November 26, 2012

"Shifty" By Chuck Yeager


"Shifty" By Chuck Yeager

Shifty volunteered for the airborne in WWII and served with Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 101st Airborne Infantry. 
  
If you've seen Band of Brothers on HBO or the History Channel, you know Shifty. His character appears in all 10 episodes, and Shifty himself is interviewed in several of them.

I met Shifty in the Philadelphia airport several years ago. I didn't know who he was at the time. I just saw an elderly gentleman having trouble reading his ticket.

I offered to help, assured him that he was at the right gate, and noticed the "Screaming Eagle," the symbol of the 101st Airborne, on his hat.

Making conversation, I asked him if he'd been in the 101st Airborne or if his son was serving. He said quietly that he had been in the 101st. I thanked him for
his service, then asked him when he served, and how many jumps he made.

Quietly and humbly, he said "Well, I guess I signed up in 1941 or so, and was in until sometime in 1945 ..." at which point my heart skipped.

At that point, again, very humbly, he said "I made the 5 training jumps at Toccoa, and then jumped into Normandy . . . do you know where Normandy is?"

At this point my heart stopped.

I told him "yes, I know exactly where Normandy is, and I know what D-Day was." At that point he said "I also made a second jump into Holland ,
into Arnhem ." I was standing with a genuine war hero ... and then I realized that it was June, just after the anniversary of D-Day.

I asked Shifty if he was on his way back from France , and he said "Yes... And it's real sad because, these days, so few of the guys are left, and those that are, 
can't make the trip." My heart was in my throat and I didn't know what to say.

I helped Shifty get onto the plane and then realized he was back in coach while I was in First Class. I sent the flight attendant back to get him and said that
I wanted to switch seats. When Shifty came forward, I got up out of the seat and told him I wanted him to have it, that I'd take his in coach.

He said "No, son, you enjoy that seat. Just knowing that there are still some who remember what we did and who still care is enough to make an old man
very happy." His eyes were filling up as he said it.

And mine are brimming up now as I write this.

Shifty died on Jan. l7 after fighting cancer.

There was no parade. No big event in Staples Center . No wall-to-wall, back-to-back 24x7 news coverage. No weeping fans on television.

And that's not right! Let's give Shifty his own memorial service, online, in our own quiet way.

Please forward by email to everyone you know. Especially to the veterans.

Rest in peace, Shifty.
Chuck Yeager

"SHIFTY" - an incredible American hero!
SHIFTY DIED JAN 17, 2011..........May God rest his soul.
Please do me a favor and pass this on so that untold thousands can read it.
We owe no less to our REAL heroes....

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Copied from e-mail I received, I don't think Chuck will mind



November 19, 2012

Let's avoid the blame for fiscal cliff


OK, first of all I am a very conservative voter who considers himself a conservative RINO. I vote republican because I won’t ever again vote for an independent that will take a vote away from the republican candidate.

That said: I think the argument can be made that we should let the taxes go up on high income earners only if we exclude S corporations. It is small business that we are trying to protect. When democrats cry about this one, their hypocrisy can be exposed. It will suck for the high-income individual, but I don’t think this will hurt the economy much; most in that income category pay most of their taxes in capitol gains anyway.

The democrats won’t separate the S corporations from individuals because they want this move to be a surreptitious tax upon middle-class business owners, yes we must protect these entrepreneurs. I would hope that if we let this tax go up to 39% on high earning  “INDIVIDUALS” and excluded S corporations that our smarter constituents would understand this tactic if sold properly.

The concept of cutting taxes to increase revenue is impossible for the stupid to understand.  The democrats cater to the stupid, lie to the stupid, then mobilize the stupid against us. Tough luck for the USA that the uninformed have an equal vote as the informed.

In a perfect world I’d like to hold our ground, and we could, but since a majority of the American public is proven themselves stupid and gullible, I think without throwing the gullible a bone it will kill us in 2014 and 2016 if we leave ourselves open to be blamed for being unreasonable. I think it would be reckless politics to take the blame for us going off the fiscal cliff.