Por la razon o por la fuerza.
"By reason or by force."
-Chilean national motto
(more of a motto, but oh well)


It is the soldier, not the poet, who gives us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the reporter, who gives us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who gives us freedom to protest. It is the soldier who serves beneath the flag, who salutes the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who gives the demonstrator the right to burn the flag.
- Stephen Ambrose


We have a thousand reasons for failure but not a single excuse.
- Rudyard Kipling


Pleasure is what nearly all cavalry training involves. It is the closest a man can get, as far as I know, to flying, and that is something people long to be able to do.
- Xenophon, How to be a Good Cavalry Commander


Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.
-Collin Powell (when asked about U.S. empire building by the archbishop of Canterbury)


If a man hasn't discovered something that he would die for, he isn't fit to live.
- Martin Luther King, 23 Jun 1963


It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.
- Dolores Ibarruri


War is cruelty. There's no use trying to reform it, the crueler it is the sooner it will be over.
- William Tecumseh Sherman


It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather, we should thank God that such men lived.
- General George Patton



hopefully at least a couple of these will be new to you.

Most of those were new, but I think that I have some of them on the site.

But thanks a lot anyway.

I liked the one from Stephan Ambrose especially...i was saddened to hear of his death, but i'm glad to see their are others who he impacted. Personally the guy completely turned me onto the study of history, as a high schooler a few years ago i had no interest, that is until i picked up Band of Brothers.

Anyway thanks for the cool quote hadn't heard it before.

Yea, I actually never knew Stephen said that quote about the soldier, Im glad I finally know where it's from. Very popular with the POW/MIA supporters.

Yeah, one of my sergeants really loves that quote, and it kind of struck a nerve with me. Glad it's going to use with you all.

It's actually not Stephen Ambrose who said that.

It's part of a poem By Charles M. Province, called "It's the Soldier".

The rest goes like this:

A protest raged on a courthouse lawn,
Round a makeshift stage they charged on,
Fifteen hundred or more they say,
Had come to burn a Flag that day.
A boy held up the folded Flag,
Cursed it, and called it a dirty rag.
An OLD MAN pushed through the angry crowd,
With a rusty shotgun shouldered proud.

His uniform jacket was old and tight,
He had polished each button, shiny and bright.
He crossed that stage with a soldier's grace,
Until he and the boy stood face to face.

"FREEDOM OF SPEECH", the OLD MAN said,
"Is worth dying for, good men are dead,
So you can stand on this courthouse lawn,
And talk us down from dusk to dawn,
But before any Flag gets burned today,
This OLD MAN IS GOING TO HAVE HIS SAY!!

My father died on a foreign shore,
In a war they said would end all war.
But Tommy and I wasn't even full grown,
Before we fought in a war of our own.
And Tommy died on Iwo Jima's beach,
In the shadow of a hill he couldn't quite reach
Where five good men raised this Flag so high,
That the WHOLE WORLD COULD SEE IT FLY.

I got this bum leg that I still drag,
Fighting for this same old Flag.
Now there's but one shot in this old gun,
So now it's time to decide which one,
Which one of you will follow our lead,
To stand and die for what you believe?
For as sure as there is a rising sun,
You'll burn before this Flag burns, son.

Now this riot never came to pass.
The crowd got quiet and that can of gas,
Got set aside as they walked away
To talk about what they had heard this day.
And the boy who had called it a "dirty rag",
Handed the OLD SOLDIER the folded Flag.

So the battle of the Flag this day was won
By a tired OLD SOLDIER with a rusty gun,
Who for one last time, had to show to some,
THIS FLAG MAY FADE, YET THESE COLORS DON'T RUN.

I like that poem

HOOAH!


Thanks for the correction, Redleg.

Originally Posted by Redleg

It's actually not Stephen Ambrose who said that.

It's part of a poem By Charles M. Province, called "It's the Soldier".

.......

^to make a long message short

Where did you find that????

Hi CrazyC...




Search for Charles M. and "it's the soldier" on google, and you should be able to find the poem..