The days, they seem to be coming and going so fast!
Last week I attended the First Annual Soldiers' Angels Executive Meeting in Pasadena, California. One of the highlights for me, aside from meeting more of the amazing angels I have been working with through the years, was the opening of the Soldiers' Angels museum. Thousands of items, from thank you letters from the front, to awards, flags flown at different bases, unit coins and other mementos. It was simply amazing. And, I was informed that this display only represented a small fraction of the amount of items they still have yet to catalog and display.
Reminder about the benefit on March 1st at The Jukebox, Spencerport, New York with Flint Creek and Worthy Duncan. $5.00 at the door, prizes, music, and more. Doors open at 5:00 p.m., music begins at 8:00 p.m. Be There!
27 February 2008
Another Day
Wednesday Hero 27 February 2008
The following is brought to you by the Wednesday Hero Blogroll.
29 years old from State College, Pennsylvania
East Coast-based SEAL team
February 4, 2008
"There are only approximately 2,500 SEALs in the Navy and they really are a brotherhood," said Naval Special Warfare spokesman Lt. David Luckett. "This is another unfortunate reminder of the risks and sacrifices these amazing warriors and their families make on a daily basis."
Koch leaves behind his parents and a fiancee. He enlisted in July 1998 and entered SEAL training in January 1999, according to The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk. He received the Bronze Star, Joint Service Commendation Medal and three Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals.
Navy SEAL Michael E. Koch died Feb. 4 after being wounded by small-arms fire during combat operations in Iraq alongside fellow SEAL Nathan Hardy, who was profiled last week.
These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived
This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.
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20 February 2008
Wednesday Hero 20 February 2008
The following is brought to you by the Wednesday Hero Blogroll.
29 years old from Durham, New Hampshire
East Coast-based SEAL team
February 4, 2008
It was Hardy's fourth deployment in Iraq, according to his father, Stephen Hardy, a professor of kinesiology a the University of New Hampshire. His mother, Donna Hardy, is an administrative assistant in UNH's psychology department.
Nathan Hardy grew up in Durham and was a 1997 graduate of Oyster River High School. He joined the Navy after graduation.
Other family members include his wife, Mindy, and their 7-month-old son, Parker; and a brother, Ben, of Middlebury, Vt.
Another brother, Josh, died in 1993 while a senior at Oyster River High School.
"Our hearts go out to Steve and Donna Hardy, and their son, Ben, at this incredibly difficult time," UNH President Mark Huddleston said in a statement. "We know it was Nate's dream to become a U.S. Navy SEAL when he graduated from high school, and he pursued that dream and excelled at it. His death has stunned all who knew him, and all who know his parents, who both are so much a part of the UNH community."
Navy SEAL Nathan Hardy died Feb. 4 after being wounded by small-arms fire during combat operations in Iraq.
These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived
This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.
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18 February 2008
Milestone
Sometime around the first week of February, was my 10,000th visitor to this site. That is visitors only to this blogger site that I started on Sept. 12, 2006 and does not include my previous blog location.
I can't tell you anything about the 10,000th visitor because I only have the freebie stat counters and I can't see that far back. That will teach me to be so busy I'm not even looking at my statistics.
In other blog maintenance news, I changed how my TTLB ecosystem status displays. When I go to TTLB, it shows me as an "adorable little rodent", however, my status displayed on my website has been stuck on "insignificant microbe" for awhile now. Vanity, oh, vanity.... No, really, I don't mind being a microbe, if that is what I am, but it is quite annoying to look at it when I know it is wrong. I'm not a microbe, I'm not, I'm not! ;)
17 February 2008
Gulf Coast Still Struggles
From an angel in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, comes a reminder that there are many people on the gulf coast still struggling. This area just east of New Orleans got hit just as hard, and you are not hearing about entitlements or any of that business on the news. There are good people there just trying to get something of their lives back, 2.5 years after the hurricane.
From Wikipedia: "Before Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005 people of Bay St. Louis, or 'the Bay' as it is commonly referred to, were almost all educated and middle-class."
Wikipedia does not go into the conditions now, but just a little web searching about the area tells the tale of people still struggling to rebuild and make ends meet. It is hard to imagine what it would be like if my home and job and everything was gone and still not have things even somewhat "back to normal" after 2.5 years. If this makes you stop and think, please consider these ways you can help.
The Lakeshore Baptist Church distributes food, clothing, and other supplies to those recovering from Hurricane Katrina. They are also actively rebuilding homes. What is needed?
Food & Relief Supplies: They accept and distribute non-perishable food items such as Canned Goods, Canned Chicken, ham, and tuna, Spam, Vienna Sausage, Baby Food, Baby formula, Dry foods - Pasta, Mac & Cheese, etc., Spaghetti Sauce, Fresh and canned Fruit, Instant meals, Salt, pepper and other spices, Cooking Oils, Cornbread Mixes, Cake, Muffin, Cookie, and Brownie Mixes, Cornmeal, flour, and sugar, Coffee, Canned milk, Bottled Water, Shelf Milk (non-refrigerated), Juices, Jelly. and other non-perishable food products.
Building Materials: They can always use sheet rock, shingles, tar paper, nails, screws, OSB, 10-2 or 12-2 wire, and pretty much any other type of standard building material. Also Home Depot and Lowe’s gift cards.
Volunteers: Especially need roofers, concrete/slab finishers, electricians, plumbers, framers, folks who can hang and mud sheet rock, finish carpenters, those able to lay flooring, painters, brick masons, and other skilled help.
Financial donations: They do not charge volunteers to stay, eat, and work. While they run a bare bones operation, they still need money for electricity, propane, gas, and other expenses. Checks should be made payable to Lakeshore Baptist Church.
Lakeshore Baptist Church
Po Box 293
Lakeshore MS 39558
Street address:
Lakeshore Baptist Church
6028 Lakeshore Road
Bay St. Louis MS 39520
If you are interested in going there to volunteer some of your time in the rebuilding efforts, please call (228) 469-0110 to make arrangements. Leave a message, since they may be out in the field working.
Visit the Rebuild Lakeshore website to see pictures and follow their efforts.
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13 February 2008
Wednesday Hero 13 Feb 2008
The following is brought to you by the Wednesday Hero blogroll.
21 years old from Nokomis, Illinois
2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne (Air Assault)
June 26, 2006
"His platoon leaders described him as the type of soldier every leader wants: A very talented, dedicated soldier, who did everything that was asked of him." That's what Lt. Col. Greg Butts, commander of the Army's 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, said about Cpl. Ryan J. Buckley at his memorial service. "I'm glad I could come here. It was an opportunity to recognize one of my great soldiers."
Cpl. Buckley lost his life on June 26, 2006 when an IED detonated near his Humvee during combat operations in Baghdad. "I held him while he died," Spc. Richard Morris, a fellow soldier who was wounded in the attack, said after the service. "He was my best friend. This nation has lost a hell of a soldier."
Ryan Buckley, a 2003 graduate of Hillsboro High School, was attending Lincoln Land Community College in Springfield in March 2004 when he left school to join the Army. He had told his mother on 9/11 that he planned to join the military to defend his country. Jennings Carter, who recently retired from the Army, was the commander of the Litchfield Army Recruiting Station when Buckley signed up. Carter said Buckley was an unusually cheerful young man. "Every time we saw him, he was always smiling," Carter said. "Before he went to Iraq, we saw him a few times. He was always happy. He would come by and tell us what he was doing."
Jean Buckley, Buckley's aunt, said he was always a responsible young man, who took his school work seriously, as well as his role in the school bands. The talented French horn player was awarded the John Philip Sousa award his senior year as the outstanding band member.
"He was always a protector," Jean Buckley said. "It's such a sad time. We're so thankful for the Ryans of the world. I appreciate all the veterans and all they've done for this country."
Cpl. Buckley was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star for his service in Iraq from Nov. 30 to June 23. Bronze Stars were presented to his wife of one year, Tina Buckley, his mother, Sally Nation, and father, Dennis Buckley.
These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived
This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.
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07 February 2008
Flint Creek Sponsors Benefit
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Subject: Flint Creek to Sponsor Benefit for local deployed troops and Soldiers' Angels
Flint Creek, one of the hottest modern country/southern rock bands in Upstate New York, is organizing a benefit for local deployed troops and Soldiers' Angels. "Flint Creek is thrilled to join forces with Soldiers' Angels to benefit our men and women of the Armed Forces. We are dedicated to supporting our troops in any way possible here at home. We are proud to give our music for them as they are giving of their lives everyday for us!"
The benefit, also featuring country artist Worthy Duncan, is set for March 1st. "I think benefit concerts like this are amazing, I mean those men and women fighting over there are fighting for all of us in the US and they need people fighting for them here at home. They give up so much every single day, whether it be a leg, arm or even a life, donating my time to play for them can not even compare to that.", says Duncan.
Soldiers' Angels is an all-volunteer, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to the support of the brave men and women deployed in support of the War on Terror in Iraq, Afghanistan and wherever we fly the flag of the United States of America. Soldiers' Angels has sent hundreds of thousands of packages and countless letters to our troops since it began in 2003. Laurie Martin, Vice President of Soldiers' Angels and a resident of Monroe County says, "With over 17,000 members of the NY National Guard recently deployed to Afghanistan, it is important for our communities to stand together in support of our troops. Supporting our men and women serving overseas and their families back home should be a priority for all of us. It is the least we can do."
Flint Creek invites you to make a difference by attending this benefit on Saturday, March 1st at The Jukebox, 5435 Ridge Road West, Spencerport, New York. $5.00 at the door, doors open at 5:00 p.m., music starts at 8:00 p.m.
www.flintcreekband.com
www.soldiersangels.org
06 February 2008
Wednesday Hero 6 February 2008
85 years old from Delray Beach, Florida
506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division
Surrounded by family, feted by a U.S. congressman and a Veterans of Foreign Wars color guard, one of the few surviving members of the "Filthy Thirteen" was honored on October 8, 2006 in a backyard on Massapoag Avenue.
Robert S. Cone, 85, now of Delray Beach, Fla., finally received the 13 military medals he was due for his service on D-Day during World War II, including the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, POW medal and Presidential Unit Citation.
"To tell you the truth, I never expected it. I'm very honored to get it and really feel good about it," Cone said.
"He's finding it an honor, and he's a little embarrassed, to be honest," said Cone's son, Edward R. Cone, 45, who hosted the family barbecue that included a visit from U.S. Rep. Stephen F. Lynch.
Only a few members remain of the 101st Airborne Division's famed "Filthy Thirteen," an elite parachute and demolition unit that volunteered for a suicide mission on June 5, 1944, the eve of the D-Day invasion of Normandy.
The Filthy Thirteen, who shared a Quonset Hut in England, were a group of "pretty bad boys," Edward Cone said, renowned for hard-living and fierce fighting. They are believed to be the inspiration for the 1967 movie "The Dirty Dozen," although none of the Filthy Thirteen was a convict.
The unit's mission was to parachute behind enemy lines on the night before D-Day to blow up bridges and impede the Nazis.
Many were killed on the drop. The survivors found it difficult to reunite on the ground because the pilots had panicked when the Germans opened fire.
Cone said he spent two days in a hedgerow battle and was shot in the right arm. When he escaped to a French farmhouse, the owner turned him over to the Nazis and he became a prisoner of war.
His unit and his family thought he was dead. His mother, in Roxbury, received a telegram from the War Department saying he had been killed in action.
Cone spent 11 months in three POW camps in Germany before being liberated by the Russians near the Polish border. He fought alongside the Russians as they made their escape, his son said.
Cone walked to freedom through Poland, Russia and Romania, journeyed by ship to Egypt and was eventually flow to Italy, finally making his way home.
All the medal ceremonies had taken place without him.
Cone married Ida, now his wife of 61 years; became a postal worker and plumber; raised three children in Hull; and spoke very little about the war, Edward Cone said.
About four years ago, Edward Cone decided to find out whether any of his father's Army colleagues were still alive.
He found the Filthy Thirteen's leader, Jake McNiece, in Oklahoma, and put his father in touch by telephone. Their conversation was recorded by the BBC and played on the anniversary of D-Day.
Later, the History Channel filmed its own segment on the pair, which still airs, Edward Cone said.
The group reunited in Taccoa, Ga., the home of their jump school.
"My Dad and I drove from here to Georgia. I heard everything on that trip," Edward Cone said. "Three were alive from the unit. They talked and drank and told stories for days."
Three years ago, McNiece published a book, "The Filthy Thirteen: From the Dustbowl to Hitler's Eagle's Nest: The 101st Airborne's Most Legendary Squad of Combat Paratroopers."
It was McNiece who mentioned that Cone was due a few medals. Edward Cone and his fiance, Kate Guthrie of Leominster, who works at the Statehouse, gathered documentation and contacted Lynch.
The result was the Sunday party, also attended by Cone's daughters, Ronna Townsend of Monroe Township, N.J., and Natalie Gaudet of Hampton, N.H., and most of his seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Cone admits he never talked much about the war before.
"I really didn't," Cone said. "But they insisted I tell the grandchildren and the great grandchildren. So I talk to them. I tell them stories. I tell them true stories. They all enjoy it."
These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived
This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.
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03 February 2008
What's New
Well, as you can see, I got just a little bit behind again on posting. Here's a roundup of things I missed blogging about until now.
Does your company have a job opening for a veteran? Soldiers' Angels has a new job posting board.
James Fritz is a soldier in Afghanistan who is also a photographer. Check out his work.
The Vets for Freedom National Heroes Tour is about supporting our troops, honoring their commitment, and rallying the country to complete the missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A Vietnam Vet loses an arm for the 2nd time. Read about it at Tanker Brothers and help spread the word.
Wednesday Hero 30 January 2008
27 years old from Hancock, New York
3rd Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne)
January 19, 2008
Staff Sgt. Justin R. Whiting, a Special Forces medical sergeant sustained fatal wounds when his vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive devise 16 kilometers south of Mosul, Iraq.
He is survived by his mother, Estelline, of Colorado Springs, Colo., father, Randall, of Hancock, N.Y., sister, Amanda, of DuPont, Wash., and brother Nathan of Dover, Tenn.
For more information on SSgt. Justin Whiting, you can download this PDF file.
These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived
This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.
Read More......
