Thank You!!

As I think about my travels and where I have gone I have realized a handful of things, First America is truly the greatest nation in the history of man.  Second America has everything you will ever want to see, from her “purple mountain majesties… From sea to shining sea” and lastly it is not because of people standing up and giving speeches or those playing a sport, or even those who tell us “what is really going on.”  It is the American Soldier, Sailor, Marine and Airman who have given us the freedom that we enjoy.  It is the Veterans, who are the Heroes we should never forget.

I love to study war, I don’t really know why I just do, I always have and I always will.  When I was a child we were in Hawaii and for my tenth Birthday my father took me to Pearl Harbor.  While we were there we walked along the pier where all the ships were in port and my father pointed out this ship and that ship, he told me that this was an escort, that was a destroyer so on and so forth.  But then as I looked out across the Harbor there was this gleaming white “bridge” I had seen pictures of it before from all of my father’s photos and from books I had read.  After a little while we boarded a small boat and took the short trip to the memorial from the visitor’s center and I stood above the remains of that beautiful ship looking down into what would forever be the grave of 1,177 Officers and Men who died in the service of our great nation.  At that time I knew, even at 10, that this place is a place of Honor.  Since then I have visited many historic battle sites and visited more memorials that I can possibly remember that was the first and it will forever leave a lasting impression on me.  

I am not trying to over glamorize war here, that is not the point of this essay, but in fact the opposite.  I am very thankful that in the history of the United States, including our Declaration of Independence as a formal Declaration of War, we have only declared war on our fellow man 6 times.  Now there have been many more military actions, and all of our Veterans deserve our admiration and respect for being willing to “write a check pay to the United States People… Up to and including my life.” They are the heroes that built America and we should always remember them and the sacrifice they have laid upon the Alter of Freedom.  I have always believed that a man wearing a helmet defending the Constitution of the United States deserves to be paid more than a boy wearing a helmet defending a ball; there is no comparison between the two.

In the summer of 1776 56 men in Philadelphia started this great experiment in Democracy.  They signed a document that amounted to high treason.  But the last line will always resonate what it means to be an American Soldier; “We mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”  With those words The American Revolution was declared, Yes I know that the shot heard round the world occurred a year before and that the United States Army, Navy and Marines had all formed up in 1775.  But this was our Declaration, and read those words, they are not just good words, they are great words that still ring true 236 years later.
Not 40 years after the great experiment started we find ourselves back in the same place we were in 1776.  The War of 1812 was where we continued to cut our teeth against our Brothers from England, not much was gained except of a poem written by a lawyer in Baltimore.  As he looked up at “twilight's last gleaming,” and saw that our “flag was still there.”  This war also started the training for one of my heroes, General Sam Houston, who fought with Andrew Jackson during the War of 1812.  General Houston was a man that exemplified the word Honor.  But that is another story for another time.
But speaking of the good General, that brings me to the next war, the Mexican American War resulted from the Republic of Texas joining the United States in 1846.  Other than upholding the Texas Revolution, The Mexican American war did two things.  First it is where two Young Army Officers, both west point grads, would meet and begin their training to be two of the greatest generals of the 19th century.   Robert E. Lee and U.S. Grant, these men would later meet in 1865 when the American Civil War ended.  The Second thing this war taught us was that Americans do not fight wars to conquer other nations. General Colin Powell said it best…

       "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."

No truer words have been spoken about Americans at war.

At the end of the 19th Century America was no longer the new kid on the block.  We had shown that our experiment was succeeding, we fought our own civil war and we were living up to the Monroe Doctrine of controlling all the lands from the Atlantic to the Pacific, again not through conquest but through migration and mutual agreement.  Then the Spanish American War occurred.  At this time the great European powers were moving away from empire building, with the sinking of The USS Maine in Havana, once again Americans mobilized.  Men like Teddy Roosevelt and his rough riders riding up San Juan hill helped to secure the western hemisphere from the empires of the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th century and helped to create the 20th century which was the greatest century for freedom around the globe.  And again living up to our doctrine we liberated Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines and did they become new territories enslaved by the United States, no they were all given the option to join us or to be free nations.  Only Puerto Rico stayed as a commonwealth of the United States, and just as they were over 100 years ago they are still free to choose their own destiny. 



World War One was the most devastating war in the modern age.  We had new technology, but still fought old style warfare.  Sending men from trenches to advance as a column and attempt to take ground while running through mounted machine guns, flame throwers and the newly devised chemical weapons of the early 20th century. Almost 10,000,000 Men were killed while another 9,000,000 are still MIA and 20,000,000 more men were wounded.  Those who returned from the war were forever changed by it and would tell their children about the atrocities that they saw in the trenches of Europe, but they would be nothing compared to the atrocities that we would see in the early 1940’s.  

World War 2 was a time that changed our countries history, the men and women of the US military fought a true Global conflict the likes of which had never been seen before and thank god have not been seen since.  We saw the rise of fascism and totalitarianism in Europe and Asia. We saw a country come out of the ashes of a great depression to become the leading world power for good.  And we lived up to our nation’s credo that freedom comes from nature and natures God and not from the Government. And it was a time when “We the People” rose up and defended the whole world not because they had something we wanted to take from them, not because we wanted to gain new lands.  But for the only reason that anyone should ever go to war, to defend freedom from those who wish to do it harm.  And to this greatest generation I salute you.

Aside from these six times there have been many terrible wars that just did not have the formal declaration of war from congress the most notable are The American Civil War, Korea, Vietnam and Iraq.  The veterans of these wars also should not be forgotten and I thank god that they will not be.  I know it is sad that I quote Star Trek in this but there was a line I learned many years ago that still rings true today about our veterans. “If he could not find a role for himself in peace, we can pity him - but we shall not dismiss him.” The memorials on the National Mall are inspiring to the model of freedom that is the US solider and to we the people to never forget what they have done for us.

 On Veterans day and every day we must remember that it is not the actor, the celebrity, the famous athlete, the politician or the protestor who has given us the freedom we so enjoy. It is the American soldier, sailor, marine and airman they have sacrificed so much for us all. Many of them came home and had to adjust to a changing world, while some of their brothers in arms never got to enjoy a world without war. So today take a moment and thank a veteran for everything that they have given us. All gave some, some gave all.

Thank you for your service to our great nation!

Semper Fi!!

“Some spend their entire lives wondering if they have made a difference in this world. The Marines don't have that problem.”

~Ronald W. Reagan

Ever since I was young I have always known a few things, but the most important thing is that I love the United States of America.  As my father would say even with all America’s problems the United States is still far better than whatever country is in second place.  As I have grown up I understand this phrase and I have embraced it more and more.  One of the reasons that the United States is so great is our home grown heroes. 

This piece is about those men, and women, who are known from the Halls of Montezuma to the Shores of Tripoli.  We call them Devil Dogs, Jarheads, and Leathernecks, but all in all they are Marines. 

Unlike the other branches of our Armed Services the Marines are never former Marine or ex-Marines, from the day they graduate from basic until they are laid to rest, usually by their fellow Marines, they are Marines.  Ever since Captain Samuel Nicholas formed two battalions of Continental Marines on November 10, 1775 in Philadelphia, PA Marines have defended this country with their lives, they are the heroes that everyone should look up to.  In my life I have had the privilege to know many Marines and count them as some of my best friends. 

When I was in high school my sister came home from a School trip in DC and she showed me her pictures she that she had taken.  There was this one picture that I keep coming back to, a large bronze statue of six men planting our flag into the ground.  At that time, I did not know that it was a representation of the most iconic photo of the 20th century, or even that Iwo Jima was a real place nor the story of those six boys.  All I saw was an icon of America.

In the past few years I as I have started taking pictures I have noticed a few things, any place that the Eagle Globe and Anchor is placed on a memorial to Marines it is ALWAYS shined and kept clean.  Most people would never notice this, but when you are looking at photographs you start noticing things.  So I asked my friend Tom a question about it.  Tom is a Marine that I work with and he told me that Marines have so much pride in their emblem that they will go out to a memorial, clean the emblem and polish it and Marines will never allow it to be tarnished, be it by the elements or through dishonor.

 

So on the 237th anniversary of the Marine Corps founding let us honor these men who have always done what the United States has needed them to do.  If you see a Marine today wish them a Happy Birthday and Semper Fi!  

“Of the Marines on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue.”

~~Chester W. Nimitz

Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington National Cemetery

Almost 21 years ago, when I was in high school (1991), I went on a trip to Washington DC.  To this day I still look on some of my photos that I took that week with awe and joy.  As a sixteen year old kid this was my first trip without my parents other than to Boy Scout camp or to a church event and defiantly my first time being 1000 miles from my parents and home.

Well the week was great and it gave me a new found love for the United States, a love that I am sure will come out the more and more as I blog about these things.   This trip had me going to DC with a teacher that I knew but I was never in his class, Mr. Stanford.  He was a Social Studies Teacher and the Golf Coach, tough life right.  Well as the week went on we had our last day that was a free day and was open for us to explore the city.  Well Mr. Stanford wanted to tour the White House, which we did, but in order to get tickets we had to leave EARLY… he had us out of the hotel and our first stop was to Arlington National Cemetery. 

To this day I am sure we snuck in early because of two reasons.  One I now know the Cemetery opens for visitors at 8:00am and closes at 7:00pm, these times are VERY strict and when they say it closes at 7:00pm it means you better be on your way out or a nice Army Specialist lets you know that the Cemetery closed an hour and a half earlier that evening, yeah that happened… Recently… I am just saying that gate was open when we walked in, but that is another story for another time.  The second reason I am relatively sure that we snuck in was that I remember shortly after we entered into the Cemetery we heard revelry playing… Yeah it was that early.

As a 16 year old boy I did not really understand the value of the sacred ground I was about to enter and even though the 16 year old in me would never have admitted it, what I learned that day changed my life.  We walked around and we saw the Tomb of the Unknowns, the grave site of the Challenger Seven, and of course Jack and Bobby.  We did all the touristy things.  But as we walked out I stopped and I looked around, in all four directions, as far as the eye could see there were rows of white headstones.  As I look back on it as the man I am today I wondered why I had never thought about this before… Each one of those headstones is a different man or woman.

As the years have passed I have been back many times, sometimes with a purpose, some times to do the touristy thing and other times just as a reminder of all the men and women who served our great nation, and who many of them never got to enjoy the world without war. 

Well let’s fast forward a few years to 2006, I was in DC visiting my friend Tony, he was still in the US Coast Guard stationed just outside DC and so I had flown up to visit.  We went to Arlington this time to do the tourist thing, after we went to the Arlington house, being the good Boy Scouts that we are we got lost trying to find the Tomb of the Unknowns.  As we walked around, we saw deer roaming the grounds and we looked at all of the unique tomb stones on top of the hill and that was when it hit me, every one of these stones represented someone, here was someone’s father, mother, brother,  sister, son or daughter.  This was not just some National Park that I was visiting this is THE memorial to what is so great about our nation, our fellow citizens who put it all on the line in the service of the United States.  We saw the grave sites of famous men, like John Basilone, USMC who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his service in the early days of World War 2, or his fellow Marines Rene Gagnon, Ira Hayes and Michael Strank, who raised our beautiful flag on top of Mount Suribachi. Generals John J. Pershing, Omar Bradley, Maxwell Taylor, Anthony McAuliffe, and Admiral William “Bull” Halsey, Jr..  There are of course Astronauts Roger B. Chaffee, Stuart Roosa, Gus Grissom, Pete Conrad, and the memorials to the Space Shuttles Challenger and Columbia.  One of my heroes from World War 2 General Robert F. Sink and a fellow Texan Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier in World War 2. There are men who served and then went on to be great sports figures, the boxer Joe Louis and Dwight F. Davis- founder of the Davis Cup in Tennis and a fellow Phi Delt.

When I first went to Arlington I thought of these GREAT men that are buried there but it was that day in 2006 that I realized that there were other men, who some of which are very distinguished and others that had served.  Some had given their lives for our country, while others had to come home and adjust to life as best as they could. 

This past summer (2012) I went to DC for my Fraternity’s conference and I had the great pleasure to walk around Arlington with a very good friend.  He is a retired Army Lt. Colonel and as much of a history nut as I am.  Mark pointed out a few grave sites of some of his friends and I made a personal trip as well.  As I walked around I would randomly stop and take a picture for some of the grave sites that I photographed I have done a little research, which means I saw the name in one of my pictures and I went to the Arlington Cemetery website and looked them up:  

Colonel Nick Rowe—Col Rowe was a POW in Vietnam, escaped his captors after 5 years and returned to serve his country for the next 21 years.  Col Rowe was killed by Terrorists in 1989.

Colonel David Haskell Hackworth— Most Decorated US Solider a few of his awards…34 Air Medals, 10 Silver Stars, and 2 Distinguished Flying Crosses.

Colonel Andrew Irvine Lyman-- an Annapolis graduate that served in the United States Marine Corps during World War 2 and Vietnam.

David E. Hayden— He was a Medic, a Pharmacist's Mate Third Class, during World War 1.  He was assigned to a Marine Unit in France.  He received the Medal of Honor for rushing out onto the field of battle to save Corporal Creed under intense machine guns fire.  He bandaged up his brother in arms on the battle field and then carried him back to safety.

The last person on the list has a special place in my book, about 11 or 12 years ago I was visiting with my grandfather who was telling me about his time in the US Navy during World War 2.  In one of my grandfather’s stories he was getting a ride from San Francisco, CA to Pearl Harbor, HI to join his ship.  He caught a ride onboard the new USS Yorktown CV-10.  When he boarded the ship he saw that the ship was commanded by Captain Joseph James Clark.  Now many of you are wondering two things, one who the hell is J.J. Clark, and two why would someone remember a commanding officer 60 years after catching a ride on his ship?  Well let me tell you, Jocko Clark is my grandfather’s cousin.  They are both from the town of Pryor Creek, Oklahoma.  My grandfather grew up hearing the tails of his cousin as Jocko was the first Cherokee to graduate from Annapolis and when he retired from the Navy as a four star Admiral he is the highest ranking Cherokee in the US military.  Before my one of my trips to DC in early 2012 I did a little research on Jocko and where he was buried, since the first time I found his grave site I have been back and I plan to return to it every time I am in DC.  Jocko is my only known family member that is buried in Arlington but I am sure as I do more research there will be other family members that are laid to rest there with their brothers in arms.

If you know someone who is buried there or if you have only heard a story of their greatness, Arlington is the greatest Memorial to the American Citizen.  It is our shrine to all of those who have given so much to us, the ones who have saved this planet from tyranny and oppression, many of whom gave their life on the battle field or the countless who returned home to help make America the greatest place in the world.  Each of them has a story and each story is a varied as the man who lived it.  It is my greatest hope that we never forget the sacrifice these men and women made for us all.  

So I have been thinking about this for a while now and I have decided that I want to write a book about American History... but not some boring old text book, or even a book that is in much chronological order... although when edited it may go that way.  I want it to be a history book told from the best perspective there is to learn history, by going to the places and seeing the things that caused it to happen.
Now some will say WHY??? or who the hell is this guy trying to write American history.  The short answer is I am a History nerd, as many know, and I love to take pictures.  if you are on my facebook you will know that I take more pictures of my adventures across this great country...
About a year ago a very good friend of mine, Suzanne, suggested that I take my photography and turn it into a book.  She told me that I have taken some great shots and that I see America for what it is not what the media and Hollywood have turned it into.  It shows both the underling determination that is the American experience mixed with greatness that Americans have accomplished. 
The other person is a Fraternity brother of mine, Hunter, who I met about two years ago.  Hunter is from Kansas.  I have never been to Kansas, and what I do know about Kansas I can sum up here very quickly... It is north of Oklahoma, and it must be a pretty good place because Dorthy wondered all over Oz just to get back there...  Well Hunter is a unique man, when you look at him you might want to cross the street or hold your children a little tighter, I joke with that last comment, but Hunter is a Musician.  He plays the trumpet, and over the past few months he has come to play at the military funerals for our fallen soldiers, not just the ones who hear about that have paid the ultimate sacrifice in places like Iraq or Afghanistan, but he plays for the other heroes as well. Sometimes the forgotten Heroes.  The brave men and women who put everything on the line for us.  And after their conflict ended they came home and they tried as best as they could to return to civilian life.  Hunter's actions have also inspired me to do this and to make sure that the average everyday American is never forgotten.
So..... my goal is this.  To tell the story of our American experience as well as to show others, through my pictures, the great places that American may miss as we go about our daily lives.  The important historical things that we pass by everyday that has made our own home towns great...
Will this succeed??  Who knows.  Will I have fun traveling the USA and taking photos? You can bet that I will.   
So sit back and enjoy the show, if a book comes out of all this then GREAT!!!  If not oh well I know I will have fun visiting places and learning about our past and hoping to teach it to the future.

Usually I post something having to do with history, or a major event… but the past week has me thinking more and more about everything that has been going on. Let’s not wait for the last Monday in May, the 4th of July or the 11th of November… Let’s not wait for the brutal death of our country men, or the solider killed in a roadside bomb. Let’s remember the men, from that faithful day near Concord Bridge, to the boys who braved the cold at Valley Forge. The men who defended the city of Baltimore, under the rockets’ red glare. The boys who followed their states, who suffered and died at places like Sharpsburg and Gettysburg. The men in the Trenches of France. Those who waded in the shores of Utah and Omaha, who island hopped the South Pacific. Suffered constant onslaught in Bastogne, not just from the enemy but from the cruel winter. The men who fought and died for the 38th parallel… The helicopter pilots in the Ia Drang Valley, who defied orders and unarmed flew in water and supplies to the surrounded troops and then flew out the wounded. The brave souls who died making sure the poor and oppressed in Somalia received food and water. The Men and women who have selflessly served in Iraq, Afghanistan, and all over the middle east helping to end the oppression that has been felt all over that region as well as the world. These men, and women, will not have died in vain. They constitute what it means to be an American.
From the Patriots of Concord, The soldiers fighting our own Civil War and those who have fought to allow others the right to live and understand what freedom means. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.”
So many of you are now wondering where this rambling is coming from… in short I don’t really know. All I can say, or ask, is if you see a soldier, or a veteran, stop, shake their hand and just thank them. Not because it is a Holiday or a movie came out, but because of the most important reason, that each one of them has served so that all of us could be here and enjoy the freedom which we all enjoy.