{"id":19,"date":"2013-05-23T15:45:37","date_gmt":"2013-05-23T15:45:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.williamrussell.net\/?p=19"},"modified":"2013-05-23T15:45:37","modified_gmt":"2013-05-23T15:45:37","slug":"memorial-day-tell-their-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.williamrussell.net\/?p=19","title":{"rendered":"MEMORIAL DAY \u2013 TELL THEIR STORIES"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

As I type my thoughts for this coming Memorial Day, it is my
\nprayer they are worthy of surviving the flurry of other current events and will
\nhave an impact on those who read them and perhaps, will be referred to on other
\noccasions and perhaps help drive the remembrance on future Memorial Days.  <\/font><\/p>\n

I always experience a bit of dread as I ponder how to say
\nsomething of relevance that goes beyond the standard \u201chonoring those who gave
\nall for our freedom\u201d which gets circulated by so many writers while so many
\nAmericans head to the beach or prepare for a barbeque.  <\/font>This is a day dedicated to the memory of those
\nwho gave all, but it is so often lost on those who did not know them.  <\/font>There are far too many people who do not know
\nthe sacrifices of our military. Even worse, they do not know why America is
\nworth sacrificing for because it is no longer taught in our schools.  <\/font><\/p>\n

In his book \u201cWho Are We?\u201d Samuel Huntington notes that
\nAmerica\u2019s sense of self is a continuous development.  <\/font>Throughout the 19th<\/sup> and into the
\nearly 20th<\/sup> century, the majority of Americans viewed themselves as
\nbeing of their local or state community or the ethnic group from which they, or
\ntheir parents, immigrated.  <\/font>The sense of
\nbeing \u201cAmerican\u201d did not truly coalesce until the 1920s after many of the
\nreturning veterans of the Great War joined the efforts of the veterans of the
\nCivil War and Spanish-American War in pushing for school curriculums which
\ntaught the uniqueness and exceptionalism of the United States, the history of
\nits founding, and struggle and price to maintain its freedoms.  <\/font>The fruit of their efforts continued into my
\nprimary and high school education in the late 1960s and through the 1970\u2019s.  <\/font>Of course, it is thanks to the radicals of
\nthe 1960s and 70\u2019s who are now writing the curriculums that our kids are
\ncurrently studying, denigrating what is great about America and highlighting
\nits flaws, that so many are cynical about the sacrifices this day commemorates.\n<\/p>\n

This is the mission that we veterans must now
\nundertake.  <\/font>We must fight on the local
\nand state levels to ensure the curriculums in our public schools teach what is
\nunique and great about our country.  <\/font>We
\nmust tell the stories of the heroes of our founding and struggles for freedom.  <\/font>As importantly, we must tell the stories of
\nthe heroes we served with.  <\/font>For it is
\ntheir sacrifices, the sacrifices of the once living and breathing people we
\nknew, which give real life meaning to the ideas for which they died.  <\/font>No matter how hard it may be, get out and tell
\nthe stories of those whose blood stained your hands after they took an
\nunexpected round or blast.  <\/font>Tell the
\nstories of those whose last breath you witnessed.  <\/font>But don\u2019t just tell how they died.  <\/font>Tell how they lived, what they accomplished,
\nand what lived on because of their sacrifices. <\/p>\n

Tell them about Captain Humayun Kahn, the Base Force
\nProtection Officer at Forward Operating Base Iron Horse at Baqubah, Iraq.
\n <\/font>He gave his life preventing a car bomb
\nfrom entering the base.  <\/font>He was at the
\ngate that morning checking on the progress of its construction and its entry
\nprocedures.  <\/font>His work in the previous six
\nweeks had transformed the gate from one easily crashed through by a vehicle
\ninto one that held that car bomb outside the gate and forced the driver to
\ndetonate the 500 lbs of explosives there instead of the dining facility as it
\nserved breakfast to well over 100 Soldiers.  <\/font>CPT Kahn was the only American Soldier killed
\nin that bombing. <\/p>\n

Tell them about Command Sergeant Major Steve Faulkenburg, the
\nquintessential grizzled veteran and senior NCO of the 2-2 Infantry
\nRamrods.  <\/font>Tough as nails, he often walked
\nwith a painful limp from too many parachute drops and too many miles under a
\nrucksack.  <\/font>He was responsible for ensuring
\nindividual training of the hundreds of Soldiers and their NCO leadership at all
\nlevels of his battalion.  <\/font>His was the
\nfirst name reported to my station in the 1st<\/sup> Marine Division operations
\ncenter during the Battle of Fallujah in November 2004.  <\/font>I had shaken his hand just a few hours before
\nat the rehearsal and wished him well in the fight.  <\/font>He died leading his troops from the front as
\nthey crossed the breach into the city on the first night of the battle. <\/p>\n

Also include Captain Sean Sims, a young company commander,
\nwho died as he moved on foot with his forward air controller team (all four of
\nthe Air Force\u2019s forward air controller element attached to the Ramrods were
\nwounded in the battle) into a building to get a better look at the battle so
\nthat they could get the air support effectively on target.  <\/font>His wife received his posthumous Silver Star.  <\/font>His executive officer, 1st<\/sup>
\nLieutenant Ed Ewan was also killed when he absorbed the brunt of the explosion
\nof an RPG anti-tank round while in the turret of his Bradley Fighting Vehicle
\nhelping to direct the actions of his company in the fight.  <\/font>Both of these officers were killed while leading
\nfrom the front, exposing themselves to the dangers of the battle field – all in
\nthe name of keeping their Soldiers alive. 
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

The one First Infantry Division Soldier who also gave his
\nlife at Fallujah, whom I did not have the chance to meet personally, was SSG
\nJames Matteson a squad leader from the Brigade Reconnaissance Company.  <\/font>A couple of his soldiers told me how he had
\ndied, also leading from the front, when hit by an RPG round while manning the
\ngun in the turret of his up armored HMMWV (Hummer). <\/p>\n

Just as SSG Matteson\u2019s Soldiers told this Major from the
\ndivision staff about how much they respected and admired their squad leader, so
\ntoo must the veterans who read this share the stories of the heroes they served
\nwith in unpronounceable places in all parts of the planet.  <\/font>It has been said that sacrifice without
\nremembrance is wasted.  <\/font>Veterans must
\nensure the memories of those who gave so much are not forgotten.  <\/font>We must work to ensure that current and
\nfuture generations learn what is unique and special about America and the men
\nand women who gave all in its service.  <\/font>Those
\nof us who have the good fortune to share the rest of our lives with our
\nfamilies and communities must ensure they know the price paid for their
\nfreedoms by people whom they will not know. 
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

We must tell their stories. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

William T Russell is a former
\nRepublican Congressional Candidate in the 12th<\/sup> Congressional
\nDistrict of Pennsylvania.  <\/font>He is an
\ninternationally published columnist and has been a featured guest on a number
\nof national television and radio news shows. 
\n<\/font>He is a retired Lieutenant Colonel from the US Army and has served in
\nDesert Storm, the Iraq War, and the Balkans. 
\n<\/font>While in Iraq, he served as the Division Force Protection Officer for
\nthe 1st<\/sup> Infantry Division and was the division liaison officer to
\nthe 1st<\/sup> Marine Division during the Battle of Fallujah.  <\/font>He and his wife, Kasia, were both in the
\nPentagon on 9\/11.  <\/font>He now lives in
\nOrlando with his family.<\/font><\/i><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I type my thoughts for this coming Memorial Day, it is my prayer that are worthy of surviving the flurry of other current events and will have an impact on those who read
\nthem and perhaps, will be referred to on other occasions and perhaps help drive the remembrance on future Memorial Days.  <\/span><\/p>\n

I always experience a bit of dread as I ponder how to say something of relevance that goes beyond the standard \u201chonoring those who gave all for our freedom\u201d which gets circulated
\nby …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fist-fights-gunplay","category-politics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nMEMORIAL DAY \u2013 TELL THEIR STORIES - WILLIAMRUSSELL.NET<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.williamrussell.net\/?p=19\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MEMORIAL DAY \u2013 TELL THEIR STORIES - 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