At a time when our president and other politicians tend to
apologize for our country's prior actions, here's a refresher on how
some of our former patriots handled negative comments about our country.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
JFK'S Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, was in France in the early
60's when De Gaulle decided to pull out of NATO. De Gaulle said he
wanted all US military out of France as soon as possible.
Rusk responded, "Does that include those who are buried here?"
De Gaulle did not respond.
You could have heard a pin drop..
~~~~~~~~~~~~
When in England at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was
asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an
example of 'empire building' by George Bush.
He answered by saying, "Over the years, the United States has
sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for
freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked
for in return is enough to bury those that did not return."
You could have heard a pin drop..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There was a conference in France where a number of
international engineers were taking part, including French and American.
During a break, one of the French engineers came back into the room
saying, "Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent
an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does
he intend to do, bomb them?"
A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: "Our carriers
have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people;
they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to
shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed
3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand
gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a
dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and
from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships; how many does France
have?"
You could have heard a pin drop..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that
included Admirals from the U.S., English, Canadian, Australian and
French Navies. At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with
a large group of officers that included personnel from most of those
countries.
Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their
drinks but a French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans
learn many languages, Americans learn only English. He then asked, "Why
is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather
than speaking French?"
Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied, "Maybe it's
because the Brit's, Canadians, Aussie's and Americans arranged it so you
wouldn't have to speak German."
You could have heard a pin drop..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AND THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE...
Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by
plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport
in his carry on.
"You have been to France before, monsieur?" the customs officer
asked sarcastically.
Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously.
"Then you should know enough to have your passport ready."
The American said, "The last time I was here, I didn't have to
show it."
"Impossible. Americans always have to show their passports on
arrival in France !"
The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look.. Then
he quietly explained, ''Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day
in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find a single
Frenchmen to show a passport to."
You could have heard a pin drop..
