Heart braking. If this doesn’t move you, I don’t know what would.

I came across this yesterday from Not The bee, broke my heart! You know what it takes for a man to brake down like this?

This veteran was on the verge of suicide on the side of the road when a trooper showed up like a guardian angel

Say a prayer of relief for the veteran going through a profound crisis, and say a prayer of thanksgiving that this police officer was there to help him at the time he most needed it:

This breaks my heart. You can feel his pain. God Bless this young man and all of our service members.
22/a day… pic.twitter.com/SlbfX4ek1q

— real Anthony Aguero (@AgueroForTexas) September 30, 2022

From Hartford Courant, Traffic stop on I-84 turns into a heartwarming moment between a Connecticut state trooper and an Army veteran

A routine traffic stop on Interstate 84 on Sept. 11 turned into a memorable moment between a trooper from the Connecticut State Police and a U.S. Army veteran.

Trooper Kyle Kaelberer pulled over onto the right shoulder near Exit 68 of I-84 to assist a motorist with their hazard lights on.

Kaelberer found a man in distress, who identified himself as an Army veteran. The man said he was on the phone with a counselor from a suicide prevention hotline for military veterans.

And from Breitbart News, State Trooper Embraces Suicidal Army Vet During Routine Traffic Stop

HEARTWARMING — While conducting a traffic stop on September 11, 2022, a Connecticut state trooper found an Army veteran in emotional distress and on the phone with the VA suicide hotline. The trooper reassured the veteran and gave him a hug when asked.

Veteran suicide numbers are higher than VA reported, more than double federal figures, study shows

American flags have been planted on a grassy area of the Mall with each of them represents a veteran or a service member who died by suicide in 2018. A new independent study said the number of veteran suicides is more than double federal estimates.  (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The rate of suicides among America’s veterans could be more than double the figure reported by the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to a recently released study.

In a joint study between America’s Warrior Partnership, a nonprofit organization that works to end veteran suicide., the University of Alabama and Duke University, researchers reviewed death figures from 2014 to 2018 for eight s states – Alabama, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, and Oregon – and determined that states had undercounted veteran suicides that were not included in figures released by federal officials. 

The states were the only ones that provide reliable data, the AWP report said. 

“If we are going to make progress toward preventing former service member suicide, we need better data,” said Jim Lorraine, President and CEO of AWP. “Inaccurate data leads to a misallocation of very valuable resources.”

According to the report, if the eight states represented the national suicide rate, it would account for 44 veteran suicides a day in that four-year period instead of 17.7, a figure released by the VA. 

Veterans group says suicide rates among veterans is higher than what VA says

A group recently uncovered that the suicide rate among veterans from 2014 to 2018 was 37% higher than reported by the VA.(AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)

Its report, Operation Deep Dive , used state-provided death data and military records from eight states to evaluate the suicide rate and find trends to try to end veteran suicides altogether.

The group uncovered that the suicide rate among veterans from 2014 to 2018 was 37% higher than reported by the VA and that if the rate from the eight states they investigated was adjusted to represent a national rate, there were be an average of 24 veteran suicides daily, instead of the 2014-2018 average of 18 veteran suicides.

Former service members from the Air Force were the least likely to die from suicide, followed by the Navy , Army , Marines , and lastly, the Coast Guard .

Another one of the group’s findings was that not every current or former service member who died by suicide was identified as a member of the military. Eighteen percent of the time, a service member who takes his or her own life isn’t recognized at the time of death as having served in the military.

I don’t know what to do about it. I know how hard is to ask for help, been there done that.

24/7, confidential crisis support for Veterans and their loved ones

Are you a Veteran in crisis or concerned about one?

You’re not alone—the Veterans Crisis Line is here for you. You don’t have to be enrolled in VA benefits or health care to call.

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Veteran suicide prevention

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Veteran Self-Help Resources

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One way I think is for these money hungry war monger politicians and Generals to stop getting us into theses senseless political never ending wars.

Dan Bongino: This is the kind of event that can spark a world war

Fox News host Dan Bongino reacts to the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline amid the Russia-Ukraine war in the opening monologue of ‘Unfiltered.’

Military suicides undermine Army’s ability to solve readiness crisis

The U.S. Army is in the throes of a burgeoning readiness crisis with military service leaders anticipating a significant drop-off in their ability to recruit enough Americans to its ranks. 

And at least part of the reason is the grinding suicide crisis in the military. Not only do recruits have to worry about their safety on a battlefield; they now must be concerned about ailments that trail them after their service to the nation. 

“To compete for talent, the Army must provide a workplace environment free of harmful behaviors, to include sexual assault, sexual harassment, racism, extremism, and the risk factors which lead to death by suicide,” Gen. Joseph Martin, the Army’s vice chief of staff, told a House panel last month. 

Army Secretary Christine Wormuth echoed the frank admission. “We need to show that we are doing something about suicide prevention in the Army,” she said.  

“Suicide has proven to be an incredibly difficult issue for the military to get its arms around,” said the publication Task & Purpose. “The Army specifically saw its highest rate of suicides in 2021 since 1938, coming in at 36.18 suicide deaths per 100,000 soldiers.” 

By comparison, among all U.S. adults, the suicide rate per 100,000 is about 18 deaths. Among veterans, the suicide rate also well surpasses the civilian rate. 

Video: Military veteran raises awareness for veteran suicide: PTSD is a ‘causal factor’

Fox Report Anchor Jon Scott, and military veteran Michael Murray II, Founder and President of Liberty–OVE, discussed the awareness of PTSD and veteran suicide on ‘Fox & Friends Weekend.’

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6312470842112

Not just for vets, mental illness is a huge problem in America right now no doubt. And a lot of it is happening in blue states and cities. I’m sure you saw this one the other day.

FDNY lieutenant paramedic and 9/11 first responder stabbed to death in broad daylight while walking to get lunch

NEW YORK CITY, NY – People across the city are mourning the tragic loss of a New York Fire Department (FDNY) paramedic and 9/11 first responder who was fatally stabbed while working in the line of duty.

FDNY paramedic Lieutenant Alison Russo-Elling, who was 61-years-old, was on duty in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens when she was stabbed multiple times in a completely unprovoked and violent attack.

The fatal incident happened during the afternoon on Thursday, September 29th. Russo-Elling was on shift at EMS Station 49 in Astoria when she was stabbed multiple times in a “barbaric and completely unprovoked” attack near 20th Avenue and Steinway Street.

According to The Post, The 61-year-old “was about six or seven months away from retirement,” Vincent Variale, president of Local 3621, told reporters outside the hospital where Russo-Elling succumbed to her injuries. “She was talking about it.” According to Daily Mail,

A man, 34, with a history of schizophrenia was charged Thursday for the fatal stabbing of longtime EMT worker Allison Russo-Elling, 61

This is reportedly his first arrest. He had an interaction with the police in 2018, when he was accused of issuing threats to Asians.

The incident resulted in his hospitalization, but an arrest was never made.

‘The Five’ react to New York law enforcement attacks and Mental Illness

‘The Five’ co-hosts sound off on the latest attacks on New York City law enforcement.

Why Closing U.S. Psychiatric Hospitals Caused a Mental Health Crisis

The last thing you want is a shortage of mental health facilities as the number of patients diagnosed with mental health disorders increases. But, that is exactly what is currently happening.

As mental illness continues to have catastrophic effects on the lives of millions of people across the country, the closure of mental health hospitals only exacerbates and prolongs the problem. Understanding mental health is not only important for you at an individual level, but also for everyone in society as well.

Mental health disorders can be caused by genetics as well as environmental influences. Our fast-paced society puts us at greater risk for mental health complications because human beings today worry and stress more than previous generations.

Making matters even worse, there is a stigma attached to mental health. Having a mental health disorder is seen as something to be ashamed of, and people often avoid getting treatment simply to avoid the bad image.

Numbers Increase as Facilities Decrease

The closure of mental health hospitals over the last decade has increased steadily each year. The trend is driven by a desire to desensitize psychiatric patients that started back in the 1950s and 60s.

The thought was that a number of patients could actually do well in the community, and, as more were released, the facilities were dissolved. The fact that the government would then have more money to use elsewhere encouraged a bias to develop over time.

Now there are not enough beds to house the patients in real need of psychiatric hospital treatment.

What Happens to Patients When Mental Health Clinics Close?

“There aren’t empirical studies of this,” says Linda A. Teplin, Owen L. Coon Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.

“They’re just too expensive to do, and not feasible. There are findings and government statistics that suggest what is happening,” but due to many complex variables, “nobody can do a direct study on the consequences of cuts for mental health.”

Nevertheless, a few experts were able to share some common scenarios they’ve observed when access to public mental health centers is thwarted:

The State Of Mental Health In America

2022 Key Findings

• In 2019, just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, 19.86% of adults experienced a mental illness, equivalent to nearly 50 million Americans.  
• Suicidal ideation continues to increase among adults in the U.S. 4.58% of adults report having serious thoughts of suicide, an increase of 664,000 people from last year’s dataset. The national rate of suicidal ideation among adults has increased every year since 2011-2012. This was a larger increase than seen in last year’s report and is a concerning trend to see going into the COVID-19 pandemic.
• A growing percentage of youth in the U.S. live with major depression. 15.08% of youth experienced a major depressive episode in the past year, a 1.24% increase from last year’s dataset. In the bottom-ranked states, up to 19% of youth ages 12-17 experienced major depression.
• Over 2.5 million youth in the U.S. have severe depression, and multiracial youth are at greatest risk. 10.6% of youth in the U.S. have severe major depression (depression that severely affects functioning). The rate of severe depression was highest among youth who identified as more than one race, at 14.5% (more than one in every seven multiracial youth).
• Over half of adults with a mental illness do not receive treatment, totaling over 27 million adults in the U.S. who are going untreated. In Hawaii, the bottom-ranked state, 67% of adults with a mental illness did not receive treatment. Even in Vermont, the top-ranked state in the U.S., 43% of adults experiencing a mental illness were not receiving treatment. 
• The percentage of adults with a mental illness who report unmet need for treatment has increased every year since 2011. In 2019, 24.7% of adults with a mental illness report an unmet need for treatment. 
• Over 60% of youth with major depression do not receive any mental health treatment. Even in states with the greatest access, nearly one in three are going without treatment. In Texas, the bottom-ranked state for this indicator, nearly three-quarters of youth with depression did not receive mental health treatment. 
• Both adults and youth in the U.S. continue to lack adequate insurance coverage. 11.1% of Americans with a mental illness are uninsured. There was a 0.3% increase from last year’s dataset, the second year in a row that this indicator increased since the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). 8.1% of children had private insurance that did not cover mental health services, totaling 950,000 youth. 

This year’s report includes spotlights on two of MHA’s policy priorities in 2021-2022 – the implementation of 988 as the national three-digit suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline and increasing mental health education and supports in schools, particularly for BIPOC youth. 

Tracking the History of State Psychiatric Hospital Closures

For the last 60 years state mental health agencies (SMHA) have been building comprehensive community-based systems to care for persons with serious mental illnesses.

SMHA have also refocused the use of state psychiatric hospitals on patients in major crisis, patients whose illnesses were not being adequately addressed in community settings, and increasingly forensic and other involuntary patients.

Since the 1950s, the number of beds in state psychiatric hospitals has declined by over 91 percent.

As a result of this phenomenon, many state psychiatric hospitals that had once served thousands of patients every day are now much smaller and many states that had multiple psychiatric hospitals have consolidated their acute inpatient services by merging facilities. Get publication

Thanks for stopping by, God bless you and God bless America. May He also have mercy on us.

Updated: ICYMI, Nuclear war is hazardous to you’re health.

Russia kept telling us it was going into Ukraine. No one did anything to stop them or take them at their word till after they moved.

Russia keeps telling us that they are serious about going nuclear. Still the world “leaders” ignores them. They have no worries. They can get to bunkers. America is pumping BILLIONS of military aid into Ukraine while ignoring her own problems and people.

As I have blogged before I was a Pershing missile crewman in Europe when I was in the Army. It takes about 29 minutes for a nuke to get to it’s target.

We drilled with live warheads a few time a year on a mountain top. Most of the other time we where in the field drilling with the missiles. One of the scariest times in my life was when we where in the field and a alert was called and we had to head back to pick up live warheads because China had crossed into Russia.

After getting back and waiting around for about a half hour they told us it was a drill and head back out to the field. Think about what that drive and waiting around was like, all the things running though you’re mind.

Now check out these videos and think about it.

Nuclear blasts, preserved on film

Beginning in 1945, and until atmospheric nuclear testing was banned, the United States conducted 210 above-ground nuclear tests, documented on film.

Now, footage that has survived, now being preserved by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, is being analyzed for their scientific data, changing what we previously knew about the destructive power of our nuclear arsenal. David Martin reports.

5 Largest Nuclear Tests Caught On Camera

Russia releases previously classified 1961 footage of largest ever nuclear explosion

Russia has released previously classified footage of the world’s largest nuclear explosion, caused when the Soviet Union detonated the so-called Tsar Bomba almost 60 years ago.

The hydrogen bomb, which carried the force of 50 million tons of conventional explosives, was detonated in a test on Oct.1961, 4,000 meters over the remote Novaya Zemlya archipelago above the Arctic Circle.

The footage shows an immense fireball and a 60-km high mushroom cloud rising after the explosion lit up the sky. The views were captured from several angles by cameras installed on the ground and on board two Soviet aircraft.

What Will Happen If New York City Gets Nuked Tomorrow?

May God have mercy on us and wake our so called leaders up.

Biden Wants $33 Billion More For the War in Ukraine. Which Americans Benefit?

Why Putin may be ‘MORE LIKELY’ to use nukes against Ukraine

Author and former Navy SEAL Jack Carr knows a little something about Russia. With several published thriller novels that focus on geopolitical issues, he’s certainly done his research.

So, he joins Glenn to war-game possible scenarios from the current situation in Ukraine.

He explains why Putin’s original drive to invade Ukraine may have been to grow his military; plus, Carr explains the reason why Putin may be ‘a little more likely’ to use nukes: ‘[Russia is] an animal in a corner and it’s fight or flight…they’re in survival.’

Military Veterans being deported.

I came across this the other day while I was roaming the internet. I hadn’t heard about it before, I thought if a immigrant served honorably in the Military they were granted citizenship.

Who among us, (Talking to Veterans now) finding it difficult to adjust back into the world when they got out didn’t have some sort of problem or run in with the law? I know I did and I was a “Cold War ” vet, didn’t see any combat. I got a DUI and spent a little time in county on another occasion but charges had to be dropped due to an illegal search. I know there’s probably a lot of vet’s that didn’t have any problems but I also know there’s an awful lot that do. I know two personally.

Personally, I think no expense or time should be spared to look at each case individually. Unless of course it’s a no brainer and the veteran is a absolute degenerate and violent criminal. Even still though that veteran deserves at the very least a full investigation that includes in my opinion a Psychiatric eval to see if he or she has PTSD or something that would prevent them from being a good citizen. And if they do have PTSD or some other disorder or inability to adjust to civilian life do to Military service it should be taken care of. The “Nanny State” or government already spends and wastes so much on freebies and fraud there should be no problem what so ever helping a veteran.

Anyone that knows me knows I’m totally against “Illegal Immigration” and believe it should be done right by going through the process and assimilating, I’ve blogged about it here many times. I protested and got interviewed ( not so favorably of course) by the Press Enterprise in my city when the legislators were considering a Immigration change for the city. It was me and I think two or three more compared to about fifty supporters of the legislation.

I also support building the wall.

Anyways, that’s my two cents. Check out these stories and share your thought’s if you can, would really like to hear what others have to say on the subject.

Part one, excerpts from the article. “Army veteran Mario Martinez spent six years of his life fighting for the United States.

Now, he’s fighting for the right to keep living here.

Martinez, 54, was born in Mexico, but came to the U.S. as a young child and became a legal resident. He joined the Army, served with the 82nd Airborne Division, and earned an honorable discharge. But more than a decade after he left the service, he was convicted of a felony, putting his immigration status in jeopardy.

“One mistake shouldn’t make the rest of your life,” said Martinez, who spent four years in California state prison for an assault conviction stemming from a 2008 domestic violence case. “I mean I paid for what I did, I did my time. I did it quietly, went in and got out.”(“More than a decade after he left the Army, he was convicted of assault in a domestic violence case. It happened the night he found the body of his best friend, who had died by suicide. Martinez said he was upset and got into an argument with his girlfriend. At the trial, his girlfriend testified that it was a one-time event, but cuts to her cheek required stitches, according to court records.”)

He served four years in prison.

After Martinez served his time, he was handed over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency that handles deportation for the Department of Homeland Security. He spent another 10 months in detention, then was released on bond in 2014. He currently lives in Southern California, while he awaits a court date in his deportation case.

“ICE exercises prosecutorial discretion for members of the armed forces who have honorably served our country on a case-by-case basis when appropriate,” said Rodriguez. “Still, applicable law requires ICE to mandatorily detain and process for removal individuals who have been convicted of aggravated felonies as defined under the Immigration and Nationality Act.

An executive order signed by President Trump on January 25 expands who can be deported to include not only those with criminal records, but non-citizens who have committed a “chargeable criminal offense.” Already immigrant arrests are up by a third, compared to last year, according to ICE data.

But the current enforcement policy on immigration has been shaped over decades by both Democratic and Republican presidents.

Many veterans and advocates point to a 1996 law, passed during the Clinton presidency, as laying the groundwork for current deportations. That law, called The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, expanded the types of criminal convictions eligible for deportation. In the following decade, the U.S. deported 897,099 non-citizens after they served their criminal sentences, according to a 2007 report from Human Rights Watch, which based its findings on ICE data. During those years, 77 percent of the legal permanent residents were deported for non-violent offenses.” Continue to the article here.>Serving In the U.S. Military Won’t Protect These Veterans From Being Deported

Part two, excerpts from the article. “Signs of American military life are everywhere in the cramped Tijuana apartment: a U.S. flag hung on the wall, Army patches covered a camouflaged backpack, photos of uniformed men lined a shelf. 

“It was very difficult to transition, the first couple months,” said Hector Barajas, a former U.S. Army paratrooper, who was deported to Mexico in 2010 and calls the apartment home.

He said when he first landed back to Mexico – a country he had little connection to since he left as a child in the 1980s ­- there was no network of veterans and no offices to help get him on his feet. He started reaching out to other veterans and soon turned his home into a shelter for deported veterans in Tijuana, many of whom needed help with even the most basic things as they adjusted to an unfamiliar city.

“That’s part of our job here: to make it easier for the men to find work, helping them find their IDs, where to go get their driver’s license,” said Barajas. “It’s difficult when you don’t really have anyone to help you out with that.” 

Hector Barajas was pardoned by California Governor Jerry Brown in March this year, opening up the possibility of his return to family in Los Angeles. CREDIT DORIAN MERINA / AMERICAN HOMEFRONT 

He said he’s been in touch with nearly 60 deported veterans since October. His office keeps a database of about 350 veterans who have been deported to different cities in Mexico and countries further away, such as the Philippines, Honduras and Iraq. The two-story apartment in a residential part of eastern Tijuana has three cots upstairs and a tiny kitchen Barajas refers to as a chow hall. Together, the vets call this place, “the bunker.”

Barajas served two stints in the Army, including in the 82nd Airborne. But when he got out, he ran into trouble with the law. In 2002, he was sentenced to 3 years in prison for discharging a firearm from a vehicle. After prison he was deported, but then re-entered the U.S. illegally and was deported again in 2010, according to records from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Barajas, now 40, said he regrets his actions, but doesn’t like to dwell on the past.

“I paid dearly for it and I am taking responsibility for putting myself in that position,” he said. “As far as being a productive member of society, let’s move forward.”

In March, California Governor Jerry Brown pardoned Barajas and two other veterans, noting their honorable service in the military. That pardon clears a major obstacle, but doesn’t guarantee their return.

Barajas is hoping to get his legal status back and reunite with his family in Southern California, including his 11-year-old daughter. For now, he spends his time helping other deported veterans ­- many of whom, he said, struggle after getting out of the military.

“Not too many people are willing to put on a uniform and go fight, and it’s the reason we have these freedoms today is because of these men and women,” he said. “When they came back, they came with trauma. We have PTSD. It’s military, it’s connected to their service. The reasons these men are going to make these mistakes and suffer is because of the military trauma.”

There are more than 11,000 non-citizens serving active duty in the military, according to the Pentagon. About a decade ago, that number was three times as high. Legal permanent residents are eligible to serve, and doing so can expedite the naturalization process. But citizenship is not automatic and many veterans leave the military without obtaining it.

Some described a confusing and time-consuming process, made harder by deployments and frequent moves. Others said that because they had grown up mostly in the U.S., they felt American and didn’t think to apply, especially while focused on the demands of military service.” Continue to the article here.> Deported Veterans Hope To Return To Nation They Fought For

Read about one success story of a deported Veteran, 31-year-old Daniel Torres.

A “heartbroken, broke” Daniel Torres self-deported to Mexico.

Excerpt from the article. “The success story of the deported veterans community is 31-year-old Daniel Torres.

He moved to the US from Mexico when he was 15 when his father got a job as an electronic engineer in Utah.

At 18, his US visa expired but he stayed on illegally. At 21 he joined the Marine Corps.

“I said I was an American citizen when I wasn’t,” Daniel says.

He served in the army for four years, including a tour of Iraq, and had just signed up for a year-long deployment in Afghanistan when his chain of command discovered he was an undocumented immigrant.

They could have charged him with fraud but instead they let him leave the military when his contract expired.

“I couldn’t get employment, I couldn’t go to school, I couldn’t get a loan, I couldn’t do anything,” he says.

He left America voluntarily and moved back to Mexico where he went to law school, started working at the Deported Veterans Support House and applied for US citizenship.

It took five years, but last April he got it.

“My case was simple enough because I had no criminal record, I have no deportation record and they gave my citizenship,” he says.

He says being accepted back into the US felt “weird”.

“I had kind of given up on the United States,” he says.

“Then after a while I started realising we can make a difference — the biggest barrier was people didn’t know about it.

“Unless you were directly affected or a family member affected, no-one knew military members were being deported.

“So once we started breaking down that ignorance barrier we started seeing results, we started getting places,” he says.

He plans to move back to Utah to study law in the US to become a binational attorney.

But his victory is far from complete.

“I’m not celebrating until everyone gets to go home,” he says.”  Continue to the article here and read about three others that aren’t so lucky, two you’ve already met from the other article.> ‘These men and women return only when they die’

Google Search, US President Donald Trump said he was open to the idea of allowing deported veterans to return.

It seems to me both Democrats and Republicans should be able to work together on this. It looks like for now it’s only the Democrats, Republicans should be ashamed.

May 26, 2017 Press Release.

Preventing veterans from being deported and helping deported veterans get access to medical care

Washington, D.C. (May 26, 2017)—Congressman Juan Vargas (CA-51) reintroduced a bill package that will prevent veterans from being deported and help veterans that have been deported get access to the medical service they deserve. The Immigrant Veterans Eligibility Tracking System (I-VETS) Act of 2017, Healthcare Opportunities for Patriots in Exile (HOPE) Act of 2017, and Naturalization at Training Sites (NATS) Act of 2017 are part of this legislative package.

“A number of our nation’s servicemembers are immigrants who answered the call to serve and protect our nation and our freedom,” said Rep. Vargas. “These bills will ensure that immigrant servicemembers are well informed on their path to naturalization and allow veterans who have been deported to access the health care services they need.” More here.> Rep. Juan Vargas Reintroduces Deported Veterans Bill Package

President Trump, keeping his promises has already done many positive thing’s for the Military. I hope he and the DOJ looks into this.

BTW, despite attacks from the left, right and “The Lamestream Media” the President had a pretty impressive first six months. 

As always, God bless America and you. 

This is crap. This needs to stop. VA waste.

This is ridiculous and shameful. With all the money this country wastes in the government, on welfare abuse, immigration, left leaning policies, refugees, the UN, this should not be. This should be one of the most smooth running organizations we have, we owe it to the Veterans. This makes me sick.

From the famed Sharyl Attkisson. Thank you. “A medical doctor-turned-whistleblower was part of a team that reviewed veterans’ medical files to see if they’re entitled to compensation for Agent Orange injuries. He says he caught reviewers pushing through files at an improbable rate, failing to give them a proper review and often denying vets their due. The company, a V.A. contractor, denies it.”

The Final Toast. Pearl Harbor 75th Anniversary.

Lengthy, but I thought you would enjoy reading about these brave American heroes.And soon they will be gone…….

THE FINAL TOAST
When

They bombed Tokyo 75 years ago.

They once were among the most universally admired and revered men in the United States .. There were 80 of the Raiders in April 1942, when they carried out one of the most courageous and heart-stirring military operations in this nation’s history. The mere mention of their unit’s name, in those years, would bring tears to the eyes of great Americans.

Now only four survive.

After Japan ‘s sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, with the United States reeling and wounded, something dramatic was needed to turn the war effort around.

 Even though there were no friendly airfields close enough to Japan for the United States to launch a retaliation, a daring plan was devised. Sixteen B-25s
were modified so that they could take off from the deck of an aircraft carrier. This had never before been tried — sending such big, heavy bombers from a carrier.

The 16 five-man crews, under the command of Lt. Col. James Doolittle, who himself flew the lead plane off the USS Hornet, knew that they would not be able to return to the carrier.
They would have to hit Japan and then hope to make it to China for a safe landing. 

But on the day of the raid, the Japanese military caught wind of the plan. The Raiders were told that they would have to take off from much farther out in the Pacific Ocean than
they had counted on. They were told that because of this they would not have enough fuel to make it to safety.

And those men went anyway. 

They bombed Tokyo and then flew as far as they could. Four planes crash-landed; 11 more crews bailed out, and three of the Raiders died. Eight more were captured; three were executed. 

Another died of starvation in a Japanese prison camp. One crew made it to Russia . 

The Doolittle Raiders sent a message from the United States to its enemies, and to the rest of the world: We will fight. And, no matter what it takes, we will win. 

Of the 80 Raiders, 62 survived the war. They were celebrated as national heroes, models of bravery. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer produced a motion picture based
on the raid; “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo ,” starring Spencer Tracy and Van Johnson, was a patriotic and emotional box-office hit, and the phrase became part of the national lexicon. In the movie-theater previews for the film, MGM proclaimed that it was presenting
the story “with supreme pride.” 

Beginning in 1946, the surviving Raiders have held a reunion each April, to commemorate the mission. The reunion is in a different city each year. In 1959, the city of Tucson ,
Arizona, as a gesture of respect and gratitude, presented the Doolittle Raiders with a set of 80 silver goblets. Each goblet was engraved with the name of a Raider. 

Every year, a wooden display case bearing all 80 goblets is transported to the reunion city. Each time a Raider passes away, his goblet is turned upside down in the case at the
next reunion, as his old friends bear solemn witness. 

Also in the wooden case is a bottle of 1896 Hennessy Very Special cognac. The year is not happenstance: 1896 was when Jimmy Doolittle was born. 

There has always been a plan: When there are only two surviving Raiders, they would open the bottle, at last drink from it, and toast their comrades who preceded them in death.

 As 2013 began, there were five living Raiders; then, in February, Tom Griffin passed away at age 96. 

What a man he was. After bailing out of his plane over a mountainous Chinese forest after the Tokyo raid, he became ill with malaria, and almost died. When he recovered, he was
sent to Europe to fly more combat missions. He was shot down, captured, and spent 22 months in a German prisoner of war camp.

The selflessness of these men, the sheer guts … there was a passage in the Cincinnati Enquirer obituary for Mr. Griffin that, on the surface, had nothing to do with the war,
but that was emblematic of the depth of his sense of duty and devotion:

“When his wife became ill and needed to go into a nursing home, he visited her every day. He walked from his house to the nursing home, fed his wife and
at the end of the day brought home her clothes. At night, he washed and ironed her clothes. Then he walked them up to her room the next morning. He did that for three years until her death in 2005.”

So now, out of the original 80, only four Raiders remain: Dick Cole (Doolittle’s co-pilot on the Tokyo raid), Robert Hite, Edward Saylor and David Thatcher. All are in their 90s.
They have decided that there are too few of them for the public reunions to continue. 

The events in Fort Walton Beach marked the end. It has come full circle; Florida ‘s nearby Eglin Field was where the Raiders trained in secrecy for the
Tokyo mission. The town planned to do all it can to honor the men: a six-day celebration of their valor, including luncheons, a dinner and a parade.

Do the men ever wonder if those of us for whom they helped save the country have tended to it in a way that is worthy of their sacrifice? They don’t talk about that, at least
not around other people. But if you find yourself near Fort Walton Beach this week, and if you should encounter any of the Raiders, you might want to offer them a word of thanks. I can tell you from first hand observation that they appreciate hearing that
they are remembered.

The men have decided that after this final public reunion they will wait until a later date — sometime this year — to get together once more, informally
and in absolute privacy. That is when they will open the bottle of brandy. The years are flowing by too swiftly now; they are not going to wait until there are only two of them.

They will fill the four remaining upturned goblets. And raise them in a toast to those who are gone. 

This is why we stand for the National Anthem. This is what makes us great. To these Heroes and the ones that have followed in their footsteps and that will in the future, Thank you, God bless you and your families and God bless America.

President-elect @realDonaldTrump in Fayetteville, North Carolina- talking about #PearlHarborRemembranceDay. pic.twitter.com/Bq9Q5WIMC2

— Dan Scavino Jr. (@DanScavino) December 7, 2016

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