With all the excitement and countless stories and tid-bits of President Bush's nomination of Judge John Roberts to SCOTUS, I failed to pay my utmost respect towards two heroes/cultural icons of mine.
Gen. William Westmoreland
1914-2005
First of all, I'd like to thank Gen. Westmoreland for his service to this great nation as the commanding general of our forces in South Vietnam and as the Chief of Staff to the Army. Even though he was pilloried by the liberals who through hated our involvement in the fight against communism in Vietnam and was restrained from fighting the NVA/VC on his own terms by LBJ and Secretary of Defense McNamara, General Westmoreland continued to keep up his patriotic stand and fought the good fight to ensure freedom in South-East Asia. As the son of a Vietnam vet, I was raised to respect the brave men - whether they were enlisted or of the officer core - who risked their lives and careers to provide a little bit of freedom to people who faced a bleak future at the hands of Ho Chi Min's minions. No matter what the press and historians might say or imply, Gen. Westmoreland was a fighting man's general, though constrained by his bosses, continued to fight his damndest to provide the much needed firepower and autonomy to ensure they could at least have a fightin' chance. Even after fighting a war with one arm tied behond his back, Westmoreland continued to embody the spirit of a soldier doing his duty, when he noted to South Carolina's newspaper The State "I was a soldier and carried out the mission given to me by the commander in chief, who was president of the United States." So once again, thanks for your service.
James Doohan "Scotty"
1920-2005
And my other cultural icon I'd like to pay my respect to that great Scottish engineer of the USS Enterprise. It seems that Scotty finally got the dilithium crystals straight for his great trip in the final frontier. I'll never forget Scotty yelling "I'm givin' 'er ah she's got capt'n." Oh, he also was one of the many Cadain veterans of WWII who helped destroy Hitler's "Fortress Europe" with their landing on Juno Beach on D-Day. I wish there were more actors like Doohan than the current crop.
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