Collins Report » Iwo Jima http://www.collinsreport.net The Collins Report Fri, 23 Jul 2010 12:00:55 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Iwo Jima Marines: is still showing today’s “youth voters” what real patriotism means http://www.collinsreport.net/2010/02/19/iwo-jima-marines-is-still-showing-today%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%9cyouth-voters%e2%80%9d-what-real-patriotism-means/ http://www.collinsreport.net/2010/02/19/iwo-jima-marines-is-still-showing-today%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%9cyouth-voters%e2%80%9d-what-real-patriotism-means/#comments Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:51:35 +0000 Coach http://www.collinsreport.net/2010/02/19/iwo-jima-marines-is-still-showing-today%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%9cyouth-voters%e2%80%9d-what-real-patriotism-means/ By Kevin “Coach” Collins

In the summer of 1965 Marine Corps Boot camp training included the boast “If it weren’t for the Marine Corps you’d be speaking Japanese.” It was true then and it is still true today.

Sixty five years ago waves and waves of eighteen and nineteen year old Marines, waded ashore Iwo Jima to defeat the Japanese and win the war in the Pacific on American terms. They fought to keep us from being the slaves of the Japanese and being forced to end up “speaking Japanese.”

By mid February 1945 Franklin Roosevelt knew Americans were running out of patience and money for the war against a country thousands of miles away and on its last legs anyway.

Some thought we should make peace with the Japanese and cut our losses. The only resource America had left was a Marine Corps largely filled with tough determined teenagers. They were leaders in their communities. They were from big cities and tiny towns. They were a generation of Americans that understood it had to “put aside childish ways” man-up and fight. They were ordinary men who had to face a great challenge and win because they were all America had left.

Today those young Marines are grandfathers, but they are still standing up to defend American freedoms. Unlike their foolish grandchildren who voted for Barack Obama the men who hit the beach that day don’t support Obama and never have.

At nineteen they were wiser than most of their grandchildren ever will be. They didn’t act on emotion; they had no time for anything but reality. Their hope and change was hoping to go home alive without whining.

If you meet a Marine Iwo Jima veteran, greet him with a grateful smile. Because of him and so many others you don’t “speak Japanese.”

Iwo Jima ancient history to today’s “youth vote”

Unfortunately we won’t hear much about Iwo Jima today. To the politically correct media it’s ancient history. There will be a few stories about how small groups of old Marines have gathered to mark the day, but probably not much more. These days the Japanese are one of our largest creditors so we dare not mention their barbarous conduct during World War II.

The 19 year olds of Feb. 19, 1945 that are still with us are all over 83 now but there are fewer of them each year. The passing years have not diminished their achievement one bit.

Time moves on and no one knows this better than Iwo Jima’s nineteen year old men, but they still understand what is real and what is fake. They know our young people have done damage to America beyond what all of our previous enemies could only dream of doing, but they will stand firm anyway.

Mark this day and celebrate the achievements of those brave men. Today they are still trying to give us a chance to live free. Let each one of us resolve to be worthy of the sacrifices made for us at Iwo Jima. Let us cherish the gift they gave us and continue to give us. And let us always use our freedoms wisely.

What did you do to be worthy of your American freedoms yesterday? What will you do today and what do you plan to do tomorrow?

Yesterday’s Rasmussen Presidential Index had Obama at -10

This day in history February 19
1945: United States Marines stormed the beaches of Iwo Jima to defeat the Japanese and end the war in the Pacific on American terms.

Have you read this week’s “Betcha didn’t know this..” page? It’s loaded with interesting little “bite size” items you’re bound to enjoy.

Comments on this or any other Collins Report essay can be sent to kcoachc “at” gmail.com

]]> http://www.collinsreport.net/2010/02/19/iwo-jima-marines-is-still-showing-today%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%9cyouth-voters%e2%80%9d-what-real-patriotism-means/feed/ 0 Iwo Jima: when the real “youth voters” stepped forward http://www.collinsreport.net/2009/02/19/iwo-jima-when-the-real-%e2%80%9cyouth-voters%e2%80%9d-stepped-forward/ http://www.collinsreport.net/2009/02/19/iwo-jima-when-the-real-%e2%80%9cyouth-voters%e2%80%9d-stepped-forward/#comments Thu, 19 Feb 2009 12:42:28 +0000 Coach http://www.collinsreport.net/2009/02/19/iwo-jima-when-the-real-%e2%80%9cyouth-voters%e2%80%9d-stepped-forward/ By Kevin “Coach” Collins
Sixty four years ago today waves of incredibly brave Marines swept onto the beaches of Iwo Jima to take it from the Japanese and destroy their dreams of ruling the world.
Iwo Jima was the penultimate battle of the war against Japan, but in many ways its importance overshadows the battle for Okinawa a few months later.
By early 1945 both Franklin Roosevelt and the American people were worn out by three years of constant two front war. Many Americans might not realize it, but there was a growing sentiment in our country that since we’d beaten Italy, and were finishing off Germany, we should let the Japanese surrender as well. We didn’t know the Japanese then as we do now.
Roosevelt needed a victory to convince the American people to continue to fund the Pacific War.
The job fell to the Marines who by then had a battle ready force with an average age of 19 which meant they had joined the Corps after seeing the un-censored pictures of dead Marines floating in the waters off Guadalcanal.
That generation of “youth voters” weren’t allowed to vote in an election booth so they voted in a recruiter’s booth. They didn’t hide behind empty slogans about “change” to do their duty as they saw it. They stepped up and offered their lives so America would continue to be free. Sadly many of those young Marines lost their lives to fulfill their mission.
Today that generation’s grandchildren have taken their sacrifices and stepped on them. They have willingly, if unknowingly, trampled on the very freedoms their grandfather’s stormed Iwo Jima to defend and preserve.
Today we DON’T speak Japanese because of that generation of Marines, but we will be living as the slaves of the state the Japanese envisioned for us.
Unfortunately we won’t hear much about Iwo Jima today. There will be a few stories about how small groups of old Marines have gathered to mark the day. Those 19 year olds of Feb. 19, 1945 that are still with us are all over 82 now, but they understood what was real then and the ones I know still do. They know our young people have done damage to America that all of our previous enemies could only dream of doing.
Mark this day along with those brave men. They gave us another chance to continue to live free. Let each one of us resolve to use our freedom wisely.

To comment on this or other Collins Report essays write: kcoachc “at” gmail.com

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