I just came home from work and my kids are watching Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Elizabeth's Chest or whatever the hell it's called and, I swear, it's just about the stupidest big-budget movie ever made. I want to scream as I write this. I've sworn an oath not to view the movie in it's entirety. I mean after the first one, why in hell would I want to (I suppose I'd view the movie to laugh at it with RiffTrax but that would be it)?
Anyway, this entry really doesn't have a point. It's just gonna be a long night and Johnny Depp is a frakkin' sellout!
Friday, November 21, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
A Veteran's Story
Veterans day was six days ago. I have a story about a veteran of World War II.
Robert LeRoy Bremser was born in Fredericktown, Missouri on January 22nd, 1922. The youngest of ten children, his father, William Edward, was a medical doctor and owned a farm in the Ozark mountains where Robert was raised. When the U.S. became involved in World War II in 1941, Doctor Bremser was put in charge of medical examinations for the area in preperation for the draft. Not wanting to be accused of favoritism, Dr. Bremser made sure all four of his sons passed their physicals. All four were then drafted. Robert was drafted by the U.S. Army, completed his training, and was assigned to a demolition unit.
Robert served several months in France disarming landmines and blowing up bridges. On November 11th (Veterans Day), 1943, Robert stepped on a landmine losing most of his lower left leg. There was heavy fighting in the area between U.S. and German forces and the ambulance carrying Robert was caught behind enemy lines. He and the other soldiers with him were captured by the Nazis.
The German troopers took Robert and his fellow soldiers into a town somewhere in the French countryside not very far from the front. A temporary headquarters and hospital had been set up. The Germans unloaded Robert and the other injured Americans from the ambulance and carried them into the makeshift hospital. Robert recalled how frightened he was as two Germans carried him up a flight of rickety old stairs and deposited him upstairs. A German medic did his best to take care of Robert's wound but he was only a medic and other than stop the bleeding, there wasn't much the medic could do.
As Robert lay their wondering what would become of this Missouri son, two Germans began looking over the POWs and recording their names and serial numbers from their dogtags. As they read Robert's 'tags, the two men became excited. They proceeded to carry Robert downstairs, out of the hospital and behind one of the nearby buildings. Robert didn't understand what was going on. And when one of the German soldiers left, Robert feared the worst. It was only later, after the second German returned with ice cream for the three of them to share, did Robert come to understand what was happening. The reason for the excitement was because one of the German soldiers shared his last name: Bremser! Where the ice cream came from is still a mystery.
A few days later, the U.S. captured the town in which Robert was being held. The Germans, preoccupied with their own lives, left the POWs behind. Robert's ordeal, at least as a POW, was over. But the pain that resulted from his injury would last the rest of his life.
When Robert's father, Doctor Bremser, heard that his beloved son had been seriously wounded and had suffered the loss of his leg, it aged him. Family members around Doctor Bremser at the time recall how the news wearied him beyond his years. Doctor Bremser never forgave himself for, as he saw it, sending his youngest child to war.
After returning to America, Robert was sent to a military hospital in Brigham City, Utah--of all places--to recover. There this 21 year old Catholic boy from Missouri met a 29 year old Mormon girl and volunteer nurse's assistant from Ogden, Utah. They soon married and soon after that, Robert converted to the LDS church. They eventually had two sons and a daughter, and later, eleven grandchildren of which I am one.
To every American veteran--which includes both my grandfathers, my father and two of my sisters--, thanks.
Robert LeRoy Bremser was born in Fredericktown, Missouri on January 22nd, 1922. The youngest of ten children, his father, William Edward, was a medical doctor and owned a farm in the Ozark mountains where Robert was raised. When the U.S. became involved in World War II in 1941, Doctor Bremser was put in charge of medical examinations for the area in preperation for the draft. Not wanting to be accused of favoritism, Dr. Bremser made sure all four of his sons passed their physicals. All four were then drafted. Robert was drafted by the U.S. Army, completed his training, and was assigned to a demolition unit.
Robert served several months in France disarming landmines and blowing up bridges. On November 11th (Veterans Day), 1943, Robert stepped on a landmine losing most of his lower left leg. There was heavy fighting in the area between U.S. and German forces and the ambulance carrying Robert was caught behind enemy lines. He and the other soldiers with him were captured by the Nazis.
The German troopers took Robert and his fellow soldiers into a town somewhere in the French countryside not very far from the front. A temporary headquarters and hospital had been set up. The Germans unloaded Robert and the other injured Americans from the ambulance and carried them into the makeshift hospital. Robert recalled how frightened he was as two Germans carried him up a flight of rickety old stairs and deposited him upstairs. A German medic did his best to take care of Robert's wound but he was only a medic and other than stop the bleeding, there wasn't much the medic could do.
As Robert lay their wondering what would become of this Missouri son, two Germans began looking over the POWs and recording their names and serial numbers from their dogtags. As they read Robert's 'tags, the two men became excited. They proceeded to carry Robert downstairs, out of the hospital and behind one of the nearby buildings. Robert didn't understand what was going on. And when one of the German soldiers left, Robert feared the worst. It was only later, after the second German returned with ice cream for the three of them to share, did Robert come to understand what was happening. The reason for the excitement was because one of the German soldiers shared his last name: Bremser! Where the ice cream came from is still a mystery.
A few days later, the U.S. captured the town in which Robert was being held. The Germans, preoccupied with their own lives, left the POWs behind. Robert's ordeal, at least as a POW, was over. But the pain that resulted from his injury would last the rest of his life.
When Robert's father, Doctor Bremser, heard that his beloved son had been seriously wounded and had suffered the loss of his leg, it aged him. Family members around Doctor Bremser at the time recall how the news wearied him beyond his years. Doctor Bremser never forgave himself for, as he saw it, sending his youngest child to war.
After returning to America, Robert was sent to a military hospital in Brigham City, Utah--of all places--to recover. There this 21 year old Catholic boy from Missouri met a 29 year old Mormon girl and volunteer nurse's assistant from Ogden, Utah. They soon married and soon after that, Robert converted to the LDS church. They eventually had two sons and a daughter, and later, eleven grandchildren of which I am one.
To every American veteran--which includes both my grandfathers, my father and two of my sisters--, thanks.
Thursday, November 06, 2008
America has been largely racist free for a long time.
I am praying for Barak Obama. I am praying that he will be a good president. I'm a Republican but I don't want him to fail as president just because he's a Democrat and I didn't vote for him. If he falters as president, America falters.
President Obama will be treated more kindly by Republicans and conservatives than the Democrats and the left treated President Bush (the unfounded accusations thrown at President Bush make me ill). And please, left-wingers, you owe the nation an apology for all these years of accusing us of being a racist nation (I'm not holding my breath). You think this nation transformed overnight? Obama's election is proof this nation is not racist and hasn't been for decades.
This election will challenge the Republican party and conservatives as we look to who will lead us, as a party, in the future. Even more, this election will seriously challenge leftist thinking. White Americans have been told by liberal whites and blacks that we are a racist, xenophobic, bigotted nation. The election of Barack Obama disproves that.
Still, there will be those who accuse the Republican Party--the party of Lincoln--of being racist. Dude, the reason why we voted for John McCain and not Barack Obama is because Obama isn't a Republican! He doesn't share our values. We, and I can speak for all Republicans in this, don't care about the shade of your skin, but we do care about your values (this is not an attack on Obama's values, it's just that ours are different). A strong black Republican candidate for president would get as many Republican votes as John McCain did (actually, a strong black Republican candidate would get more Republican votes than John McCain).
Some on the left may declare America racist free after Obama's election. I, a man of the right, declared America largely racist free a long time ago.
President Obama will be treated more kindly by Republicans and conservatives than the Democrats and the left treated President Bush (the unfounded accusations thrown at President Bush make me ill). And please, left-wingers, you owe the nation an apology for all these years of accusing us of being a racist nation (I'm not holding my breath). You think this nation transformed overnight? Obama's election is proof this nation is not racist and hasn't been for decades.
This election will challenge the Republican party and conservatives as we look to who will lead us, as a party, in the future. Even more, this election will seriously challenge leftist thinking. White Americans have been told by liberal whites and blacks that we are a racist, xenophobic, bigotted nation. The election of Barack Obama disproves that.
Still, there will be those who accuse the Republican Party--the party of Lincoln--of being racist. Dude, the reason why we voted for John McCain and not Barack Obama is because Obama isn't a Republican! He doesn't share our values. We, and I can speak for all Republicans in this, don't care about the shade of your skin, but we do care about your values (this is not an attack on Obama's values, it's just that ours are different). A strong black Republican candidate for president would get as many Republican votes as John McCain did (actually, a strong black Republican candidate would get more Republican votes than John McCain).
Some on the left may declare America racist free after Obama's election. I, a man of the right, declared America largely racist free a long time ago.
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