Happy Independence Day!

[Ridge Runner]

Happy Independence Day Y’all.

Meme Dump:
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Three out of four are good, but I love this last one!

 

[Buffalo1]

The following is a tribute to an American POW that I read on a FB post I read yesterday. I would like to share it with this group. As you read the story think about all of the Marxist/Socialist Liberals who are trying their best to destroy the USA !

"My annual tribute to my #1 hero, my first cousin Lt. Commander Michael Durham Christian.

He is the reason I became involved in politics. When he was about 12 years old his mother, sent him from New York to Alabama. She was afraid he was running with the wrong crowd and sent him to be with his Aunt Ina (my mother). Mike was like a brother to me, he even took me to my Junior/Senior Prom when my jerk of a date stood me up. When he graduated from high school he entered the University of Alabama, but after a couple of months, he realized college was not for him. Mike was always brilliant, but very hardheaded. He joined the Navy and aced every exam given to him and they put him thru Purdue University and Post Graduate studies at Old Dominion University. Mike was a pilot/navigator when shot down over Hanoi on April 24, 1967. The following is a story of Mike's bravery:

Mike Christian and "The Pledge of Allegiance" - by Senator John McCain

As you may know, I spent 5 and 1/2 years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. In the early years of our imprisonment, the NVA kept us in solitary confinement or two or three to a cell. In 1971 the NVA moved us from these conditions of isolation into large rooms with as many as 30 to 40 men to a room.

This was, as you can imagine, a wonderful change and was a direct result of the efforts of millions of Americans on behalf of a few hundred POWs 10,000 miles from home.

One of the men who moved into my room was a young man named Mike Christian. Mike came from Alabama At 17, he enlisted in the US Navy. He later earned a commission by going to Officer Training School Then he became a Naval Flight Officer and was shot down and captured in 1967. Mike had a keen and deep appreciation of the opportunities this country and our military provide for people who want to work and want to succeed.

As part of the change in treatment, the Vietnamese allowed some prisoners to receive packages from home. In some of these packages were handkerchiefs, scarves and other items of clothing.

Mike got himself a bamboo needle. Over a period of a couple of months, he created an American flag and sewed it on the inside of his shirt.

Every afternoon, before we had a bowl of soup, we would hang Mike's shirt on the wall of the cell and say the Pledge of Allegiance.

I know the Pledge of Allegiance may not seem the most important part of our day now, but I can assure you that in that stark cell it was indeed the most important and meaningful event.

One day the Vietnamese searched our cell, as they did periodically, and discovered Mike's shirt with the flag sewn inside, and removed it.

That evening they returned, opened the door of the cell, and for the benefit of all of us, beat Mike Christian severely for the next couple of hours, then they opened the door of the cell and threw him in. We cleaned him up as well as we could.

The cell in which we lived had a concrete slab in the middle on which we slept, four naked light bulbs hung in each corner of the room. As I said, we tried to clean up Mike as well as we could. After the excitement died down, I looked in the corner of the room, and sitting there beneath that dim light bulb with a piece of red cloth, another shirt and his bamboo needle, was my friend, Mike Christian. He was sitting there with his eyes almost shut from the beating he had received, making another American flag. He was not making the flag because it made Mike Christian feel better. He was making that flag because he knew how important it was to us to be able to Pledge our allegiance to our flag and country.

So the next time you say the Pledge of Allegiance, you must never forget the sacrifice and courage that thousands of Americans have made to build our nation and promote freedom around the world

You must remember our duty, our honor, and our country"

 

[Newboomer]

The following is a tribute to an American POW that I read on a FB post I read yesterday. I would like to share it with this group. As you read the story think about all of the Marxist/Socialist Liberals who are trying their best to destroy the USA !

"My annual tribute to my #1 hero, my first cousin Lt. Commander Michael Durham Christian.

He is the reason I became involved in politics. When he was about 12 years old his mother, sent him from New York to Alabama. She was afraid he was running with the wrong crowd and sent him to be with his Aunt Ina (my mother). Mike was like a brother to me, he even took me to my Junior/Senior Prom when my jerk of a date stood me up. When he graduated from high school he entered the University of Alabama, but after a couple of months, he realized college was not for him. Mike was always brilliant, but very hardheaded. He joined the Navy and aced every exam given to him and they put him thru Purdue University and Post Graduate studies at Old Dominion University. Mike was a pilot/navigator when shot down over Hanoi on April 24, 1967. The following is a story of Mike's bravery:

Mike Christian and "The Pledge of Allegiance" - by Senator John McCain

As you may know, I spent 5 and 1/2 years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. In the early years of our imprisonment, the NVA kept us in solitary confinement or two or three to a cell. In 1971 the NVA moved us from these conditions of isolation into large rooms with as many as 30 to 40 men to a room.

This was, as you can imagine, a wonderful change and was a direct result of the efforts of millions of Americans on behalf of a few hundred POWs 10,000 miles from home.

One of the men who moved into my room was a young man named Mike Christian. Mike came from Alabama At 17, he enlisted in the US Navy. He later earned a commission by going to Officer Training School Then he became a Naval Flight Officer and was shot down and captured in 1967. Mike had a keen and deep appreciation of the opportunities this country and our military provide for people who want to work and want to succeed.

As part of the change in treatment, the Vietnamese allowed some prisoners to receive packages from home. In some of these packages were handkerchiefs, scarves and other items of clothing.

Mike got himself a bamboo needle. Over a period of a couple of months, he created an American flag and sewed it on the inside of his shirt.

Every afternoon, before we had a bowl of soup, we would hang Mike's shirt on the wall of the cell and say the Pledge of Allegiance.

I know the Pledge of Allegiance may not seem the most important part of our day now, but I can assure you that in that stark cell it was indeed the most important and meaningful event.

One day the Vietnamese searched our cell, as they did periodically, and discovered Mike's shirt with the flag sewn inside, and removed it.

That evening they returned, opened the door of the cell, and for the benefit of all of us, beat Mike Christian severely for the next couple of hours, then they opened the door of the cell and threw him in. We cleaned him up as well as we could.

The cell in which we lived had a concrete slab in the middle on which we slept, four naked light bulbs hung in each corner of the room. As I said, we tried to clean up Mike as well as we could. After the excitement died down, I looked in the corner of the room, and sitting there beneath that dim light bulb with a piece of red cloth, another shirt and his bamboo needle, was my friend, Mike Christian. He was sitting there with his eyes almost shut from the beating he had received, making another American flag. He was not making the flag because it made Mike Christian feel better. He was making that flag because he knew how important it was to us to be able to Pledge our allegiance to our flag and country.

So the next time you say the Pledge of Allegiance, you must never forget the sacrifice and courage that thousands of Americans have made to build our nation and promote freedom around the world

You must remember our duty, our honor, and our country"

Happy Independence Day to all Americans wherever you may be.

I thank the Good Lord Above and the farsightedness and fortitude of our Founding Fathers for this great Land known as the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. There is nowhere else on earth with the freedoms and the rights we enjoy. Many have attempted to emulate but none have succeeded to the level and longevity of the USA.

We are strong, we are free but we must never become complacent. There are those who are trying to destroy what we have fought so long and hard to accomplish. Sadly, many of those traitors and tyrants dwell within our borders, within the halls of government and education. Thanks to our Founding Fathers we have the Constitution of the United States which outlines the boundaries of government and safeguards our rights as citizens. Still we must be ever aware of the machinations of corruption and selfserving government.

 

[VertigoBE]

The following is a tribute to an American POW that I read on a FB post I read yesterday. I would like to share it with this group. As you read the story think about all of the Marxist/Socialist Liberals who are trying their best to destroy the USA !

"My annual tribute to my #1 hero, my first cousin Lt. Commander Michael Durham Christian.

He is the reason I became involved in politics. When he was about 12 years old his mother, sent him from New York to Alabama. She was afraid he was running with the wrong crowd and sent him to be with his Aunt Ina (my mother). Mike was like a brother to me, he even took me to my Junior/Senior Prom when my jerk of a date stood me up. When he graduated from high school he entered the University of Alabama, but after a couple of months, he realized college was not for him. Mike was always brilliant, but very hardheaded. He joined the Navy and aced every exam given to him and they put him thru Purdue University and Post Graduate studies at Old Dominion University. Mike was a pilot/navigator when shot down over Hanoi on April 24, 1967. The following is a story of Mike's bravery:

Mike Christian and "The Pledge of Allegiance" - by Senator John McCain

As you may know, I spent 5 and 1/2 years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. In the early years of our imprisonment, the NVA kept us in solitary confinement or two or three to a cell. In 1971 the NVA moved us from these conditions of isolation into large rooms with as many as 30 to 40 men to a room.

This was, as you can imagine, a wonderful change and was a direct result of the efforts of millions of Americans on behalf of a few hundred POWs 10,000 miles from home.

One of the men who moved into my room was a young man named Mike Christian. Mike came from Alabama At 17, he enlisted in the US Navy. He later earned a commission by going to Officer Training School Then he became a Naval Flight Officer and was shot down and captured in 1967. Mike had a keen and deep appreciation of the opportunities this country and our military provide for people who want to work and want to succeed.

As part of the change in treatment, the Vietnamese allowed some prisoners to receive packages from home. In some of these packages were handkerchiefs, scarves and other items of clothing.

Mike got himself a bamboo needle. Over a period of a couple of months, he created an American flag and sewed it on the inside of his shirt.

Every afternoon, before we had a bowl of soup, we would hang Mike's shirt on the wall of the cell and say the Pledge of Allegiance.

I know the Pledge of Allegiance may not seem the most important part of our day now, but I can assure you that in that stark cell it was indeed the most important and meaningful event.

One day the Vietnamese searched our cell, as they did periodically, and discovered Mike's shirt with the flag sewn inside, and removed it.

That evening they returned, opened the door of the cell, and for the benefit of all of us, beat Mike Christian severely for the next couple of hours, then they opened the door of the cell and threw him in. We cleaned him up as well as we could.

The cell in which we lived had a concrete slab in the middle on which we slept, four naked light bulbs hung in each corner of the room. As I said, we tried to clean up Mike as well as we could. After the excitement died down, I looked in the corner of the room, and sitting there beneath that dim light bulb with a piece of red cloth, another shirt and his bamboo needle, was my friend, Mike Christian. He was sitting there with his eyes almost shut from the beating he had received, making another American flag. He was not making the flag because it made Mike Christian feel better. He was making that flag because he knew how important it was to us to be able to Pledge our allegiance to our flag and country.

So the next time you say the Pledge of Allegiance, you must never forget the sacrifice and courage that thousands of Americans have made to build our nation and promote freedom around the world

You must remember our duty, our honor, and our country"

This was very moving to me. Thank you for sharing this story.

 

[CAustin]

To all our American AH brothers, happy Independence Day! Celebrate well!

Thank you

 

[freefall]

God bless America, and all of us too!