Saturday, May 18, 2013
Happy Armed Forces Day, Everybody!
- The third Saturday in May has been officially designated as the day to salute all of the men and women in all branches of the service who protect you and your country. They can be called upon at a moment’s notice to put their lives on the line to ensure your freedoms, so a little gratitude on your part today wouldn’t hurt.
Each branch of the military used to have its own celebration, but Hurley the Historian says on August 31, 1949 then Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson announced the creation of Armed Forces Day. President Harry Truman also announced the holiday in a presidential proclamation on February 20, 1950. All branches of the military were asked to celebrate on the same day and they complied on the first Armed Forces Day which was held the following year on May 20, 1950.
And appropriately our Quote for Today Committee has chosen this from Jan Scruggs, Founder of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial: “The Price of Freedom is Never Free.” Luckily Beloved Whistleblower Publisher Charles Foster Kane found somebody willing to buy lunch for a veteran today.
- Mottos for our service branches include: the Army “This We’ll Defend”; Navy—“Honor, Courage, Commitment”; Air Force— Integrity First; Marine Corps—“Semper Fidelis” (Always Faithful); and the Coast Guard—“Semper Paratus (Always Ready).
- Members of the Military and their families on food stamps can hardly wait to see how the White House inserts Obama and The Mooch into history and how many gay references Obama makes during his tele-prompted Armed Forces Day Re-election Campaign Proclamation today.
Obama got an early start celebrating Armed Forced Day on Thursday, when our virtual commander-in-chief called in the Marines to hold his umbrella so he wouldn’t get wet during a light drizzle at a Rose Garden photo-op.
According to Marine Corp protocol, male Marines are never allowed to carry an umbrella while they’re in uniform.
Any sensible person would’ve known to go inside out of the rain.
- Our Local TEA Party Patriots have some technology training going on today at the University of Miami Voice of America Park in West Chester, but it doesn’t look like saluting all of the men and women who protect our country will be a big part of it.
You’ll probably see a lot of American flags Tuesday at noon on Fountain Square when local TEA Partiers try to get on national TV with their big “Reign in the IRS Rally,” after which they could always storm the IRS Offices in the Federal Building and drag all those Obama-Supporting TEA-Party-Targeting IRS agents who were only following orders back to Fountain Square for a little non-partisan tar-and-feathering.
- Cincinnati citizens had been planning a big welcome home parade for local troops on Armed Forces Day. Volunteers had joined together to arrange a heroes’ welcome that our troops wouldn’t soon forget, and people wouldn’t have to take a day off on Saturday to honor our soldiers for their service. But Cincinnati Mayor Mallory rescheduled the event for September 15, to coincide Black and Gay Streetcars Day.
- In Anderson, patriotic American veterans waiting to hear “Bronze Star Brad’s” big Armed Forces Day Speech at the Anderson Government Center, are wondering if Ohio Second District Congressman “Bronze Star Brad” Wenstrup will be sending out a fund-raising e-mail to commemorate the occasion.
- Finally in Northern Kentucky, Bluegrass Bureau Chief Ken CamBoo has this heartwarming story about the Bluegrass Battalion returning home last night, just in time for Armed Forces Day:
Six-month old Carley Mather had never seen her father Harley Mather until last night, when he returned home to Boondoggle County with the rest of the 169th Underground Mess Kit Repair Group. PFC Mather, a motor pool specialist, had been in Afghanistan for the past eighteen months. Actually, the unit was only supposed to be in a combat area for six months, but one night they all got drunk and the entire unit volunteered to stay an extra year.
When asked by a Channel 19 reporter how it felt to see his six-month old daughter for the first time after being away for a year and a half, Harley thanked his best friend Jody for taking care of his family while he was away and beamed: “Now I finally know what the surprise was my wife kept writing me about.”
ARMED FORCES DAY HOT LINE
e-mail your patriotic prose today.
Some flag-waving items in today’s Blower were sent in by our equally flag-waving subscribers.
Patriotic Link of the Day
I’m Putting Up the Flag
Note: We guarantee Blackberry subscribers who don’t go home and see links and pictures on their computers are not going to appreciate all of this good stuff today.
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