slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

With Memorial Day approaching, I thought it appropriate to speak of the dedicated who serve in our military.....

In the summer of 1862, a young man belonging to a Vermont regiment was found sleeping at his post. He was tried and sentenced to be shot. The day was fixed for the execution, and the young soldier calmly prepared to meet his fate.

Friends who knew of the case brought the matter to President Lincoln's attention. It seemed that the boy had been on duty one night, and on the following night he had taken the place of a comrade too ill to stand guard. The third night he had been again called out, and, being utterly exhausted, had fallen asleep at his post.

As soon as Mr. Lincoln understood the case, he signed a pardon, and sent it to the camp. The morning before the execution arrived, and the President had not heard whether the pardon had reached the officers in charge of the matter. He began to feel uneasy. He ordered a telegram to be sent to the camp, but received no answer. State papers could not fix his mind, nor could he banish the condemned soldier boy from his thoughts.

At last, feeling that he MUST KNOW that the lad was safe, he ordered the carriage and rode rapidly ten miles over a dusty road and beneath a scorching sun. When he reached the camp he found that the pardon had been received and the execution stayed.

The sentinel was released, and his heart was filled with lasting gratitude. When the campaign opened in the spring, the young man was with his regiment near Yorktown, Virginia. They were ordered to attack a fort, and he fell at the first volley of the enemy.

His comrades caught him up and carried him bleeding and dying from the field. "Bear witness," he said, "that I have proved myself not a coward, and I am not afraid to die." Then, making a last effort, with his dying breath he prayed for Abraham Lincoln.

Randy131 Loc: Florida

Touching indeed! But something that liberals, progressives, and Democrats (synonymous with socialists, c*******ts, and f*****ts) will never understand and comprehend, unfortunately. For their political associations and views mean more to them than does their country and it's people, which makes them void of any humanism and humanitarian emotions, brought on by their disbelief and denial of GOD, as all good socialists, c*******ts, and f*****ts proclaim, and was done at the '2012 National Democratic Convention', three consecutive times on nationally broadcasted TV.

Noraa Loc: Kansas

crazylibertarian Loc: Florida by way of New York & Rhode Island

I am happy to know that I am not the only one who refers to liberals, progressives, and Democrats as synonymous with socialists, c*******ts, and f*****ts. Not one of them challenged that characterization in this venue.

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

I had hoped the thread would not take such a turn. How does the stereotyping of all liberals, progressives and democrats as socialists, c*******ts and f*****ts fit this story of 'The Young Sentinel?' I knew/know many of both parties/ideologies who served beside myself and others in the mud and blood of Viet Nam. I also remember how, recently, the right exploded with rage (deservedly so) when conservatives, alt-right and republicans were likewise stereotyped and described as "deplorable." In either case, it is/was simply a case of 'h**ers got'ta h**e.' It would be best, and more appropriate, to save h**eful commentary for other threads. This is a Memorial Day posting, and neither warrants nor deserves such political overtones. Memorial Day, after all, is a day of remembrance for those who gave their all for America. Honor them.

crazylibertarian Loc: Florida by way of New York & Rhode Island

As usual slatten49, you offer a response that bespeaks your decency and desire to see to the best in people & beyond labels. The problem is that the Democrats have had socialism, of its various stripes, as its unofficial motivation since the days of FDR. Since McGovern in 1972, there has not been a single Democrat of national stature who has even given lip service to the free market. Their utterances, even as evidenced in this venue, reek of their contempt for those who disagree with them.

It has also been evidenced by the behavior of the Left since Donald Trump's e******n. When did you EVER see Republicans, conservatives & libertarians r**ting & vandalizing after a defeat?

Yes, it also comes from rightists, but liberals hold themselves out as the repositories of tolerance and intellectualism. They are nothing of the sort.

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

Respectfully, CrazyLibertarian, I was speaking specifically to the unnecessary injection of political name-calling onto a thread dedicated to Memorial Day remembrances.

It should be mentioned that wh**ever one thought of George McGovern's politics, he volunteered for the U.S. Army Air Forces upon the country's entry into World War II and as a B-24 Liberator pilot flew 35 frequently dangerous missions over German-occupied Europe. Among the medals bestowed upon him was a Distinguished Flying Cross for making a hazardous emergency landing of his damaged plane and saving his crew. Like the young sentinel, McGovern was no coward. He, too, risked dying for his country.

Randy131 Loc: Florida

It's hard to challenge the descriptions and definitions of one's proven actions, for they speak louder than words. Most of them have already come out and declared that they are socialists and c*******ts ('Congressional Black Caucus' for one), but deny they are f*****ts, until they are reminded about what they have been forcing on the American people for the last 8 years, that every poll shows the American people do not want, and have v**ed over 1,300 of them out of political office in the state and federal governments for their f*****t tactics of forcing their will on the American people.

Randy131 Loc: Florida

Randy131 Loc: Florida

I also served in Vietnam in the USMC, and gave 4 years of my life for what I received as a heritage from the 'Founding Fathers' and all those who died afterward to preserve that heritage, which 'Memorial Day' is about the celebration of.

Today the liberals, progressives, and Democrats (today synonymous with socialists, c*******ts, and f*****ts) are trying to destroy that heritage, which you and I, and all those before us, have fought for, risking our lives and volunteering our precious time to preserve, and we took an oath to the US Constitution to defend that heritage from all our enemies, both foreign and domestic.

My oath was for my entire life, not just the time I spent in the USMC, and our worse and most serious enemies today are from within (domestic), and need to be addressed and defined, and what more appropiate time and place to do that than 'Memorial Day', to warn others that we must keep doing what needs to be done, and has been done in our past, and the reason we celebrate this day, fight against socialism, c*******m, and f*****m.

All of my family, before my generation, were "dyed-in-the-wool" Democrats, but they were deeply religious and patriots, that cared for their country more than their political party, and knew what the 1st Amendment said and meant, not what a c*******tic legal organization (ACLU) had convinced the 'US Supreme Court' of what only they wanted it to mean, in order to seperate the American people from their GOD, and make them choose between their GOD or their country, as Obama and the liberals, progressives, and Democrats have made them do for the last 8 years.

True celebrants of 'Memorial Day' are American patriots, not socialists, c*******ts, f*****ts, and atheists, as most Democrats have proven themselves to be today. So 'Memorial Day' is celebrated for those who have fought and died to protect their progeny from what the Democrats are trying to do to them today, and what better way to celebrate than trying to rally people to do the same against our domestic enemy, in order to protect and pass on to others the same heritage that we were gifted with, and our fallen brothers that we celebrate today have given their lives to protect and preserve?

crazylibertarian Loc: Florida by way of New York & Rhode Island

Mr. McGovern certainly was a hero and performed admirably durring WWII. In retrospect, I think his views on Viet-Nam were correct but I am not sure they were for the same reasons. His domestic policies were 100% socialist and I recall not even a nod to the free market from him or any other Democratic politician with national aspirations since.

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

This is in reply to your comment, and then I will cease and desist from anything other than my purpose for posting 'The Young Sentinel.'

The Wall Street Journal reminded us of what McGovern learned after he left the Senate and tried running a small business. If you’re not a Journal subscriber, Google “George McGovern in the Journal” or “A Politician’s Dream Is a Businessman’s Nightmare,” and you can probably find the article. But here’s a taste:

"But my business associates and I also lived with federal, state and local rules that were all passed with the objective of helping employees, protecting the environment, raising tax dollars for schools, protecting our customers from fire hazards, etc. While I never have doubted the worthiness of any of these goals, the concept that most often eludes legislators is: “Can we make consumers pay the higher prices for the increased operating costs that accompany public regulation and government reporting requirements with reams of red tape.” It is a simple concern that is nonetheless often ignored by legislators….

In short, “one-size-fits-all” rules for business ignore the reality of the marketplace. And setting thresholds for regulatory guidelines at artificial levels — e.g., 50 employees or more, $500,000 in sales — takes no account of other realities, such as profit margins, labor intensive vs. capital intensive businesses, and local market economics."

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

Thank you for your service, Randy 131, and SEMPER FI ...USMC, 1967-69.

crazylibertarian Loc: Florida by way of New York & Rhode Island

That does not surprise me although I was unaware of his awakening to reality from his business experience. In Rhode Island, we had a congressman named Eddie Beard. He'd been a house painter and then decided on a political career. He was dyed-in-the-wool progressive Democrat, national health, big welfare, EPA, etc. He earned the wrath, though of the state Democratic Party which runs the state. He would spill the beans of what they said about each other behind backs and was deposed.

After that, he opened a bar & experienced what it was like to have to adhere to the regulations. He started changing his tune.

Randy131 Loc: Florida

Apparently McGovern learned something when going in business that someone with his intelligence should have been able to figure out in the first place, but didn't because he had more loyalty to his political party then he had for the hard working American people, whose desire it is, is to stay self-sufficient, self-reliant, and independent of a federal government acting as a GOD, the exact same thing that the 'Founding Fathers' fought against for our nations independence, and warned their progeny about through their writings, which people like McGovern ignored.

Nobody should be allowed to make laws governing the running of businesses, that hadn't ever run a business before. But that is something that 'Common Sense' would dictate, and you can't have both 'Common Sense' and 'Political Correctness', for they are oxymoronic and always conflicting. That is what socialism and c*******m deprives people of, their self-suffiency and self-reliancy through the independence provided by their GOD given and endowed unalienable rights, which the federal government tramples on because it refuses to be held to the powers assigned to it in the 'US Constitution', and instead violate and usurp the powers and rights given to the supposedly sovereign states and the American people, which is the premise for all political actions instituted by Democrats.