Celebration Of Those Who Fought For Our Freedom Part VIII

Today's war - The War On Terror - is still raging. Our brave men and women are still serving in the Middle East to keep us safe and to preserve out freedom here at home. Let us not forget 9-11 - Never Forget!!!

There is a horrible enemy trying to destroy our nation. Meeting them, bowing to them, apologizing (for some unknown reason), hugging them is not going to stop them. We just need to get one step ahead of them and stay there. Believe me - I am a "hawk" when it comes to this war. Being weak and trying to negotiate with them is a terrible mistake. Please read and remember history and see what avoiding a needed armed conflict will get you.

Thank you Veterans for serving in this war and thank you to all the men and women who are still fighting this war for us. God Bless You All!!!

Celebration Of Those Who Fought For Our Freedom Part VII

The next war resulting from the Cold War was the Vietnam War. In 1961, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev pledges support for "wars of national liberation" throughout the world. His statement greatly encourages Communists in North Vietnam to escalate their armed struggle to unify Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh.

John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as the 35th U. S. President and declares "...we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to insure the survival and the success of liberty." President Kennedy sends 400 American Green Beret "Special Advisors" to South Vietnam to train South Vietnamese soldiers in methods of counter insurgency in the fight against Viet Cong guerrillas.

More and more advisors were sent to help the South Vietnamese fight against their Communist aggression. The first U. S. troops entered Vietnam in 1965. Until 1969, North Vietnam and the U. S. did most of the fighting. By 1969, the Vietnam War seemed endless, and the U. S. slowly began to withdraw troops. In January 1973, a cease fire was arranged. The last U. S. ground troops left Vietnam two months later. Despite the treaty, fighting between North and South Vietnam resumed soon afterward, but U. S. troops did not return. The war finally ended on April 30, 1975 when South Vietnam surrendered to North Vietnam.

American heroes who lost their lives in this war numbered 58,151. As previously stated, all the men and women who ever put on a uniform to preserve our freedom is a hero in my book. Thank you!

Celebration Of Those Who Fought For Our Freedom Part VI

Toward The End Of The Cold War

President Ronald Reagan and General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev signing the INF Treaty in 1987

After WWII, America was doing well but lurking in the background was the "Cold War". The Cold War lasted from 1947-1991. The spread of communism and rogue nuclear weapons were a constant threat. There were periods of calm but during that time America entered into two more wars.

The first war stemming from the Cold War that I'm going to discuss is the Korean War. The Korean War lasted from 1950 to 1953.

The war was a result of the political division of Korea by agreement of the victorious Allies at the conclusion of the Pacific War. In 1945 following the surrender of Japan, American administrators divided the peninsula of Korea along the 38th parallel with the U. S. troops occupying the southern part and Soviet troops occupying the northern part. The failure to hold free elections throughout the Korean Peninsula in 1948 deepened the division between the two sides, and the North established a Communist government. The 38th Parallel increasingly became a political border between the two Koreas. Although reunification negotiations continued in the months preceding the war, tension intensified. Cross-border skirmishes and raids at the 38th Parallel persisted. The situation escalated into open warfare when North Korean forces invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950. It was the first significant armed conflict of the Cold War.

The United Nations, particularly the U. S., came to the aid of the South Koreans in repelling the invasion. The threat of nuclear world war eventually ceased with an armistice that restored the border between the Koreas at the 38th Parallel and created the Korean Demilitarized Zone. The Armistice was signed on July 27, 1953.

Our heroic American soldiers suffered 36,516 deaths in this war.

Celebration Of Those Who Fought For Our Freedom Part V

The start of WWII is generally held to be September 1, 1939 beginning with German invasion of Poland. Britain and France declared war on Germany two day later. Most of the world's nations, including all of the great powers eventually became involved. The great powers organized into two opposing military alliances.

The Allies (the good guys): Soviet Union, United States, United Kingdom, China, Poland, France, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Belgium, Netherlands, Greece, Yugoslavia, Norway and others.

The Axis (the bad guys): Germany, Japan, Italy, Finland, Hungary, Romania, Thailand, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovakia and others.

It was the most widespread war in history, with more than 100 million military personnel mobilized. In a state of total war, the major participants placed their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities at the service of the war effort. The war took its toll on many thousands of civilians, including the Holocaust and the only use of nuclear weapons in warfare. It was the deadliest conflict in human history with over seventy million casualties.

The United States was trying to stay out of the war. But then on the morning of December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in a surprise attack and caused so much death and destruction that President Franklin Roosevelt declared war on Japan on December 8, 1941. The U.S. also declared war on all the Axis powers on December 8, 1941.

The war was fought in Europe, Pacific, Atlantic, South-East Asia, China, Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa.

The exact date of the wars end is not entirely agreed upon. Some believe the war ended at the Armistice of August 14, 1945 on V-J Day (Victory over Japan) rather than the formal surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945. The Treaty of Peace with Japan wasn't signed until 1951. V-E Day (Victory over Europe) was celebrated on May 8, 1945.

The number of our American Heroes who perished during the war from 1941 - 1945 was 405,339.

Celebration Of Those Who Fought For Our Freedom Part IV

World War I actually began in July, 1914 but the United States did not enter the war until April 6, 1917. The U. S. originally pursued a policy of isolationism avoiding conflict while trying to broker a peace.

Of course, Britain was fighting yet another war and at first, they really didn't want the U. S. to get involved because they feared that the U. S. might be on the other side. There was an anti-colonial stance in America. But things starting happening that got U. S. citizens in an uproar.

In 1915, a German U-boat sank the British liner Lusitania and there were 128 Americans on board. But that still wasn't enough for the U. S. to join the war. There were unauthorized German submarines along the U. S. East coast. Germany agree to stop it for a while. Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in the spring of 1917 and this provided more reason for the U. S. to join the war. Also in 1917, the British intercepted a proposal from Berlin to Mexico. The message related to Mexico that if the U. S. were to enter the war then Mexico should declare war against the United States and enlist Japan as an ally. This would prevent the United States from joining the Allies and deploying troops to Europe and would give Germany more time for their unrestricted submarine warfare program to strangle Britain's vital war supplies. In return, the Germans would promise Mexico support in reclaiming the territory of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Okay, enough was enough and President Wilson called for war on Germany and the U. S. Congress declared war on April 6, 1917.

The war raged on until November 11, 1918 when an Armistice was declared. The Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919. No other war had changed the map of Europe more dramatically: four empires disappeared - the German, Austria-Hungarian, Ottoman and the Russian; four defunct dynasties - the Hohenzollerns, the Habsburg, the Romanovs and the Ottomans together with all their ancillary aristocracies. Belgium and Serbia were badly damaged, as was France with 1.4 million soldiers dead. Germany and Russia were similarly affected. The United States lost 116,516 brave and heroic soldiers.

I would like to add the following information about this war because I found it devastating. The aftermath of this war took a terrible toll on many European nations. About 750,000 German civilians died from starvation caused by the British blockade during the war. By the end of the war, famine had killed approximately 100,000 people in Lebanon. Also, a major flu epidemic spread around the world. Overall, the Spanish flu killed at least 50 million people. In 1914, louse-borne typhus killed 200,000 in Serbia. There were about 3 million deaths from typhus in Russia from 1918 to 1922. A 1921 Russian famine followed the war with an estimated death toll of 5 million to 10 million people.

This was a terrible war but when America is pushed into war, Americans rise to occasion and do everything in their power to protect our freedom. Our armed forces are Heroes.

Celebration Of Those Who Fought For Our Freedom Part III

I have always considered myself as a "hawk" when it comes to the protection of Americans. But in the case of the Civil War, I would be a "dove". Keep in mind, I am looking at this situation from today's perspective and from my beliefs , not of those who lived in the 1800s. There are Americans who had ancestors who fought in the Civil War for a principle that they believed would benefit all of America. These people should definitely be honored.

I will give a short synopsis of the Civil War and my thoughts about it. First, the thought of Americans killing Americans is repulsive and I would in no way approve of it. This war brought about more American casualties than any other war to date. Secondly, the thought of slavery is horrendous. Thirdly, I didn't have any direct ancestors who fought in the Civil War because they didn't believe it was their war. The geographic location of my ancestry helped to form their beliefs about this war.

Between 1830 and 1860, as abolitionism grew in the North, southerners largely stopped questioning the wisdom of slavery and argued strongly for extending it. The compromise of 1850, passed by Congress after the Mexican War, temporarily appeased both northerners and southerners who debated the expansion of slavery. But during the 1850s, the issue of slavery severed the political bonds that had held the United States together. The rise of abolitionism, renewed conflict over the expansion of slavery into the western territories, and the Dred Scott decision all pushed the nation closer to civil war.

The Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 and John Brown's raid on the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, VA, set the stage for the election 1860, in which Abraham Lincoln was elected president with support only from the North. After Abraham Lincoln's election to the presidency in 1860, seven southern states seceded from the U. S. Four more followed after South Carolina troops fired on Fort Sumter in Charleston, SC in April 1861 and Lincoln called for troops to put down the rebellion. But the rebellion could not be put down and the Civil War began.

North Carolina seceded from the U. S. but many of the people in the Western part of the state felt that the Confederacy only supported the interests of plantation owners and they did not want to die to support the interests of the wealthy. Many were labeled as Union sympathizers and were called "Unionists". This is where the Home Guard came in.

The Home Guard was a collection of small units of men organized on the local level. The Home Guard's duties included arresting deserters, enforcing the draft, policing residents who were suspected of having pro-Union sympathies, putting down domestic disturbances or unrest, and gathering and protecting supplies for the army. The Home Guard was also the last line of defense against invading Union troops. However, the Home Guard devastated the security of many people in the Western part of NC because there were many Union sympathizers and deserters that made their way to that part of the country to obtain sanctuary from the war. The guard dealt with the people they suspected of being pro-Unionists and deserters violently. Unfortunately, it came down to neighbors killing neighbors.

Thankfully, the war finally ended when General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia on April 9, 1865, at the McLean House in the village of Appomattox Court House.

There were approximately 650,000 casualties in the Civil War with about 225,000 of those deaths from disease. Both sides in the war lost about the same percentage of their troops - one soldier in four died.

Needless to say, this was a tragic war on American soil. Americans killing Americans. Neighbors killing neighbors. Let us pray that Americans will never take up arms against other Americans again. But the soldiers who fought were also Heroes and that status should never be taken away from them.

Celebration Of Those Who Fought For Our Freedom Part II

~ Fort Henry ~

Francis Scott Key wrote the

Star Spangled Banner here during the

War of 1812

I must admit that I know very little about the War of 1812. I have seen it referred to as "the forgotten war". I do know I had ancestors who fought in it so I decided to include this war in my remembrance of our veterans posts. We had many Americans who fought and died for our freedom during this war.

President George Washington(1790's) kept the United States neutral in the conflict between France and Great Britain. He believed that neutrality was the safest policy for our young nation, and also that it was wisest for the U. S. to stay out of European affairs.

During its wars with France in 1790s and early 1800s, Great Britain refused to respect the rights of U. S. ships and sailors on the high seas. The British navy was the strongest in the world in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. British ships would board U. S. merchant ships and force that ship's sailors into the British navy. The British government claimed it was targeting deserters, but it also claimed the right to "recruit" any British subject. They took them right on the spot. The British government argued that since all of these sailors had been born in the British colonies, they were British, despite the fact that they now lived in the independent United States. They violated the right of the U. S. to govern itself, and the ability of the U. S. government to protect its citizens. Now - to me, that's just wrong.

The President in 1812 was James Madison, a Democratic-Republican. The newly elected members to the New York state assembly were from the opposing party - the Federalists. The Democratic-Republicans were in favor of war with Britain, while Federalists were against it. Federalists supported trade and commerce and war with Britain would definitely hurt trade with European countries.

When diplomacy and trade restrictions failed, President Madison declared war. The two countries fought for two years before agreeing to a treaty. I believe that war was necessary to reign in Britain and to keep them from taking over the U. S. again. Looks to me like they would have already learned not to mess with us but they evidently didn't. Yea! America!

The War of 1812 began for us on June 18, 1812 and lasted until March 23, 1815. There were 2,260 Americans killed in action, 4,505 Americans wounded and an estimated 17,000 who died from disease. Again - they were HEROES! Thank you for your service.

Celebration Of Those Who Fought For Our Freedom - Part I

Dear Readers,

I understand that America has fought my wars and battles to secure our freedoms. Every man or woman who ever put on a uniform to protect us in the past or present is a hero in my book.

Today's entry will be about the American Revolution - The War of Independence. The description below is brief and will by no means give all the details of the prelude to war or of the war itself.

In 1763, the British moved to tighten imperial control by putting soldiers in the American frontiers. The British wanted Americans to contribute to this "imperial defense" and pay part of the bill. This plan started a long controversy about Parliament's right to tax. In December, 1773, a group of Bostonians dumped a cargo of British tea into the harbor to protest against the British effort to tax Americans. The bad situation kept snowballing. The Boston Tea Party really irked the British and they started infringing on America's rights. The British closed the Boston Harbor and put the whole state of Massachusetts under military rule.

This was enough to make us mad and we were determined to get the British "off our backs". Then came the battles of Concord, Lexington and Bunker Hill and we were in a full fledged war.

The war raged on from 1775 to 1783. It eventually spread from the east coast of America to the northern territories and other countries even got involved. It was on October 19, 1781 that Cornwallis realized he had lost the war and surrendered his entire army of 7,000 men at Yorktown. With the surrender at Yorktown, King George lost control of Parliament to the peace party, and there were no further major military activities in North America. The British had 30,000 garrison troops occupying New York City, Charleston, and Savannah. The war continued at sea between the British and the French fleets in the West Indies. The formal end of the war did not occur until the Treaty of Paris and Treaties of Versailles were signed on September 3, 1783. The United States Congress of the Confederation ratified the Paris treaty on January 14, 1784.

The total loss of life in the War is not known. Approximately 25,000 American Revolutionaries died during active military service. About 8,000 of these deaths were in battle. The other 17,000 deaths were from disease, including 8,000-12,000 who died while prisoners of war. The number of Revolutionary soldiers seriously wounded or disabled by the war has been estimated from 8,500 to 25,000. So the total casualty figure was about 50,000.

Yes readers, our ancestors were heroes and look what they fought for and won - OUR FREEDOM. I have several ancestors that fought during this war and I know you do, too.

Appropriate Words For This Day And Time

Noah Webster

I always believed Noah Webster must be a pretty smart man because about 1800, he started writing the first American Dictionary. But I recently found a quote from him and this confirmed to me the fact that he was not pretty smart but extremely smart.

I believe we would all be pretty smart to take heed to the following advice in Webster's quote and follow his wise advice.

"When you become entitled to exercise the right of voting for public officers, let it be impressed on your mind that God commands you to choose for rulers, 'just men who will rule in the fear of God'. The preservation of government depends on the faithful discharge of this Duty; if the citizens neglect their Duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made, not for the public good so much as for selfish or local purposes; corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the Laws; the public revenues will be squandered on unworthy men; and the rights of the citizen will be violated or disregarded. If government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the Divine Commands, and elect bad men to make and administer the Laws."

This makes sense to me and gives us a wise philosophy to follow. With all of the upcoming elections, it will be good to keep this in mind when you go into the voting booth.

Is Having A Boyfriend Really Necessary?

This is the story of Sarah, who is fourteen years old. She is pressured by her friends to have a boyfriend. Sarah only likes one boy, Devon, but Devon only likes her as a friend.

Sarah is very levelheaded and knows what she wants out of life, but all that is twisted upside down when a new boy comes to her school and chooses Sarah for his girlfriend. Throughout the story, Sarah struggles to maintain her goals, but she stays true to herself.

Okay readers, this is what happened. Any and all grandmothers will understand. My friend, Jane, has three granddaughters and of course, they are the light of her life. They truly inspire her! She then took this inspiration and decided to write a series of short teen books based on her observations of them. This is the first in the series of her books. It can be enjoyed by girls aged 12 to 16. Check out Jane's inspiration!!!

The book can be purchased at the Dorrance Publishing Co. online bookstore.

http://dorrance.stores.yahoo.net/ishaborene.html

Look on this blog's right column for a direct link to the online bookstore.

Just click!