Dear Randy,

That photo appears in a discontinued Virginia Cavalcade issue. I have kept a 
copy for the Stonewall Brigade Band. It has been packed away with many other 
records, photos, and keepsakes that I collected to December 31, 2005. I see 
no point in finding it or the article -- a comment that you and your 
Virginia historians are welcome to weigh for yourselves, but don't bother me 
with them -- I'm not interested in what you haven't done.

As to the other notes on the current application of our foreign policy: 
Unless you've served three voluntary (two "in-country" -- as brief as they 
may have been) Vietnam tours as I have, you've had your say in last election 
by the only thing that counts in this country -- so far -- the results of 
the ballot.

Since I lost, I claim the right of privilege for the loyal minority to voice 
dissent.

I find it difficult to conceive that life and opportunity in this current 
America yields only circumstances so dire that they hold a pistol to the 
heads of the recruits of the police, fire, linesmen, and, yes, soldiers to 
force them to sign the dotted line.

I suspect that there are a good many that fully appreciate and understand 
that they enjoy because of the voluntary and involuntary sacrifice of a 
sacred few -- it's been that way since the beginning of civilization and it 
will be that way until this species, as all species must, makes itself or 
becomes extinct.

We were right to be in Vietnam and we are right to be in the battle for Iraq 
in the War on Terror. It's been our foreign policy since 1812. The only ones 
that prevent the job from getting done as it should are the "oh, can't we 
just all get along" crowd.

The only outcome that matters for my grandchildren and the survival of their 
North American culture of republicanism is to win, regardless of the cost or 
its righteousness - now, tomorrow, and forever more.

I believe several Virginia signers of the Declaration of Independence said 
about the same thing -- albeit much more eloquently and with much more at 
personal risk.

Boy -- I'm I going to get it!




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Randy Cabell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2007 1:46 PM
Subject: Re: June 6, 1944


> Yes, we would do well to remember our heritage of the 116th Infantry.  It 
> has its roots in the 2nd VA Infantry, CSA which became known as "The 
> Stonewall Brigade."  The 116th (in its earlier unit designation I think) 
> went to Mexico with Pershing just before the US entered WWI, and went to 
> France in 1918.  There is a classic photo somewhere of Will Ruebush 
> leading the Band of the 116th Infantry down Broad Street in Richmond when 
> they returned.  Back about 1988, I walked the beaches of Normandy, saw the 
> monument to the 29th Division, marveled that anybody could scale the rocks 
> at Point-du-hoc, and got a lump in my throat when walking among the 
> crosses at Coville-sur-mer which Richard Dixon calls out.
>
> Units of the 116th, including companies from Winchester  have served in 
> Afghanistan, the local unit losing two men to a roadside IED.  I learned 
> in the paper that the local unit has been mobilized once again, this time 
> for service in Iraq, leaving at the end of this month.  Whether you agree 
> with out current policy in Iraq or not, you gotta applaud those men who 
> are willing to up-root themselves, turn their lives upside down, and serve 
> their country when called upon.
>
> I am guessing that for the past several years, more than 50% of the 
> Virginia National Guard has been in Federal service at any given time, but 
> I have no stats to back it up.  It would be interesting to see what it is, 
> and see how many units have been called up more than one time.
>
> Randy Cabell
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Heritage Society" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2007 12:32 PM
> Subject: [VA-HIST] June 6, 1944
>
>
>> The crosses stand in perfect formation beneath the Normandie sky. It is 
>> the graveyard at Colleville-sur-mer overlooking Omaha Beach where 9000 
>> young Americans came to France on June 6, 1944 and now stay, forever 
>> brave. On that morning, the first to reach the beach were men of Company 
>> A of the 116th Regiment, 29th Infantry Division from Bedford County, 
>> Virginia. Of its 36 men who went to war, 23 died in France, 19 on D-Day, 
>> the highest percentage lost of any community in the United States. Today, 
>> in Bedford, there is a memorial to the D-Day landings. To reach it you 
>> will probably travel on a highway that bisects Virginia, known generally 
>> as Route 29, but it's full name is the 29th Infantry Division Memorial 
>> Highway, a daily reminder of the men who were heroes at Omaha.
>> Richard E. Dixon
>>
>
>
> -- 
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>