responders, those rushing to help, the pain and horror of that cowardly attack is rekindled. But, so is the pride!
We are still here. We are still strong. And, we will never forget.
It is not about vengeance or retribution. It is about courage, sacrifice, and many selfless heroes rushing … not away … but toward the danger!
It is about the police, the firemen, the reporters, and the everyday citizens who pulled together to get us through one of the darkest hours in American history. It is about doing everything we can to ensure it never happens again. It is about remembering to remain strong as Americans!
Remembering Man’s Best Friend
Being a dog lover, I cannot help but also mention that, when the World Trade Center tower collapsed and 10,000 emergency rescue workers rushed in to help … over 300 of those heroes were dogs. Dogs like Bretagne, Riley, Coby, Guinness, Appollo, Thunder, Sage, Trakr, and Jake to name a few.
These dogs, along with many more devoted, brave, loyal, and hardworking K9 heroes risked life and limb on September 11 and during the many painful days over which the rescue and recovery efforts continued.
Heroic K9s searched for survivors, located remains, and provided a very real source of comfort and hope during one of the worst moment in modern American history.
We should always remember and honor them as well.
Learn more about these Hero Dogs of September 11th at The Dogington Post!
D.C. Gilbert 