Hear A Pin Drop!

[MadDogMarine]

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 DeGaulle decided to pull out of NATO. DeGaulle said he wanted all US military out of France as soon as possible.

Rusk responded, "Does that include those who are buried here?"

DeGaulle 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 intend 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 their 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.

 

[RPMDAD]

Great post sir, my dad was there, and if i remember correctly, he never told me that they asked for a passport.

 

[MadDogMarine]

Great post sir, my dad was there, and if i remember correctly, he never told me that they asked for a passport.

I hear you. My mother saw action as an RN in the European theater. Had to dig foxholes to get away from Hitler's buzz bombs flying over London in the thousands. She said it made a chugging sound as it passed overhead. It is when they stopped chugging you had to run for cover because you knew it was out of gas and coming down for impact. She triaged many a trooper from the front lines to include picking up intestines falling off the carry gurney. One tough lady who saw the worst of it and I never recall her having PTSD, just momentary vivid recollections of the men that got hurt or died. Her favorite description of Hitler?-she called him "The Bitch".
She carried an accordian(which I still have) the whole time during the war and when they had breaks she would be the one to play the Polka's for the dances. Probably what helped her keep her sanity. She spoke Polish fluently and understood a lot of german and russian so she was also called on for POW patients who needed an interpreter.. Even ended up behind enemy lines at one point due to a missed turn in the road. No helicopters, mash units had to travel with the front lines because 30 minute truck transport was the only thing that could save a wounded soldiers life. These were the precursors to the MASH(Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) units but were called field hospitals during WWII.
She never owned a passport her entire life.
We are loosing these vets at a rate of about 650/day.
World War II veterans: Measuring the loss of a generation | Deseret News
Truly the greatest generation of Americans!

Some vintage footage of Hitler "The Bitch's" buzz bombs over London.
The actual bombing of London starts at about the 4:30 mark on the video.

 

[mamatutu]

The Archbishop of Canterbury comment about 'empire building' is now on my top 5 list of most hypocritical comments of all time. The sun never sets on the British Empire, and all that. I know things have changed, but, seriously, what a stupid comment. Thanks for your posts; they are always thought provoking.

 

[GURPS]

The sun never sets on the British Empire, and all that.

:notsomuchanymore:

 

[cwo_ghwebb]

Obama was attending another vacation including heads of state from the U.S., English, Canadian, Australian, Saudi Arabian and Israeli diplomats. At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of diplomats that included personnel from most of those countries. Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but an Arab diplomat suddenly complained that, whereas the U.S. has always been in the lead defending the Middle East, "Why is it that the U.S. always has to protect Israel? Obama said "Are you sure? I don't know where to find Bibi on a map! We didn't study geography at Harvard."

:fixed:

To accomodate our current Vacation in Chief! Good thing he didn't let Bilbo Biden answer the question!

Could have gone like the following: "Let me check the bottom of my clown shoes for the answer. Are we talking about Bibi or the current leader of Egypt???? I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy," Biden said. "I mean, that's a storybook, man"