Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friedrich Nietzsche
"A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Edmund Burke
“You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”--General Sir Charles Napier
"Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas
"Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex
Alas, almost 11 years (I think) since I last set foot in Oz.
Courtesy of Mrs Indy I find myself in the unexpected and mildly invidious position of being labelled a full-time New Yorker.
Having said that, I now need strong drink…..
Because the LCVP and LCA landing craft could only carry so many people, a number smaller than the regular size of an infantry platoon, infantry companies for D-Day were reorganized with “assault teams” for each boat, with special equipment and training for breaching the obstacles on the beachhead. For you non-groundpounders, you’ll notice the troops charging out of an area marked by rocks. That represents the Higgins boat they’ll later ride in.
In the very, very long line yesterday AM at one of those shows where business is booming right now, I got talking to a fellow traveler, he and his bud discussing how the Finns did some schooling on the Soviets some time back, and tales of some sniper who only liked iron sights and did 200-500 yd work, in the log book as “success” over 200 times, he didn’t like scopes at all. Told me the movie about it was “Fire and Ice,” apparently done very realistically, too.
Anyhow, the first guy volunteered his father (who lives nearby) has a scrap book full of pictures given to him by a few German officers after the war, this man being multilingual and assigned to basically sit around and chat with these Germans and gather much, while being a friend. Seems the scrapbook has some personal pics like one of the Germans posing with the Eiffel tower in the background.
He has my contact info. I’m hoping to hear from him and load up the scanner, the laptop and some strong coffee for a visit to a vet’s house one day and recover those pics for posting.
Oh, and when I left 2:15 later…the line was even longer….but Vic had some “stock” on hand this time around, albeit at “elevated” prices.