WWII Vet – Removing Iwo Jima Memorial Barricades “Blew My Mind … It Was Great”
Syracuse Honor Flight group receives hero’s welcome home.
We wrote earlier today about the Vets on the Syracuse (NY) Honor Flight whose buses pushed through barricades at the Iwo Jima Memorial with the help of volunteers accompanying the group.
This is part of an ongoing Battle of the Barrycades that has taken place also at the WWII and Vietnam War Memorials.
The Syracuse Honor flight veterans of World War II and the Korean War returned tonight to Syracuse, where Michael Alan of Legal Insurrection was able to conduct several interviews.
This World War II Veteran, who fought on several fronts including North Africa Southern France, Italy, and the Battle of the Bulge and was wounded twice, could not contain his joy at moving the barricades at the Iwo Jima Memorial (full interview at bottom of post):
“That blew my mind, my God look at that, it was great, a little initiative I guess.”
The group received a hero’s welcome home, here are several interviews:
(added) Some photos:
(“We are so proud of you Grandpa” sign for Syracuse Honor Flight)
(Crowd awaits returning Syracuse Honor Flight, October 5, 2013)
(“Our Hero” sign for returning Syracuse Honor Flight)
FULL INTERVIEW — Fascinating to hear his story of military service:
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Comments
They are still our heros!
[…] To everyone in the United States, including veterans. […]
How genuinely sad that these men had to do that.
I am waiting for the Veterans to stage a sit-in at one of our national memorials.
They were kicked out of the Vietnam War Memorial. I wonder if Jane Fonda phoned in an anonymous tip to the park police.
A great move by a great bunch of guys, but we need to follow their example and invade all these open-air monuments, parks, trails, oceans, etc. that Obama is closing for no reason beyond meanness.
The KGB Park Police can’t arrest or bully everyone. Will they try to call in local police? How many departments will send officers to clear peaceful demonstrators at public sites?
Obama wants to pay hardball, let’s see if he has the stuff of his pal Erdogan, who sent in the riot police with tear gas and hoses and batons and rubber bullets.
You have to understand why the left doesn’t get what happened so our message will be understood by them and not mistaken for astroturfing.
These well mannered honorable vets lost the media battle when they didn’t blame George W. Bush or defecate on the barrycades or occupy the memorials and then rape unsuspecting women and children in their tents while occupying the memorials.
#OccupyAmerica!
So , the only people standing up to this are literally 90 year olds?
I have read here on LI that gun ownership could have stopped The Holocaust . Lol you can’t even fend off guys in felt hats.
They are park rangers. I think I might just go find my dirndl & do a tyro lean dance . Ok maybe I only have the beret steins.
Haben sie alles vergessen?
Beer steins,
Seriously this is how it starts . Those rangers already have the brown shirts & you are the enemy. All the time there hey were spouting out fine words & quoting documents. I distinctly remember the park ranger at he Lincoln memorial on my teenage visit.
At least the guards outside Lenin’s Tomb were honest.
Professor Jacobson, I really appreciate the coverage of Barry’s shutdown shenanigans you and your team have provided. I especially like these interviews – great initiative by Michael Alan to go get them!
Kudos to you and your team.
By the way, the shutdown’s impact here in Florida includes Barry ordering his brownshirts to CLOSE THE OCEAN. Really, Barry? Really?
Just before the weekend, the National Park Service informed charter boat captains in Florida that the Florida Bay was “closed” due to the shutdown.
The Park Service will also have rangers on duty to police the ban… of access to an ocean. The government will probably use more personnel and spend more resources to attempt to close the ocean, than it would in its normal course of business.
This is governing by temper-tantrum. It is on par with the government’s ham-fisted attempts to close the DC WWII Memorial, an open-air public monument that is normally accessible 24 hours a day. By accessible I mean, you walk up to it. When you have finished reflecting, you then walk away from it.
At least that Memorial is an actual structure, with some kind of perimeter that can be fenced off. Florida Bay is the ocean. How, pray tell, do you “close” 1,100 square miles of ocean? Why would one even need to do so?
I’m heading down to the beach in just a few minutes to #OccupyOcean.
Bronco Bomba has really lost the plot.
“Bronco Bomba” … sounds like a great name for a rodeo clown …
Great work! Maybe someone should check back with them in a few months to see if the IRS paid anyone a visit.
And… then they got audited by the IRS, investigated by the EPA, the ATF, the DEA, and their social security checks were suspended –
You know, they’d hate it, and it probably wouldn’t come off anyhow, but all I can think of is that somebody should sync up this footage to “White Riot.”
If there’s anything good to come from the Battle of the Barrycades it’s that these gentlemen will probably cherish in their final years the memory of how THE PEOPLE rightfully treated them as heroes. Obama’s legacy to them will be how he behaved like a thug and tried to ruin their experience by using them as pawns to strengthen his own power. They get to experience first hand the nasty, mean spirited brute that Obama really is under his phony public persona. That’s worth something.
“The KGB Park Police”
Sure. That’s a believable argument. Could it be that tourists leave trash, or may need help, or that someone might try to vandalize valuable landmarks or monuments, and that there just aren’t enough rangers left to patrol the park?
Well, the Left meets those criteria.
The TEA Party, OTOH, always leave a place much cleaner than they found it.
Too broad a characterization. Most people try to be good citizens, but it’s just a fact of life that people tend to make a mess, especially when unsupervised, especially juveniles. People may also need security or rescue.
Not really, Zachriel, the TEA party and other conservative protestors have CONSISTENTLY left the areas better than they found them.
rabidfox: the TEA party and other conservative protestors have CONSISTENTLY left the areas better than they found them.
Most people don’t litter, but when you open grounds to the public, anyone can use the grounds.
If Barry’s brownshirts had been in the habit of regularly barricading all of these open-air monuments (and the Atlantic ocean, FFS) during weekends and national holidays and outside of regular business hours, you might have had a point.
As it is, it just looks like you’re flailing.
And boo, there are no Feds to save you!
They don’t normally barricade them because, when the government is not shut down, they have guards on rounds, even at night. It takes fewer guards when the area is blocked off from tourists.
B.S.
Not substantive.
I’m obviously not the B.S. expert that you are, but if you say yours is more watery and insubstantive than most, who am I to quibble?
This dis absolutely ridiculous. You want a country where we can’t even go outside into the park unless we have the permission or and representative of the government there to watch over us. And you don’t even see the absurdity of this, you feel perfectly fine with the idea that we are all children who need The Parental State to look after us, make use we don’t scrape our knee, or fall down, or make sure we know how to take care of our own bathroom needs. Perhaps you feel the need to be infantilized by The State, but I have been a functioning self sufficient adult for many decades now.
Simon Jester: You want a country where we can’t even go outside into the park unless we have the permission or and representative of the government there to watch over us.
Seriously? You don’t think you need police?
B.S. so thick … you can’t even cut it with a knife.
Seriously? Zack can’t picture going into a public park without armed agents of the State present to protect him?
Hooly dooly. Got ourselves a real Beta here.
Amy in FL: Zack can’t picture going into a public park without armed agents of the State present to protect him?
We’ll ask you as well. You don’t think you need police? Seriously?
I don’t need them physically present every time I step out the door into public space, no.
I can’t fathom what you’re so afraid of.
Amy in FL: I don’t need them physically present every time I step out the door into public space, no.
Police are not made of quintessence, but are physically present. They may not be in your personal view, but they are certainly there. The density of police presence is an important determinative of security. If you furlough 80% of the police and maintenance staff, it means closing facilities.
You can’t explain why the government MUST barricade and shut down numerous places that have never been closed in any other (partial) government shut-down.
Or why it must barricade scenic turnouts that require zero personnel on a daily basis. (How many government employees typically attend a scenic turnout in any given week, or month?)
Or why the NPS must send barricades and armed guards to keep people out of privately operated, self-funding facilities that have always called in local law enforcement when they have a problem. Where’s the cost savings there?
What’s special about an Obama-Reid shut-down? Other than the exceptional vindictiveness and totalitarian inclinations of Obama and Reid, that is.
Why don’t we start an Occupy the Parks movement? It’s Sunday. Go!
That’s the plan for Noon (ET) today at the Minuteman National Park in MA.
Where is Anthony McAuliffe (Gen-USA) when you need him?
Any man who spent those months of hell on Iwo Jima sure won’t be dissuaded by some butt-hurt narcissist, even if he is the Dear Leader.
“I fought against Tojo, Mr. Obama, you sir, are no Hideki Tojo!”
Gunnery Sgt.”Manila John” Basilone KIA at Red Beach, Iwo Jima, February 19, 1945, led those rascals in there in Spirit.
Congressional Medal of Honor for Extraordinary Bravery at Guadalcanal. Navy Cross for Same on first day of Iwo.
I think Basilone actually reenlisted and ended up losing his life fighting at Iwo Jima, if my memory serves me right.
He didn’t re-enlist. He was sent home after receiving the medal of honor to help sell war bonds. Several years ago, I found this video of “The Story of John Basilone”. It’s about 7 minutes long and really tells the story well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLCqO3WRoco
Thanks, Rebel! I’ll give it a watch.
Still fighting tyranny and dictatorial “leaders” where they find them.
Maybe a parody of the old song “in der fuerhers face” might be apropos (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y00ygpgALi0)
[…] and lets keep vets away from the Iwo Jima memorial! Honestly, what moron came up with THAT idea? The public may turn on Obama. Looks like he grossly […]
I love these guys. I’m sad and a little worried to imagine an America and a world in the near future where they are no longer with us.
An experience I had with some of them I’ll never forget:
https://legalinsurrection.com/2012/07/july-4-august-14/comment-page-1/#comment-352470
And not one MSM-newsie will dare come at the Infantile Majesty to infer he’s a punk, coward and liar. But, he is.
Are we not blessed?
You’re exactly right, zachriel. Obama barricade the open air monuments after the Honor Flights and other visitors vandalized them and left trash all over the place.
Oh, wait a minute – that never happened – unlike what happened with OWS, which Obama supported.
I’m not surprised to see you straining to justify the despicable tactics of the petty tyrant who occupies the White House. You share his statist mindset.
We are citizens, not subjects. I don’t expect you to understand.
And, by the way, the federal government has been shut down seventeen (17) times previously – and these memorials have never been closed.
SmokeVanThorn: You’re exactly right, zachriel. Obama barricade the open air monuments after the Honor Flights and other visitors vandalized them and left trash all over the place.
If you allow any visitors, you have to allow all visitors. With a shortage of personnel, it is not possible to provide the same level of service, everything from lavatories to security.
SmokeVanThorn: And, by the way, the federal government has been shut down seventeen (17) times previously – and these memorials have never been closed.
1995 shutdown:
http://photos.mercurynews.com/2013/10/02/photos-history-repeating-the-1995-government-shutdown/#6
You obviously have never been to the Mall in DC. Open-air means open-air. This administration is spending extra money on political stunts.
The Lincoln Memorial is considered an open-air monument. Not sure why being open-air makes a difference, though. The structures still have to be protected, security has to be provided, maintenance is still necessary.
There is no security. There are no guards. Walk up. Feel free.
So with the Barrycades in place, there’s no need for security? No need for maintenance?
(a) If there’s no longer any security there, who are the brownshirts monstering our Veterans? Who’s keeping citizens from tearing down the Barrycades, since it’s obvious that they’d be much more prone to acts of vandalism from angry citizens than the monuments the citizens are trying to see would be.
(b) How did the Barrycades get there, and how are they being maintained, if the shutdown means that we had to send all of our maintenance workers home?
You’re flailing, Team Zachriel.
farmermom: There is no security. There are no guards. Walk up. Feel free.
Sure. There’s no police in DC. Or maintenance workers.
Amy in FL: So with the Barrycades in place, there’s no need for security? No need for maintenance?
There is much less need for security or maintenance when the areas are shut down.
Amy in FL: If there’s no longer any security there, who are the brownshirts monstering our Veterans?
Calling police “brownshirts” only undermines any argument you are trying to make. The need for security and maintenance is much reduced when you don’t have thousands of people a day visiting the monuments.
In any case, many on the right say they don’t want government. Well, this is what you get. Perhaps the U.S. should sell off the Lincoln Memorial and let private enterprise turn it into a concession stand.
B.S.
Amy in FL: I don’t need them physically present every time I step out the door into public space, no.
Police are not made of quintessence, but are physically present. They may not be in your personal view, but they are certainly there. The density of police presence is an important determinative of security. If you furlough 80% of the police and maintenance staff, it means closing facilities.
I never claimed the police were “made of quintessence”, nor would I. I am a Galileist, not an Aristotelian.
Please don’t conflate the obvious need for cops to fight crime and the dubious need for them to guard open-air memorials.
LukeHandCool: Please don’t conflate the obvious need for cops to fight crime and the dubious need for them to guard open-air memorials.
It’s quite obvious that when memorials are open to the public, and there are thousands of visitors each day, that it requires more security and more maintenance.
zachriel – Re: shutting down the monuments – I stand corrected. At least some of the same monuments were unnecessarily shut down in 1995, when another vindictive, dishonest Democrat occupied the White House and decided to teach his ungrateful subjects a lesson.
Of course, you failed to respond to the point that there has been no vandalism or trashing of the open air monuments that would justify closing them.
Apparently, the shutdown has affected the quality of pro-Obama toadying.
SmokeVanThorn: Of course, you failed to respond to the point that there has been no vandalism or trashing of the open air monuments that would justify closing them.
People commit crimes, have accidents, and require fresh toilet paper in the lavatories. Just emptying the trash cans for thousands of people requires workers.
Not in 1995, apparently.
This Medal Of Honor winner grew up where I live. He won the honor posthumously and was thus not around to be turned away by this odious government.
*RUHL, DONALD JACK
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve
Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a rifleman in an assault platoon of Company E, 28th Marines, 5th Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, from 19 to 21 February 1945. Quick to press the advantage after 8 Japanese had been driven from a blockhouse on D-day, Pfc. Ruhl single-handedly attacked the group, killing 1 of the enemy with his bayonet and another by rifle fire in his determined attempt to annihilate the escaping troops. Cool and undaunted as the fury of hostile resistance steadily increased throughout the night, he voluntarily left the shelter of his tank trap early in the morning of D-day plus 1 and moved out under a tremendous volume of mortar and machine gun fire to rescue a wounded marine lying in an exposed position approximately 40 yards forward of the line. Half pulling and half carrying the wounded man, he removed him to a defiladed position, called for an assistant and a stretcher and, again running the gauntlet of hostile fire, carried the casualty to an aid station some 300 yards distant on the beach. Returning to his platoon, he continued his valiant efforts, volunteering to investigate and apparently abandoned Japanese gun emplacement 75 yards forward of the right flank during consolidation of the front lines, and subsequently occupying the position through the night to prevent the enemy from repossessing the valuable weapon. Pushing forward in the assault against the vast network of fortifications surrounding Mt. Suribachi the following morning, he crawled with his platoon guide to the top of a Japanese bunker to bring fire to bear on enemy troops located on the far side of the bunker. Suddenly a hostile grenade landed between the 2 marines. Instantly Pfc. Ruhl called a warning to his fellow marine and dived on the deadly missile, absorbing the full impact of the shattering explosion in his own body and protecting all within range from the danger of flying fragments although he might easily have dropped from his position on the edge of the bunker to the ground below. An indomitable fighter, Pfc. Ruhl rendered heroic service toward the defeat of a ruthless enemy, and his valor, initiative and unfaltering spirit of self-sacrifice in the face of almost certain death sustain and enhance the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
Thanks for the inspiring story of the day.
Trying to picture a young, self-pitying, entitlement-mentality’d Occupy Wall Street hipster reading a story like this … and suddenly his arms flailing about like the old “Lost in Space” robot, blabbing, “This does not compute! This does not compute!”
Great video interviews!
Only thing I would have added:
“If Obama had been president at the time of WWII, do you think he could have ended all the fighting with a speech?”
Why is it I could watch these videos a dozen times and not get tired of them?
And why is it that, with all his speechwriters and his teleprompter and his manufactured black preacher cadence, an Obama speech gets me drowsy in just seconds?
John Brennan’s boys over at CIA are likely poring over the photos of the vets who breached the National Park Service’s Barrycades at the memorials in order to identify each and every one, in contrast to the CIA’s original intended function of identifying, confronting, and containing America’s enemies from abroad. This is in context with Obama’s premise that all of America’s enemies are at home, and the main job of the country’s intel services today are to identify who’s been naughty and who’s been nice to him, Obama
Once the vets are identified, each of them will likely be put on fast tracks to death panel status.
I wonder if Obama has ever heard of the Bonus Army in 1932.
[…] are seeing the kind of evil it can produce. Obama and the Democrats have gone out of their way to punish veterans during the shutdown this past week. So should we really be shocked when some active duty military members are attacked […]
I want to thank all of you for the support you are giving our veterans. It’s due them, but many Americans don’t understand. Wars aren’t video games.
My father deferred UVA Law School in 1942, concealed a childhood injury and convinced the Army to award him a direct commission as an infantry officer. He took his platoon across Omaha Beach, was wounded in the hedgerow fighting, wounded again on day one of the Bulge and killed leading his platoon into Cologne.
My stepfather [the only father I knew] fought in the Pacific as a SeaBee. in the Battle of Guam, he captured a Japanese soldier with his bare hands. [He played end at Ga Tech.]
My uncle Harry, wounded, walked out of Chosin Reservoir.
Need to get four Marines to raise a Gadsden flag.
Alan K. Henderson: places that have never been closed in any other (partial) government shut-down.
You need to find another source of information than the right wing echo chamber. 1995 shutdown:
http://photos.mercurynews.com/2013/10/02/photos-history-repeating-the-1995-government-shutdown/#6
We already addressed that several days ago, https://legalinsurrection.com/2013/10/obama-barricades-lincoln-memorial-unlike-during-1995-shutdown/ There’s no evidence from 1995 of the extensive barricading of open spaces and open monuments that is taking place now.
The Lincoln Memorial was shut down in 1995.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal-shutdowns-in-the-1990s/2011/04/01/AFB2FvIC_gallery.html#photo=10
(Sorry, but you have to wait for the ad.)
But Clinton didn’t close the WWII Memorial, so there!
“shut down” in the sense of not staffed during the part of the day in which there normally would be staff, but not barricaded with fencing etc. The photo in the prior post shows people walking through it next to a sign that says it is closed. Pay attention to our posts.
William A Jacobson: not barricaded with fencing etc.
Barricaded with fencing.
http://photos.mercurynews.com/2013/10/02/photos-history-repeating-the-1995-government-shutdown/#6
It’s fairly obvious it closes off the memorial. The picture you reference may have been at the beginning of the shutdown before people have been asked to leave. The other picture we provided was captioned “Visitors leave the Lincoln Memorial, which was closed because of the government shutdown.” People are leaving, the guard is entering.
We’ll retract our previous position in light of this contemporaneous article from AP:
“Tourists were free to wander the halls of the Capitol, touch the walls of the Vietnam Memorial, and climb the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to read the Gettysburg Address.”
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BUIlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=M64FAAAAIBAJ&dq=shut%20down%20lincoln%20memorial&pg=2588%2C3500944
Zac, you’re a pill.
“People commit crimes, have accidents, and require fresh toilet paper in the lavatories. Just emptying the trash cans for thousands of people requires workers.”
I guess there was no crime, no accidents, no need for toilet paper, and no trash in 1995.
Where were the Mt. Rushmore cones in 1995?
Amy, that’s an insult to pills.