Powerful Stuff About Being American

[garagenc]

Powerful reading. I wonder if so many of us are becoming more patriotic
because we see our country being destroyed by those in Washington. Sad,
very sad.

Subject: FW: Fwd: Fw: A Pin Drop

This one hits the target.

At a time when our president and other politicians tend to apologize for
our country`s prior actions,here`s a refresher on how some of our former
patriots handled negative comments about our country...

JFK'S Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, was in France in the early 60's
when De Gaulle decided to pull out of NATO. De Gaulle said he wanted all
US military out of France as soon as possible..
Rusk responded "does that include the dead Americans in military
cemeteries as well?
De Gaulle did not respond.


You could have heard a pin drop


When in England , at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked
by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example
of empire building by George Bush.
He answered by saying, 'Over the years, the United States has sent many
of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond
our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is
enough to bury those that did not return.'


You could have heard a pin drop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


There was a conference in France where a number of international
engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a break,
one of the French engineers came back into the room saying 'Have you heard
the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to
Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intended to do, bomb
them?'
A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: 'Our carriers have three
hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear
powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they
have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a
day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water
each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting
victims and injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such
ships; how many does France have?'


You could have heard a pin drop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included
Admirals from the U.S. , English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies. At
a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of
Officers that included personnel from most of those countries. Everyone was
chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a French admiral
suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans
learn only English. He then asked, 'Why is it that we always have to speak
English in these conferences rather than speaking French?'
Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied, 'Maybe it's because
the Brit's, Canadians, Aussie's and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't
have to speak German.'


You could have heard a pin drop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


AND THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE...
Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane.
At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry
on.
"You have been to France before, monsieur?" the customs officer asked
sarcastically.
Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously.
"Then you should know enough to have your passport ready."
The American said, 'The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it."
"Impossible. Americans always have to show your passports on arrival in
France !"
The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he
quietly explained, 'Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in
1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find a single Frenchmen to
show a passport to."


You could have heard a pin drop.

[willy]

Thank you Lee, I enjoyed that tremendously and so did my family

[garagenc]

Your welcome Bill, Tell everyone Sandy and I said hello.

[rb437]

Well said

[nipper]

Nice stuff. Gave me goosebumps. Great reminder that we are the greatest country in the world, not just because of wealth or technology, but because of compassion and decency.

[bradford]

Good Stuff!