[NFBNJ] Remember Memorial day And Our Veterans

Fri May 22 22:45:17 UTC 2020

Greetings to all!

Each year, I forward the following with hopes we all will reflect the
gratitude and love we have for our service men and women who made the
ultimate sacrifice for us to enjoy the fruits of America!

This year, Memorial Day has brought memories that I have hidden for many
years.

Reading the words and listening to the music demonstrates my love for my
fellow veterans, past, present and future!

Respectfully,

Joe

Memorial Day, originally known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years
following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday in 1971. Many
Americans observe Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries or memorials, holding
family gatherings. God Bless You All!

****

Memorial Day Opinion Article

Written by a Navy SEAL, so I think we should listen. Listen not because he's
a famous Navy SEAL, but because he's a member of our Armed Forces, and along
with all those men and women who've more than earned our respect and our
ear, this day should belong to them.

--------------

Opinion: SEAL who shot bin Laden: Don't wish me a happy Memorial Day

Don't wish me a happy Memorial Day. There is nothing happy about the loss of
the brave men and women of our armed forces who died in combat defending
America. Memorial Day is not a celebration.

Memorial Day is a time for reflection, pause, remembrance and thanksgiving
for patriots who gave up their own lives to protect the lives and freedom of
us all - including the freedom of generations long gone and generations yet
unborn. We owe the fallen a debt so enormous that it can never be repaid.

Memorial Day is a time to honor the lives of those who would rather die than
take a knee when our national anthem is played. But they will fight and die
for the rights of those who kneel.

This holiday is a time to think of young lives cut short, of wives and
husbands turned into widows and widowers, of children growing up without a
father or mother, of parents burying their children.

Memorial Day is a time to think of might have beens that never were. Of
brave Americans who put their country before themselves. Without these
heroes, America would not be America.

Unfortunately, for many Americans this solemn holiday might as well be
called Summer Day - marking the unofficial start of the season of barbecues,

days at the beach, time spent on baseball fields and golf courses, hiking

and enjoying the great the outdoors. All those things are great - we all
appreciate them and they are some of the best things in life.

But Memorial Day is not Summer Day. Nor was the holiday created as a way to
promote sales of cars, furniture or clothes.

Another Memorial Day brings with it a whole lot more than the start of
summer. Since last Memorial Day, grass is now growing above the final
resting places of many young men and women whose lives were taken too soon
while defending our country in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and other far-off
places many Americans have rarely heard of.

When Army Sgt. La David Johnson, Staff Sgt. Bryan Black, Sgt. 1st Class

Jeremiah Johnson and Staff Sgt. Dustin Wright were killed last October in an
ISIS ambush in Niger, many Americans asked: We have troops in Niger? These

unknown soldiers lost their lives protecting you - every one of you reading
these words.

Think about this: Millions of high-school seniors are walking across
auditorium stages this season, receiving their diplomas. Most will go on to
college or jobs, but some will choose a career of military service, joining
the second generation of American warriors fighting in the Global War on
Terror - a war that began with the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that

took the lives of almost 3,000 people in our homeland.

Most of these new recruits - who were not even born or who were just infants
when the 9/11 attacks took place - will make it home just fine. But some
will not. I pray that I am wrong, but the sad truth is that the number of
American war dead on Memorial Day in 2019 will be higher than it is on this
Memorial Day.

On Memorial Day, I salute my brothers and sisters-in-arms who have served
beside me in War on Terror. My heart especially goes out to the families of
those who did not return home. In fact, I think about all those who served

and those who have given their lives fighting for America from our country's
earliest days in the Revolutionary War. They all have my gratitude.

We think we are strong, but in war any of us can be turned into just a
memory in an instant. And war seems to have been the universal experience of
just about every society on the planet at one time or another, for as long

as there have been human societies.

How do we stop the wars resulting in such tragic waste of lives? How do we
stop the number of American war dead and war dead in other nations from
growing? I wish I knew the answer. But battle lines are being drawn and
redrawn, and wars and terrorist attacks just keep going on and on. Weapons

are getting bigger. Bombs are becoming smarter and more lives are being lost
every day all over the world, leading to more death, more anger and more
war.

Some are so loyal to their cause that they strap bombs on their bodies or
fly passenger jets into buildings. They conduct beheadings. They set
prisoners on fire. How do we find common ground with them? Do we even try to
find common ground, or do we finally take the gloves off and start landing
punches intended to take our enemy out for good?

I've been on over 400 Army combat missions and have seen more war than most
Americans. More than I care to remember, but cannot forget. There is never a
shortage of war. War spreads faster than fire and like fire it leaves
destruction in its wake.

It hurts my heart as an American every time I see another service member's
body being brought home draped in an American flag. But it hurts my heart as
a human being with every act of war we are all unleashing against each other
around the world.

This Memorial Day, I urge all Americans to remember all the fallen sailors,
soldiers, airmen, Marines and Coast Guard members who have so bravely served
our country, as well as their families.

And I urge all Americans to join me in the hope and prayer that somehow,
someday people around the world will focus more on our similarities than our
differences and that we will move closer to a time when war is just a memory

- part of our past but not our future.

Robert O'Neill is a Fox News contributor and ex-Navy SEAL best known as "the
man who killed Usama bin Laden." O'Neill joined the Navy in 1996 and
deployed as a SEAL more than a dozen times, participating in more than 400
combat missions across four different theaters of war.

Veterans poem

It's the veteran

not the preacher

Who has given us the freedom of religion.

It's the veteran

Not the reporter

Who has given us the freedom of the press.

It's the veteran

Not the poet

Who has given us the freedom of speech.

It's the veteran

Not the campus organizer

Who has given us the freedom to assemble.

It's the veteran

Not the lawyer

Who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It's the veteran

Not the politician

Who has given us the right to vote.

It's the veteran who honors the flag

It's the veteran who serves under the flag

No matter where they serve,

God Bless Them All!

God Bless America!

 <https://wwww.youtube.com/watch?v=nz_js_aMaV0>
https://wwww.youtube.com/watch?v=nz_js_aMaV0

God bless the USA

 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q65KZIqay4E>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q65KZIqay4E

Kate smith with the orchestra

 <https://www.youtube.com/embed/TnQDW-NMaRs?rel=0>
https://www.youtube.com/embed/TnQDW-NMaRs?rel=0 Virus-

Frank Sinatra considered Kate Smith the best singer of her time, and said
that when he and a million other guys first heard her sing "God Bless
America" on the radio, they all pretended to have dust in their eyes as they
wiped away a tear or two. Here are the facts... The link at the bottom will
take you to a video showing the very first public singing of "GOD BLESS
AMERICA". But before you watch it, you should also know the story behind the
first public showing of the song. The time was 1940. America was still in a
terrible economic depression. Hitler was taking over Europe, and Americans
were afraid we'd have to go to war. It was a time of hardship and worry for
most Americans. This was the era just before TV, when radio shows were HUGE,
and American families sat around their radios in the evenings, listening to
their favorite entertainers, and no entertainer of that era was bigger than
Kate Smith. Kate was also large; plus size, as we now say, and the popular
phrase still used today is in deference to her, "It ain't over till the fat
lady sings". Kate Smith might not have made it big in the age of TV because
of her size and appearance, but with her voice coming over the radio, she
was the biggest star of her time. Back then, music was more important than
appearance or the "program". Kate was also patriotic. It hurt her to see
Americans so depressed and afraid of what the next day would bring. She had
hope for America and faith in her fellow Americans. She wanted to do
something to cheer them up, so she went to the famous American song-writer,
Irving Berlin (who also wrote "White Christmas") and asked him to write a
song that would make Americans feel good again about their country.When she
described what she was looking for, he said he had just the song for her. He
went to his files and found a song that he had written but never published,
22 years before -- way back in 1917. He gave it to her and she worked on it
with her studio orchestra. She and Irving Berlin were not sure how the song
would be received by the public, but both agreed they would not take any
profits from "God Bless America". Any profits would go to the Boy Scouts of
America. Over the years, the Boy Scouts have received millions of dollars in
royalties from this song. This video starts out with Kate Smith coming into
the radio studio with the orchestra and an audience. She introduces the new
song for the very first time and starts singing. After the first couple
verses, with her voice in the background still singing, scenes are shown
from the 1940 movie, "You're In the Army Now." At the 4:20 mark of the video
you see a young actor in the movie, sitting in an office, reading a paper:
it's Ronald Reagan. To this day, "God Bless America" stirs our patriotic
feelings and pride in our country. Back in

1940, when Kate Smith went looking for a song to raise the spirits of her
fellow Americans, I doubt whether she realized just how successful the
results would be for her fellow Americans during those years of hardship and
worry..... And for many generations of Americans to follow. It has been
suggested that this song replace the "Star-Spangled Banner" as our national
anthem because it's easier to sing, and most folks already know the words.

Now that you know the story of the song, I hope you'll enjoy it. Many people
don't know there's a lead in to the song since it usually starts with "God
Bless America"....." So, here's the entire song as originally sung.....
ENJOY!

Kate smith with the orchestra

 <https://www.youtube.com/embed/TnQDW-NMaRs?rel=0>
https://www.youtube.com/embed/TnQDW-NMaRs?rel=0 Virus-

Keep Smiling,
Janie Degenshein
Happiness isn't having what you want, but wanting what you already have!
Facilitator of ECHO (Eyes Closed Hearts Open)
state affiliate board member
President of the senior division of the National Federation of the Blind of
New Jersey
to join the senior list serve:
 <https://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbnj-seniors_nfbnet.org>
https://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbnj-seniors_nfbnet.org
President of the Technology division of the National federation of the Blind
of New Jersey
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 <http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/njtechdiv_nfbnet.org>
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NFBNJ Newsline co-ordinator
 <mailto:jdegen16 at comcast.net> jdegen16 at comcast.net

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