On this day in 1924, Calvin Coolidge gives a speech. He discusses the mindset of our ancestors as they began their conflict with Great Britain.
They knew that even the smallest infringement on freedom could be a foot in the door for much larger and more egregious violations of our rights. Thus, they didn't want to tolerate any infringements, no matter how small.
“Our forefathers were alert to resist all encroachments upon their rights. If we wish to maintain our rights, we can do no less,” Coolidge concluded.
How far we've fallen? Food for thought for today.
A longer version of the quote is below.
"The Colonists claimed certain rights of self government. They were determined to maintain that principle. The burdens which resulted from the pretensions of King George and his ministers, and the exactions of Parliament, were not of great consequence and could be borne, but the principle which the people declared was of supreme importance. To acquiesce even in minor violations was to admit that a course of action might be taken which would deprive them of the chartered rights of Englishmen and reduce them to mere subjects. . . .
....
They objected to small infractions, which would destroy great principles of liberty. Unless we can maintain the integrity of the courts, where the individual can secure his rights, any kind of tyranny may follow. If the people lose control of the arteries of trade; and the natural sources of mechanical power, the nationalization of all industry could soon be expected. Our forefathers were alert to resist all encroachments upon their rights. If we wish to maintain our rights, we can do no less."
On this day in 1944, a flight nurse is shot down and taken prisoner. Reba Z. Whittle was the only U.S. Army flight nurse to be held as a prisoner of war in the European theater of World War II.
Second Lt. Whittle had logged more than 500 hours of flight time during her months as a flight nurse. She served aboard 40 missions.
Things took a turn for the worse on September 27, 1944. On that day, Whittle and her colleagues from the 813th Aeromedical Evacuation Transportation Squadron were dispatched on a mission to pick up casualties.
They never made it.
The story continues here: https://www.taraross.com/post/tdih-reba-whittle
On this day in 1864, an eagle by the name of “Old Abe” is given to the people of Wisconsin. He would later become the inspiration for the Screaming Eagle on the 101st Airborne Division’s insignia.
Yes! The “Screaming Eagle” was a real bird.
No one knows precisely where Old Abe was born, but we do know that he was captured when he was just an eaglet. Chief Sky of the Flambeau band of Chippewa Indians sold the captured eaglet to a local family.
Needless to say, an eaglet didn’t last long as a family pet.
The story continuees here: https://www.taraross.com/post/tdih-old-abe
At about this time in 2005, a hero receives the Medal of Honor. Tibor “Ted” Rubin had survived imprisonment, both during World War II and the Korean War. “How did I make it?” he mused. “The Lord only knows. . . . there were so many times I was supposed to die over there, you know, and I’m still here. It’s a miracle.”
The Hungarian-born Rubin was just 13 years old when he was seized and taken to the Mauthausen concentration camp during World War II. “Every day so many people were killed,” he remembered. “Bodies piled up God knows how high. We had nothing to look forward to but dying.”
He didn’t die, though. Instead, he was among those liberated by the U.S. Army in May 1945.
FULL STORY: https://www.taraross.com/post/tdih-tibor-rubin-moh
