Photo Credit: Daily Mail A senator’s town hall meeting in Portland, Oregon was called off early on Saturday after anti-police and minimum-wage-hike protesters shouted down a 100-year-old U.S. Navy veteran’s medal ceremony.
Shouting ‘Hands up, don’t shoot’ and ‘I can’t breathe,’ more than 100 mostly African-American activists jousted verbally with hecklers from the audience who were assembled for a dialog with Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden – and to honor Dario Raschio.
When the ensuing chaos reached a fever pitch, the centenarian Raschio took the microphone to scold the protesters.
‘Give me a chance,’ the soft-spoken vet said. ‘Let’s show a little respect for this occasion.’
‘God bless America. And you people who are here for a cause, whatever it might be – show respect to Senator Wyden,’ he urged, bringing an eruption of applause from the audience. (Read more about what the 100 year old veteran says HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-01-06 00:57:052016-04-11 11:03:56100 Year Old Veteran Tells Anti-Cop Protesters to Show Respect (+video)
Photo Credit: FOX59.comAn elderly veteran and his wife say there’s “absolutely no way” the flagpole outside their Indiana home is coming down, despite threats from a homeowners association — and a local prosecutor intends to back them in court if necessary.
Bob and Judy Willits insist they intend to fight multiple letters from the Fieldstone Homeowners Association regarding the American and POW/MIA flags outside their Greenfield home. The couple was first told in early September that the freestanding patriotic display wasn’t welcome since it wasn’t mounted to the home.
“We have absolutely no plans to take it down,” Judy Willits told FoxNews.com on Tuesday. “It would be kind of a bloody situation if we had to take the flag down at this point.”
Judy Willits said her 82-year-old husband served four years during the Korean War and now suffers from Parkinson’s disease, as well as a lung ailment that limits his mobility. She said they wanted to show their devotion to the country and sense of community when they first put up the flags around July Fourth.
“He’s paid his price,” she said. “He doesn’t deserve this kind of treatment. And we never thought this would be a problem.”
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2014-11-03 02:27:532016-04-11 11:04:12Flag Flap: Indiana Veteran, Wife Battle Homeowners Association Over Old Glory
Photo Credit: WNDCBS News correspondent Holly Williams was escorted into Syria on Sunday by Kurdish fighters engaged in a brutal war against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
The Kurds are out-gunned and out-manned, but Williams discovered that one of the fighters who has joined their ranks is an American volunteer.
“I figured if I came over here more Americans and other people from other countries would come here,” Jeremy Woodard, a security guard from Meridian, Mississippi, told Williams.
Woodard served with the U.S. military until 2012, having seen tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
A month ago, after he was angered by news reports about atrocities committed by ISIS, he paid his own way to Turkey and was smuggled into the war zone.
Photo Credit: CNNJim “Pee Wee” Martin acted like he’d been here before, like jumping from a plane is as easy as falling off a log.
Maybe that’s because he had — 70 years ago.
“I’m feeling fine,” Martin told reporters moments after landing in a French field. “… It was wonderful, absolutely wonderful.”
Martin was part of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division that parachuted down over Utah Beach in their bid to retake France and, eventually, the rest of Europe from Nazi Germany. They actually touched down in enemy-controlled territory a night before what’s referred to as D-Day.
His jump Thursday in the same area was different and — despite his being 93 years old now — a whole lot easier.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2014-06-07 03:42:082016-04-11 11:08:58WATCH: 70 Years Later, D-Day Vet Jim ‘Pee Wee’ Martin Jumps Again
North Korea freed an 85-year-old retired American soldier on Saturday after detaining him for more than a month for crimes it said he committed during the Korean War six decades ago.
The veteran, Merrill E. Newman, flew to China from North Korea in the morning. Hours later he left on a United Airlines flight to San Francisco to be reunited with his family, sources at Beijing airport said.
North Korea’s official KCNA news agency earlier said he was being deported on humanitarian grounds and because he had admitted to his wrongdoing and apologized.
“I’m very glad to be on my way home,” Newman told Japanese reporters as he arrived at Beijing airport. “And I appreciate the tolerance the DPRK government has given to me to be on my way. I feel good, I feel good. I want to go home to see my wife.”
The DPRK – Democratic People’s Republic of Korea – is the official name of North Korea, one of the world’s most isolated and unpredictable states.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-12-07 01:47:352013-12-07 01:47:35North Korea Frees U.S. Korean War Veteran After Seven Weeks
Photo Credit: CNN The U.S. government pleaded Saturday for North Korean authorities to release 85-year-old Merrill Newman, with a spokeswoman saying officials are “deeply concerned” about him and another American being held in the isolated East Asian nation.
“Given Mr. Newman’s advanced age and health conditions, we urge (North Korea) to release Mr. Newman so he may return home and reunite with his family,” said National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden.
Washington’s plea came on the day North Korean state media released print stories and video showing what they called Newman’s “apology.” University of California, Berkeley professor Steven Weber characterized it as “highly scripted political theater.”
So how did an elderly retired financial consultant and Korean War veteran become the central figure in an international dispute? Why is there such animosity still tied to a conflict, the Korean War, that ended six decades ago? And why is this all unfolding now?
Weber, a former consultant to the U.S. Commission on National Security, has a theory: “They are trying to get the Western media to pay attention.”
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-12-01 00:25:562016-04-11 11:13:21U.S. Government Urges North Korea to Release 85-year-old American War Vet
California Man Pulled Off Plane in North Korea, Detained, Son Says
By Chelsea J. Carter, CNN
An 85-year-old American man on an organized tour of North Korea was pulled off a departing plane in Pyongyang just minutes before it was to depart, the man’s son told CNN on Wednesday.
The family has had no contact with Merrill Newman of Palo Alto, California, since he was detained on October 26, his son Jeff Newman said.
“This is a misunderstanding. My father is a (Korean War) veteran and wanted to see the country and culture he has been interested in for years,” Jeff Newman said. “He arranged this with a travel agent that was recommended and said was approved by the North Korean government for travel of foreigners. He had all the proper visas.”
The U.S. State Department is working to resolve the matter with North Korea’s top ally, China. Ambassador Glyn Davies, the U.S. Special Representative for North Korean Policy, met in Beijing for several hours on Thursday with his Chinese counterpart.
“We are working very hard … to try to move this issue along,” Davies said, following the session. “We certainly think that North Korea should think long and hard about (this) and understand that for the United States this is a matter of core concern for us.”
Read more from this story HERE.
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Photo Credit: GOH CHAI HIN/AFP/Getty U.S. Issues Harshest Travel Warning in 18 Years Against North Korea
by Max Fisher
The State Department has long cautioned Americans about visiting North Korea, but on Tuesday it went a big step further, issuing a blanket warning against all American travel to the country. This was the first such State Department warning since North Korea began allowing American tourists in 1995, immediately raising the question: why?
The travel warning cited, somewhat cryptically, “the risk of arbitrary arrest and detention of U.S. citizens in North Korea.” It noted that two Americans traveling on valid visas have been previously arrested. But neither of those was especially recent. Eddie Jun Yong-su was arrested in November 2010, allegedly for illegal missionary work, and released in March 2011. Kenneth Bae was arrested in November 2012 on similar charges and is still being held.
The travel warning does not explain what, if anything, has happened since last November that led the State Department to elevate its warning. A State Department spokesperson said that they could not comment due to U.S. privacy laws but emphasized that travel warnings of this severity are typically in response to “chronic” threats to U.S. citizens. Some early, unconfirmed reports are emerging that an elderly American man may have been detained.
A rising number of Americans visits North Korea every year on heavily orchestrated, state-monitored tours, a source of hard currency for the government there. The vast majority travel without incident. But, as NKNews.org editor Chad O’Carroll explained earlier today, the potentially lucrative business has attracted new tourist companies, some of which have little experience with North Korea’s complex and highly sensitive restrictions. A source in the North Korean tourism industry suggested to O’Carroll, “Tourists traveling with some of the newest companies could be more likely to unwillingly fall afoul of North Korean laws.”
A little before noon, U.S. Eastern Time, the San Jose Mercury News reported that an 85-year-old man from Palo Alto “has been detained in North Korea for more than three weeks” after North Korean authorities removed him from the plane that was to fly him out of the country. The report identifies the man as Merrill Newman, which is significant, as previously arrested Americans have been of Korean descent. The story also quotes a State Department spokesperson as declining to confirm or deny the story and saying only, “We are aware of reports that a U.S. citizen was detained in North Korea.”
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-11-21 03:13:272016-04-11 11:13:52U.S. Korean War Veteran Arrested in North Korea (+video)
Photo Credit: WND A Stockton, Calif., hospital has suspended a 10-year employee because he included “God Bless America” in the signature line of his emails, even though he obeyed an order to removed the offending phrase.
Boots Hawks, a military veteran, returned to work Nov. 6 at Dameron Hospital to find lock combinations and his computer password had been changed, according to Pacific Justice Institute, or PJI, which is representing him.
“Rarely do we see something as shocking as supervisors placing a hard-working military veteran on leave right before Veterans’ Day for saying something patriotic,” said PJI President Brad Dacus.
“The hospital’s actions were outrageous and illegal. We expect a swift apology and full restoration of Mr. Hawks’ rights,” he said.
The hospital did not respond to a WND request for comment.
Photo Credit: WND Two military chaplains are suing Eric Shinseki, secretary of the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, or VA, for allegedly being harassed and drummed out of a training and placement program because of their Christian faith.
Chaplains Major Steven Firtko, U.S. Army (Retired) and Lieutenant Commander Dan Klender, U.S. Navy, claim they were mocked, scolded and threatened for their faith while enrolled in the San Diego VA-DOD Clinical Pastoral Education Center program, which trains and distributes chaplains to military and VA medical centers in the San Diego area.
According to their lawsuit, Firtko and Klender allege the Center’s supervisor, Ms. Nancy Dietsch, a VA employee, derided them in classrooms and even had one of them dismissed for failing to renounce his Christian beliefs.
For example, on Sept. 24, 2012, the lawsuit claims, during a classroom discussion, Dietsch asked Firtko what he “believed faith was.”
Firtko responded by quoting Hebrews 11:1 – “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Photo Credit: Fox News After nearly being overlooked, and according to some accounts intentionally forgotten, Army Capt. William Swenson received the Medal of Honor at an emotional White House ceremony Tuesday for his heroic actions during the 2009 Battle of Ganjgal in eastern Afghanistan.
Ganjgal was one of the bloodiest battles of the 12-year war. Ambushed by the Taliban, coalition forces were pinned down for nine hours. The fight ended with five U.S. deaths, 10 Afghan army deaths and over two-dozen coalition wounded.
Late Tuesday, Fox News confirmed reports that Swenson, who since leaving the Army in 2011 has spent much of his time in the wilderness of Washington state, has asked the Army to return him to active duty — a rare request for a Medal of Honor recipient. An Army spokesman said, “We are reviewing his request and processing it within established policy.”
The ceremony Tuesday marked only the second time in half a century that the nation’s highest award for valor has been given to two survivors of the same battle. In 2011, Marine Sgt. Dakota Meyer, who fought alongside Swenson, received the same medal for his actions at Ganjgal.
But Swenson’s battle didn’t end in Ganjgal. After the battle, he bitterly complained about incompetence in the ranks, suggesting to Army investigators and reporters that his commanders decided the political risk of civilian casualties outweighed the need to protect the lives of Americans.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-10-16 00:37:452016-04-11 11:16:19Afghan War Vet Awarded Medal of Honor, Seeks to Return to Active Duty
