Friday, July 4, 2008

Have a Safe & Happy 4th of July!

Whatever your favorite American pastime....


(Best fireworks ever = Disneyland)



Mmmmmm.....apple pie




Baseball - GO CUBS GO!!!



Just remember it all started with this:

And the freedom it envisioned for us has been protected, upheld, and vigorously defended by the loyalty, bravery, and sacrifice of Americans like these for 232 years.
Tun Tavern, Philadelphia, PA - Birthplace of the United States Marine Corps - 1775


U.S. Marines - 1861




U.S. Marines in WWI - 1917


Native American lady Marines - aren't they gorgeous? - Minnie Spotted Wolf (Blackfoot), Celia Mix (Potawatomi), and Viola Eastman (Chippewa). U.S. Marine Corps photograph, Camp Lejeune, October 16, 1943


S-U-R-I-B-A-C-H-I .... the Marines take Iwo Jima in WWII



"The Grunt Padre" - Ven. Fr. Vincent Capodanno, Congressional Medal Of Honor winner who sacrificed his life to comfort a dying Marine, saying Mass with the Marines in Vietnam - 1967



Our brave Marines currently serving in Iraq - 2008



A living legend: Sgt. Henry Baul, USMC - one of the very first black USMC enlistees in 1942, honored for his service in May, 2008. "There is only one color of a Marine. GREEN."


2-29-08: this young Marine, grievously injured in Iraq, models the new USMC running ("PT") suits with his fellow Marines. His expression both warms and breaks my heart.


A quote to ponder...:

The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted. — D.H. Lawrence

...and a truism:


Freedom has never been "free"



Arlington National Cemetery - built adjacent to the home of Confederate General Robert E. Lee after the Civil War - and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier


So please take a quiet moment away from the fun today and remember to hold our country and its freedom-keepers close in your thoughts and prayers.


GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!

7 comments:

the mother of this lot said...

Happy 4th July, Kit.

(Damn Yankees)!

Rob said...

Well said and Amen!

Kit said...

No hard feelings, Jackie! You still have the best accent on that side of the pond, and without my tea, Cadbury, and Porage Oats...well, let's just say I am a proud Anglophile!

Do you know how hard it is to find a bar with hard cider on tap around here?!?

gemoftheocean said...

And don't forget the Idris Ginger Beer. (Try Hanson's Diet Ginger Ale...don't ask why, but it's mighty satisfying...)

Terrific post.

Karen

Kevin Whiteman said...

Damn Straight, Kit. Excellent post.

But I am saddened by your preference for tea, Cadbury, and P.O. over good ol' Uhmerrcan, Folgers, Ghirardelli, and a big ol' bowl o' grits with eggs!

St Rbt E. Lee, pray for her.

Kit said...

Fear not, Cavey - my pantry is stuffed with the Sam's club size Dunkin'Donuts bag-o-coffee, Quaker oats, and I violated the terms of my diet yet again last night with s'mores made of Hershey bars, Kraft marshmallows, and Nabisco Graham crackers. But I do have my guilty pleasures here in reserve...

swissmiss said...

Hope you had a wonderful 4th!!

Nice post!

God bless our military...the other military branches too :) My brother, a chief warrant officer in the Army, is currently on his second tour in Iraq. He was supposed to get out this month (has 20 years in) but they deployed him two months ago for 400 days. He sweats like a pig in the winter, he should be real pleasant to be around in the 100+ degree heat over there!