Category: Veterans in the news

This Air Force veteran has a message for the protesters who oppose the Trump presidency;

His video is closing in on 20 million views and he was on Fox & Friends this morning.

Added from Fox News;

He said there are violent protesters out there who also want to do away with the Second Amendment as a way to end violence.

“You’re causing all this destruction just because your candidate lost! See, that’s the problem with this country. You can’t always get your way. … Quit being crybabies!” he said.

Alexander said many protesters are behaving like “two-year-olds,” setting fires and blocking roads, making people late for work, because they didn’t like the election’s outcome.

“I’m glad I don’t live in New York City or Washington or Oregon because I would run one of your asses over!” he said, adding that this mentality is why Trump is going to be president.

“Because we’re tired of you crybabies. You didn’t earn anything. None of you put on a uniform, but you’re equipped to disrespect the flag, to not say the Pledge of Allegiance, not recognize the Bible. You didn’t fight for anything, but you want it. It doesn’t work like that!”

Alexander said this morning that he wants all Americans to realize the great country that they have and to start having some pride in it.

“We need to preserve this country. We need to stop burning flags. We need to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and we need to be proud of what we have here,” he said.

Tman sends us a link to the story of Ronald Read, a World War II veteran, a janitor and gas station attendant in Brattleboro Vermont until he passed at the tender age of 92 recently. What was most notable about his passing is that he left behind $8 million;

Even Read’s family was “tremendously surprised” upon finding out about his hidden wealth. “He was a hard worker, but I don’t think anybody had an idea that he was a multimillionaire,” Read’s stepson Phillip Brown told the Brattleboro Reformer in 2015.

Read came from humble beginnings. He was the first in his family to graduate from high school and served in North Africa, Italy and the Pacific theater during World War II, according to Reuters. After the war, he came home to work at a gas station and as a janitor at JCPenney, and married a woman who had two children.

According to the story, he left most of his fortune to his local library and a hospital;

“It was the talk of the town,” Brooks Memorial Library director Starr LaTronica told CNBC of the generous $1.2 million library donation. “People still come in and ask about it and reference it.”

The library invested the bulk of the money. That way, “it will continue to pay dividends and support us down the road,” LaTronica said. The donation also allowed the library to extend its hours and do some much-needed renovations to the 50-year-old building.

Read bequeathed $4.8 million to Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, where he was a regular — not for treatment, but for breakfast. “He always had a cup of coffee and an English muffin with peanut butter,” Ellen Smith said of her friend’s morning ritual at the hospital cafe. “That was it. And he always sat at the exact same stool at the counter.”

The hospital plans to use the money to support infrastructure improvements and general modernization projects.

It is said of Mr Read that if he earned $50 he would save $40 of that amount – a habit lost on our credit-based society that spends money before we have it.

Some folks are calling Army reservist 2LT Sam Kendricks’ abrupt stop during his pole vault attempt at the Olympics the most patriotic moment they’ve witnessed. From MSN News;

When ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ started playing during his competition in Rio, U.S. pole vaulter Sam Kendricks literally dropped what he was doing to pay respect to the national anthem.

Here’s the moment;

And, here’s the vault that earned him a Bronze Medal;

The Mississippi native became the first American to take home a medal in that event since Timothy Mack won gold in Athens in 2004. A two-time NCAA champion, he also is the first athlete from the University of Mississippi to win an Olympic medal.

Kendricks comes from a military family, as his father, Scott, served 10 years in the U.S. marines and is now his son’s coach in the pole vault.

Thanks to the folks who sent us the link.

Time Magazine reports that Ernie Andrus completed his cross-country jog after three years at St. Simon’s Island in Georgia on Saturday – the day after his 93rd birthday;

Ernie Andrus set out to run across the country to raise money to restore and return a World War II-era ship to Normandy, France for the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landing in 2019, the Associated Press reported. Andrus had served as a medic on a similar ship, according to the AP.

According to his website;

My name is Ernie Andrus and I plan to run coast to coast in 2 to 4 years. (Super Senior Coast to Coast Run). I turned 90 in August, 2013. I started by touching the Pacific Ocean near San Diego CA., on October 7th, 2013 and will touch the Atlantic Ocean near Brunswick, GA., two to four years later.

This feat is being undertaken to raise money for the LST 325 SHIP MEMORIAL, INC. I was one of the crew that brought the LST 325 back from the Isle of Crete, Greece to the US in 2000, 2001 as aired on the history channel as The Return of LST 325. One thousand fifty one LSTs were built during World War II. The 325 is the only one left that has been restored and is still operational. Plans were being made to return the ship to Normandy for the D day memorial service (D day plus 70, 2014) and beach it at the same location where it was on Omaha beach 70 years before. The cost of taking this ship across the Atlantic and back is tremendous. Shortage of finances caused the 2014 trip to be canceled. Perhaps we can raise enough money for D Day plus 75 in 2019.

The Army Times reports that “Range 15”, the veteran-funded movie, made for veterans by veterans shot up i-Tunes’ ratings to #1 yesterday, the first day it was available.

I’ll admit that I took some time off yesterday to watch it on Amazon. It was the first time that I’ve watched a movie and enjoyed every-damn-minute. I also knew what was going on every-damn-minute. There is no message, no politics, just a good old shoot-em-up with a whole bunch of humor that you can appreciate. There’s some tough moments, too – like watching Leroy Petry blow off his other hand with another hand grenade and Clint Romesha trying to staunch the blood. But, you know, if they thought it was funny, well, it’s OK for me to laugh at it, too.

The only political aspect of the movie was with President James Mattis, but you’d be hard pressed to find a veteran who wouldn’t support a Mattis presidency.

I spent more money buying the streaming version of the movie than I’ve ever spent on a movie and I don’t regret a penny of it. It’s not a movie that you want to sit with your kids and watch, but, then there are stories about your time in the military that you wouldn’t tell the kids either.

Bobo sends along the sad news that Garry Marshall, the creator of so many television programs in the 70s, shows like Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, The Odd Couple and Mork & Mindy, has passed at the age of 81.

Of course, he was also an Army veteran, he worked for Stars & Stripes in South Korea for two years during the mid-50s.