JOINT SERVICE HONORS COMMAND Monthly Newsletter September, 2013 Volume 0913 STATISTICS: AWARDS AND DECORATIONS: August 2013: During this month, we The following awards or decorations were completed 14 solo Honor Services and 1 presented during the month of August 2013. in support of the Navy for a total of 15 services for the Month of August 2013. THE LEGION OF MERIT RIBBON COL Ken Hendrix CHAPLINS CORNER: PATREOTIC POEM: A Prayer for Soldiers Brave warriors, should fate find us in battle, May our cause be just. May our leaders have clear vision. May our courage not falter. May we be triumphant an earn victory as we Battle of the Flag show mercy to our enemies. May our efforts bring lasting peace. May our by Gary Huddleston sacrifice be always appreciated by those we serve. May we return to our loved A protest raged on a courthouse lawn, ones unharmed. Should we be harmed, Round a makeshift stage they charged on, may our wounds heal. Should we perish in the struggle, may God embrace us and Fifteen hundred or more they say, find for us a place in His Kingdom. Had come to burn a flag that day. A boy held up the folded flag, Cursed it, and called it a dirty rag. 1 An old man pushed through the angry crowd, And the boy who had called it a "dirty rag", With a rusty shotgun shouldered proud. Handed the old soldier the folded flag. His uniform jacket was old and tight, So the battle of the flag this day was won He had polished each button shiny and bright. By a tired old soldier with a rusty gun, He crossed that stage with a soldier's grace, Who for one last time, had to show to some, Until he and the boy stood face to face. This flag may fade, yet the colors don't run! "Freedom of Speech" the old man said, UPCOMING EVENTS: "Is worth dying for, good men are dead, San Joaquin Valley National Cemetery: So you can stand on this courthouse lawn, And talk us down from dusk to dawn. The next full day of services at the National But before any flag gets burned today, Cemetery is set for Thursday, 19 September 2013. This old man is going to have his say!" NEXT DRILL: "My father died on a foreign shore, In a war they said would end all wars. The next drill will be on Wednesday 18 September 2013 at 7 PM at the Clovis Veterans But Tommy and I wasn't even full grown, Memorial Building. Uniform is class B. Before we fought in a war of our own. And Tommy died on Iwo Jima's beach, RECRUITING: In the shadow of a hill he couldn't quite reach The Recruiting Team will be at Wal-Mart on Where five good men raised this flag so high, Saturday 7 October 2013 from 0730 to 1530. That the whole world could see it fly!" WEBSITE: "I got this bum leg that I still drag, We have made additional improvements to the Fighting for this same old flag. website. Please visit the site at www.JSHC.info. Now there's but one shot in this old gun, Be sure to REFRESH the screens so that the So now it's time to decide which one, changes will appear. Which one of you will follow our lead, COMMAND STAFF: To stand and die for what you believe? Brigadier General Dean Murphy, Acting National Commander 559-448-6551 For as sure as there is a rising sun, [email protected] You'll burn in Hell 'fore this flag burns, son" Now this riot never came to pass. Colonel Dale Neumann, Chief of Staff, The crowd got quiet and that can of gas, California Brigade. 559-446-0440 [email protected] Got set aside as they walked away To talk about what they had heard this day. 2 Colonel Ken Hendrix, Chief of Staff, National McAuliffe glanced at the message and said, Command, 559-960-3280 "Aw, nuts!" When he told his commanders he [email protected] didn’t know what answer to send, Lt. Col. Harry Kinnard said ‘That first crack you made Lieutenant Colonel Joel Hohenshelt, 1st would be hard to beat, General." Everyone Battalion Commander, 559-351-651 laughed as a sergeant typed up the succinct [email protected] response: "To the German Commander: Nuts! The American Commander." A MOMENT IN HISTORY: Between this stoic reply, Patton’s troops from “Nuts” the south, and a change in the weather that allowed air reinforcement the following day, the 101st was able to hold Bastogne. Their Gen. Anthony Clement McAuliffe is best remembered for uttering a single word -- no victory resulted in the first full-Division mean feat, considering that even the shortest Presidential Distinguished Unit Citation. Bible verse has two. Commanding the U.S. Army’s beleaguered and surrounded 101st McAuliffe’s actions at Bastogne helped assure Airborne Division during World War II’s Battle the final defeat of the Germans. Gen. McAuliffe of the Bulge, McAuliffe received a German continued to serve on active duty, including surrender ultimatum. "Nuts!" he replied, and assignments as Head of the Army Chemical Corps, Commander, 7th Army, and became a lasting symbol of American courage and determination under fire. Commander-In-Chief of the U.S. Army, Europe, until his 1956 retirement. He died in A 1918 West Point graduate, McAuliffe held Washington, D.C. in 1975 and is buried at various field artillery positions before World Arlington National Cemetery. War II. On the eve of D-Day, McAuliffe jumped with the first wave as a commander of division artillery, although he had never received formal parachute training. In December 1944, during the siege of Bastogne, Belgium, McAuliffe was acting commander of the 101st in Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor’s absence. The Americans had been holding the Belgian town "at all costs," and on Dec. 22, Gen. McAuliffe received the encouraging news that the 4th Armored Division was beginning its drive north to relieve the 101st. Later that morning, members of the division’s glider regiment saw four Germans coming up the road carrying a white flag. Everyone hoped they were offering surrender. Instead, they presented two pages demanding the Americans’ surrender: "To the USA Commander of the encircled town of Bastogne. .There is only one possibility. .the honorable surrender of the encircled town." 3 .