Iwo Jima: 65th Anniversary

Missed this on Friday and shame on me for letting the 65th anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima slip past. The month long battle saw some of the worst fighting of WWII. The Japanese on the island were an intractable foe. Of the 22,786 Japanese soldiers entrenched on the island, 21,570 died fighting or by ritual suicide. For most Americans the battle is symbolized by the Joe Rosenthal photograph taken on February 23, 1945. It depicts five United States Marines and a U.S. Navy corpsman raising the flag of the United States on Mount Suribachi. We owe the Greatest Generation of Americans a debt to large to repay: today take a moment and remember the soldiers who died on small island and thank them for the liberty you enjoy every day.

WNC Iwo Jima Veteran Wants Youths To Understand The True Meaning Of Casualties Of War

Edward Lannigan has a box full of medals that testify to his heroic service in the Pacific Theater during World War II, including his presence at Iwo Jima, the bloodiest battle in the history of the U.S. Marine Corps. The battle began 65 years ago this weekend.

In Lannigan's box are two Purple Hearts, a Silver Medal, two presidential citations and other awards attached to fading ribbons, small but poignant recognition of the bravery of a young man — a boy, really — who would return home from war with shrapnel in his skull and only one functional arm and hand.

But the medals are not on display. They live inside the box in a dark corner of the bottom drawer of the desk in his study.

There are many veterans who proudly showcase their war-related decorations. Lannigan is not one of them.

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Semper Fi Boys & Girls! And Thank You!

Happy birthday to the USMC

Here's health to you and to our Corps
Which we are proud to serve;
In many a strife we've fought for life
And never lost our nerve;
If the Army and the Navy
Ever look on Heaven’s scenes;
They will find the streets are guarded
By United States Marines.

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USMC: 1 ... Code Pink: 0

Code Pink is beating a hasty retreat from Berkeley

We must close our CodePINK office, 1248 Solano Ave., Albany. Come to our EVERYTHING MUST GO Moving Sale from noon until 7:00pm Tuesday Oct 28th thru Thursday Oct 30th!

All the office furniture, display cabinets, tschotkes, and all the wonderful outdoor furniture and fixings as well - not to mention CodePINK memorabilia and merchandise - will be on sale!

Come get your treasure and help us close this part of our chapter.

Oh yeah, everything must go alright... If I lived near enough I'd gladly do my part to help them move out and move on.

ht: Michelle Malkin

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I'm Sorry, Who Doesn't Deserve To Live?

Marine, Back From Iraq, Shot Dead In His Home Town

On leave from the violence he had survived in the war in Iraq, a young Marine was so wary of crime on the streets of his own home town that he carried only $8 to avoid becoming a robbery target.

Despite his caution, Lance Cpl. Robert Crutchfield, 21, was shot point-blank in the neck during a robbery at a bus stop.

Feeding and breathing tubes kept him alive 41/2 months, until he died of an infection on May 18.

Two men have been charged in the attack, and Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason said Friday the case was under review to decide whether to seek the death penalty.

They bastards who shot him deserve a fair trail right? Well, after the trial can we execute them?

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Ooooo Oooo, Witchy Women...

Code Pink Protesters Try Witchcraft at Anti-Marine Rallies

Hey Medea? How do your Red Comrades feel about you using "religion" control your minions? Oh wait, never mind...

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From the Halls of Montezuma...

Here's an awesome tribute to the USMC at Villainous Company.

Don't forget The Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund, we owe them more than we could EVER give.

Hat tip: Michelle Malkin.

Semper Fi boys

The Marines' Hymn

From the halls of Montezuma

To the shores of Tripoli,
We fight our country's battles

In the air, on land, and sea.
First to fight for right and freedom,
And to keep our honor clean,
We are proud to claim the title

Of United States Marines.

Our flag's unfurl'd to every breeze
From dawn to setting sun;
We have fought in every clime and place
Where we could take a gun.
In the snow of far-off northern lands
And in sunny tropic scenes,
You will find us always on the job
- The United States Marines.

Here's health to you and to our Corps
Which we are proud to serve;
In many a strife we've fought for life
And never lost our nerve.
If the Army and the Navy
Ever look on Heaven's scenes,
They will find the streets are guarded
By United States Marines.

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War in Fallujah

How can we possibly pass judgement on the young US Marine for doing what he felt was necessary in a life or death battle.

We know it is common for Islamofascist insurgents to fake being dead in order to draw coalition troops close enough to them to detonate homicide bombs or draw hidden weapons to try and get just one more soldier before the head off to "paradise." Here's a sample from the story linked above:

Gagging amid the overpowering stench of rotting flesh, the Iraqis had to take special care because of the danger that insurgents have booby-trapped some bodies with explosives. On one stoop, the Iraqis pushed over a corpse and a grenade rolled out of its pocket. The weapon didn't detonate, but Marines quickly hurried the workers away.

Andrew Sullivan has this to say on his blog:

The video is grim enough; and if the marine in question is found guilty of violating rules of conduct, then he should face punishment. But I have to say I cannot stand in judgment of this young man, after what must have been brutal, terrifying days of urban conflict. This is surely what they call "what happens in wartime." It may not be morally defensible; but it is psychologically understandable. Franly, I'm grateful for what this man, half my age, is doing with his fellows in unspeakably terrifying circumstances. Compare his action with Abu Ghraib, and you can see the difference. One a snap judgment in a furious battle context; the other a pre-meditated example of abuse and murder of prisoners in U.S. custody.

In short, war really is hell and we can never ever know what sort of pressure our brave soldiers are experiencing. We most certainly cannot and should not judge the Marine's actions without the most overwhelming evidence of a misdeed.

For a taste of actual barbarity, please see the following from the Times of London:

In the south of Fallujah yesterday, US Marines found the armless, legless body of a blonde woman, her throat slashed and her entrails cut out. Benjamin Finnell, a hospital apprentice with the US Navy Corps, said that she had been dead for a while, but at that location for only a day or two. The woman was wearing a blue dress; her face had been disfigured. It was unclear if the remains were the body of the Irish-born aid worker Margaret Hassan, 59, or of Teresa Borcz, 54, a Pole abducted two weeks ago. Both were married to Iraqis and held Iraqi citizenship; both were kidnapped in Baghdad last month.

US and Iraqi troops have discovered kidnappers’ lairs filled with corpses or emaciated prisoners half-mad with fear, and piles of bodies of men who had refused to fight with the insurgents. As the guerrillas run their last sprint from death, sympathy for their cause is running out among Iraqis.

What do I think of the Marine's actions? Based on the information that we have at this time, I say any world with one less terrorist is a very GOOD world.

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