I am the American Sailor.

I am the American Sailor;

Hear my voice, America! Though I speak through the mist of 200 years,
my shout for freedom will echo through liberty's halls for many
centuries to come. Hear me speak, for my words are of truth and
justice, and the rights of man. For those ideals I have spilled my
blood upon the world's troubled waters. Listen well, for my time is
eternal - yours is but a moment.

I am the spirit of heroes past and future. I am the American Sailor. I
was born upon the icy shores at Plymouth, rocked upon the waves of the
Atlantic, and nursed in the wilderness of Virginia. I cut my teeth on
New England codfish, and I was clothed in southern cotton. I built
muscle at the halyards of New Bedford whalers, and I gained my sea
legs high atop mizzen of Yankee clipper ships.

Yes, I am the American Sailor, one of the greatest seamen the world
has ever known. The sea is my home and my words are tempered by the
sound of paddle wheels on the Mississippi and the song of whales off
Greenland's barren shore. My eyes have grown dim from the glare of
sunshine on blue water, and my heart is full of star-strewn nights
under the Southern Cross.

My hands are raw from winter storms while sailing down round the Horn,
and they are blistered from the heat of cannon broadside while
defending our nation. I am the American Sailor, and I have seen the
sunset of a thousand distant, lonely lands. I am the American Sailor.
It was I who stood tall beside John Paul Jones as he shouted, "I have
not yet begun to fight!" I fought upon the Lake Erie with Perry, and I
rode with Stephen Decatur into Tripoli harbor to burn Philadelphia.

I met Guerriere aboard Constitution, and I was lashed to the mast with
Admiral Farragut at Mobile Bay. I have heard the clang of Confederate
shot against the sides of Monitor. I have suffered the cold with Peary
at the North Pole, and I responded when Dewey said, "You may fire when
ready Gridley," at Manila Bay. It was I who transported supplies
through submarine infested waters when our soldier's were called "over
there." I was there as Admiral Byrd crossed the South Pole. It was I
who went down with the Arizona at Pearl Harbor, who supported our
troops at Inchon, and patrolled dark deadly waters of the Mekong
Delta.

I am the American Sailor and I wear many faces. I am a pilot soaring
across God's blue canopy and I am a Seabee atop a dusty bulldozer in
the South Pacific. I am a corpsman nursing the wounded in the jungle,
and I am a torpedoman in the Nautilus deep beneath the North Pole. I
am hard and I am strong.

But it was my eyes that filled with tears when my brothers went down
with the Thresher, and it was my heart that rejoiced when Commander
Shepherd rocketed into orbit above the earth. It was I who lanquished
in a Viet Cong prison camp, and it was I who walked upon the moon. It
was I who saved the Stark and the Samuel B. Roberts in the mine
infested waters of the Persian Gulf. It was I who pulled my brothers
from the smoke filled compartments of the Bonefish and wept when my
shipmates died on the Iowa and White Plains. When called again, I was
there, on the tip of the spear for Operations Desert Shield and Desert
Storm.

I am the American Sailor. I am woman, I am man, I am white and black,
yellow, red and brown. I am Jew, Muslim, Christian and Buddhist. I am
Irish, Filipino, African, French, Chinese, and Indian. And my standard
is the outstretched hand of Liberty. Today, I serve around the world,
on land, in air, on and under the sea. I serve proudly, at peace once
again, but with the fervent prayer that I need not be called again.

Tell your children of me. Tell them of my sacrifice, and how my spirit
soars above their country. I have spread the mantle of my nation over
the ocean and I will guard her forever. I am her heritage and yours.

--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.

-Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings.
Oct 5th, 2004 JDL

Derek Lyons wrote:

Tell your children of me. Tell them of my sacrifice, and how my spirit
soars above their country. I have spread the mantle of my nation over
the ocean and I will guard her forever. I am her heritage and yours.



And from the back of the bar came the words: "Hey Popeye, put a cork in
it! We're trying to listen to the game!" :-)

Pat

Derek Lyons wrote:
I am the American Sailor;

[...] I fought upon the Lake Erie with Perry,

That's when the Warhawks wanted to annex Canada, right?

As I recall those savages Tecumseh and his brother, The Prophet were
also being a huge pain in the ass.

--
Hop David
http://clowder.net/hop/index.html

Pat Flannery wrote:
Derek Lyons wrote:

Tell your children of me. Tell them of my sacrifice,
and how my spirit

snipped

And from the back of the bar came the words: "Hey
Popeye, put a cork in
it! We're trying to listen to the game!" :-)

shrugs Wanna bet my applause can drown out your
heckler, Pat?

unplugs TV, grabs remote, runs like hell

"Derek Lyons" wrote in message
...

I am the American Sailor. I am woman, I am man, I am white and black,
yellow, red and brown. I am Jew, Muslim, Christian and Buddhist. I am
Irish, Filipino, African, French, Chinese, and Indian. And my standard
is the outstretched hand of Liberty. Today, I serve around the world,
on land, in air, on and under the sea. I serve proudly, at peace once
again, but with the fervent prayer that I need not be called again.


In honor of my grandfather:

I am the American Sailor, native son of Lebanonese immigrants.
I saw the call of my native country in a time of need.
I served in the Mosquito fleet. I defended her and her allies
on the islands of the Phillipines.
I asked not for what my country could for me, but rather what I could do for
my country.
I am the American Sailor.

Tell your children of me. Tell them of my sacrifice, and how my spirit
soars above their country. I have spread the mantle of my nation over
the ocean and I will guard her forever. I am her heritage and yours.


Thanks to all the Veterans out there, on the seas, on the land or in the
air.

--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.

-Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings.
Oct 5th, 2004 JDL

On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 15:05:35 -0600, Pat Flannery
wrote:

And from the back of the bar came the words: "Hey Popeye, put a cork in
it! We're trying to listen to the game!" :-)

....Actually, in this case, BlutOM is backing up Popeye 110%, spinach
and all. Sorry, Pat, but we yam what we yam.

OM

--

"No ******* ever won a war by dying for | http://www.io.com/~o_m
his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms
poor dumb ******* die for his country." | Human O-Ring Society

- General George S. Patton, Jr

On Fri, 12 Nov 2004 03:41:25 GMT, "Greg D. Moore \(Strider\)"
wrote:

Thanks to all the Veterans out there, on the seas, on the land or in the
air.

....Seconded. Quite a few people at my current contract gig were
Veterans, and were quite taken by surprise and were extremely
appreciative when I wished them a happy Veterans' Day and thanked them
for their service. Half of them noted that in the entire time they'd
worked for the company, nobody upstairs had taken the time to do
anything similar, much less send out a memo.

....However, there is one ominous note to Veterans' Day. In exactly 363
days, the United States Marine Corps will be celebrating their 250th
Birthday. I predict that every bar in the country will be closed for
business the day after, having to clean up after having their
establishments destroyed by thousands of ****faced drunken Jarheads
partying their Ball & Anchors off.

OM

--

"No ******* ever won a war by dying for | http://www.io.com/~o_m
his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms
poor dumb ******* die for his country." | Human O-Ring Society

- General George S. Patton, Jr

Hop David wrote:


That's when the Warhawks wanted to annex Canada, right?


I'm assuming lad... that you are talking about not "Canada"... but _New
Ireland_. :-)

Pat
The Fenian Society

Rhonda Lea Kirk wrote:

shrugs Wanna bet my applause can drown out your
heckler, Pat?



You want to know what he missed? He missed the submariners that went
into the Soviet harbors in the Barent's Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk and
laid down the cable taps...
That may well have been the most daring and dangerous thing that U.S.
submariners ever did, and that stands for a high point in American
submariner service, and a particular high point in the history of the
United State's Navy.
These guys were the very best of the best.
Where the Hell have you been of late, Rhonda? Good to see you back!

Pat

Greg D. Moore (Strider) wrote:

In honor of my grandfather:

I am the American Sailor, native son of Lebanonese immigrants.
I saw the call of my native country in a time of need.
I served in the Mosquito fleet. I defended her and her allies
on the islands of the Phillipines.
I asked not for what my country could for me, but rather what I could do for
my country.
I am the American Sailor.


Now that moved me.
Pat