Veterans day

I don't have a day off of work. Who gets a day off work? I demand an application.

Ok a day off for some not you or me.

Ok, in all seriousness...

Yeah Veterans!

On Veterans day, I always reflect on a story my grandfather told me about getting shot at during WWII.

He said he and a buddy were in a foxhole sharing a cig when the bullets started flying... he was so damn scared he dropped his cigarrete out of his mouth and it took him two whole minutes to realize his pants were on fire, at which point he jumped up out of the foxhole and began rolling around in the snow to put his pants out, praying he wouldn't get shot, and rolled back into the manhole with a big burnt patch on the leg and ass of his pants.

His company commander saw him the next day and said 'hell of a fart, eh, son?'

God bless our veterans, and veterans everywhere.

Cycloptichorn

Nice to see we've got a few threads remembering our vets here.

Great story! My grandfather was drafted at age 35, and his brother at 40.

My family has a long history in American wars. From the war of 1812 forward all wars including Iraqi freedom. When I think about the different men and women I have a huge amount of pride knowing that they fought for me.

1812? That IS a long history.

We've had a member of my family in every war since WWI (I take that back; noone is currently serving), but 1812?!!?!@? I admire your geneological skills!

Cycloptichorn

I can't find anyone in America before that on either side. But there were a lot of British soldiers with my surname, so who knows they may have been on the other side.

My grandfather (a WWII vet) recently passed away. He was ill off and on for most of his life as a direct result of his military service.

Shortly after his death, President Bush sent a plaque and a letter to my grandmother expressing his thanks for my grandfather's service (SOP, I know), but how I wish my grandfather had seen it. He would have been so proud!

To the veterans:

EIRE ABU!!!

Ireland and the American Revolution:

Irish Immigrants who Fought for America's Freedom

Commodore John Barry in the Revolutionary War:

The U.S. Navy's Irish-born Founding Father

Timothy Murphy, Frontier Rifleman:

Revolutionary War Marksman at Saratoga

The Volunteers of Ireland:

Not All Irishmen Sided With the Patriots

Irish at The Alamo

Davy Crockett's Valiant Irish Dozen

Thomas Francis Meagher's Irish Brigade

Parent Unit of the 'Fighting 69th' New York Regiment

The Irish Brigade Monument at Antietam

Irish Who Fell on the Civil War's Bloodiest Day

Colonel Michael Corcoran's Irish Legion

The Union's 'Other' Irish Brigade in the Civil War

General Philip Sheridan

From Civil War Hero to Indian Fighter

Corporal Michael Corcoran's Forgotten Medal of Honor

An Irish American Veteran Pays Homage to a Hero of the Indian Wars

Irish-born Medal of Honor Recipients

127 Honored For Bravery during the Civil War

Irish in the Confederate Army

Generals, Units and a Chaplain

General Patrick Cleburne

A Confederate Officer from Co. Cork

Eight Alabama Emerald Guard

An Irish Company in Confederate Service

The Irish at The Little Bighorn

7th Cavalry Troopers Who Fell with Custer

Captain Myles Keogh

An Irish-born Officer Who Died with Custer

Garryowen, Montana

Named After the 7th Cavalry's Irish Marching Song

Gunnery Sgt. Daniel Joseph Daly, U.S. Marine Corps

Double Medal of Honor Winner in China and Haiti

The Fighting 69th in World War I

'Wild Bill' Donovan, Fr. Francis Duffy, and Joyce Kilmer

Fr. John Patrick Washington, U.S. Army Chaplain

Son of Irish Immigrants Earns Immortality in World War II


The 165th (69th) Infantry in World War II

Makin Island, Saipan and Okinawa

Audie Murphy in World War II

America's Most Decorated Combat Soldier

Irish Dead in World War II Europe

Remains of 18 Irish-born U.S. Soldiers Repatriated After War

The Irish in Korea

Soldiers and Civilians in America's 'Forgotten War'

The Irish on the Wall

Irish Men and Women Listed on the Vietnam War Memorial

The War on Terrorism

Irish America's Heroes of 9/11


CANADA

The Battle of Ridgeway,1866:

Fenian Brotherhood Routs the Canadian Militia in Ontario

A Canadian Perspective on the Fenian Raids:

Attacks Transformed 'British North America' into Nation of Canada

Orange and Green Maple Leafs

Irish-Canadian Contribution in War of 1812, WW I & II

The Irish Regiment of Canada:

Irish-Canadians in World War I and II


MEXICO

The Real Zorro:

Mexico's Legendary Hero was an Irishman

Lt. Col. Hugo O'Conor in New Spain (Mexico):

An Irish Officer Guards Spain's New World Frontiers

San Patricio and Refugio

Irish Settlements in Mexican Texas

The San Patricio (Saint Patrick's) Battalion

Irishmen Who Switched Sides During the Mexican-American War

The San Patricios:

Mark Day's Site on the Irishmen Who Died for Mexico


SOUTH AMERICA

The Irish in South America

An Annotated Bibliography of the Irish Presence


ARGENTINA

Admiral William Brown:

The Irish-born Founder of Argentina's Navy


BOLIVIA

General Francis Burdett O'Connor

Bolivia's Minister of War from Co. Cork


BRAZIL

Colonel Cotter's Recruits

Eyewitness to Irish Tragedy in Rio de Janeiro


CHILE & PERU

Garland, O'Higgins and MacKenna

The Chilean Legacy of three Irish Military Engineers

Don Ambrosio O'Higgins:

The Irish Engineer Who Became Spain's Viceroy in Peru

Bernardo O'Higgins:

Ambrosio's Son Leads Chile to Independence from Spain

William R. Grace, "The Pirate of Peru"

Irish Entrepreneur Benefits from Payoff of Peru's War Debt

The Grace Brothers in Peru

Their Involvement in 1879 Chilean-Peruvian War


PARAGUAY

Eliza Lynch, First Lady of Paraguay (free registration required)

Cork Woman's Ill-fated Alliance with 19th Century Dictator


VENEZUELA

Venezuela's Irish Legacy:

Simon Bolivar's Hard-Luck Irish Legion

Simon Bolivar, the South American Liberator

Idealistic Venezuelan Leader who Inspired the Irish


EUROPE


IRELAND

The Irish Defense Forces Website:

Serving Ireland and U.N. Peacekeeping Operations

Irish Armed Forces on UN Service

Peacekeeping from the Belgian Congo to Lebanon and East Timor

Ireland Reacts to the Boer War

Pride in the North, Division in the South

An Irish Airman Foresees His Death

World War I Ireland in W.B. Yeats' Poem

Francis Ledwidges's Long Road Home (free registration required)

Co. Meath Village Remembers a Soldier-Poet Killed in Flanders

In Memorial Francis Ledgwidge

Seamus Heaney Salutes a Fellow Poet

Irish National War Memorial

The Memorial Gardens at Islandbridge

Ireland's Last Great War Veteran

Royal Irish Rifleman Tommy Shaw, Dead at 102

It's a Long Way to Tipperary:

The Story behind the Famous World War I Song

Islandbridge War Memorial, Dublin

Sir Edwin Lutyens's Tribute to WW I Dead

Ireland's Involvement in World War II:

Neutral, But Neutral for Whom?

The Blitz in Belfast:

Nazi Bombers Target Northern Ireland, 1941

Aftermath of 1941 Blitz Bombing

1,100 Dead, 100,000 Homeless in Belfast

Ireland's Merchant Seamen in WW II (free registration required)

Battling Weather and U-Boats to Keep Sea Lanes Open

U-Boats in Irish Waters

Nazi Submarines Sunk in Irish Sea

Irish People in the Second World War:

An Irish Heroine and Hero

Polar Explorer Tom Crean

Kerry-born Hero of Antarctic Expeditions


AUSTRIA

St. Patrick's Day in Vienna, 1766:

Irish Officers in Habsburg Service Celebrate March 17th


BRITAIN

The Irish Guards

Queen Victoria's Tribute to Irish Bravery against the Boers

Irish Men and Military Service:

Understanding the Irish who Served England in World War I

The 16th (Irish) Division:

A Southern Irish Division in World War I

The 36th (Ulster) Division:

Northern Irish Division in World War I

The 10th (Irish) Division at Gallipoli, 1915:

A Mismanaged Assault in the Dardanelles

Tyneside Irish Brigade:

Bagpipes and Bravery in World War I

Private Patrick Fowler's War

Concealed for Three Years in a French Cupboard

Dungarvan Museum Society, Co. Waterford:

Five Famous Irish Regiments of World War I

The Connaught Rangers

Remembering 'The Devil's Own' from 1793 through Disbandment in 1922

The Royal Dublin Fusiliers:

From India and South Africa to the Somme and Passchendaele

Athy Heritage Centre, Co. Kildare:

World War I's Cost in One Irish County

Post-War Ireland:

Irish Veterans Found a Country Utterly Changed

The Somme Heritage Centre:

Co. Down Museum Remembers Ireland's Sacrifice

The Island of Ireland Peace Park at Messines, Belgium:

Honoring Ireland's Northern and Southern Great War Dead

Aces of World War I:

Irish-born Ace Pilots in the Royal Flying Corps

Irish Winners of the Victoria Cross:

Britain's Highest Award for Acts of Gallantry

Proud "Paddys" in World War II

165,000 from Irish Republic in British Forces

Lt. Maureen O'Sullivan, SOE Agent (free registration required)

Dublin Woman's Heroics in Occupied France

Churchill's Irish Minister of Information

Master of British Propaganda from Tipperary

Blair Mayne, Special Air Service Hero (free registration required)

Ulsterman Wreaks Havoc on Rommel's Afrika Corps

James Joseph Magennis, VC

Ireland's Last Winner of the Victoria Cross

Royal Ulster Rifles

Northern Irish Regiment in WWII and Korea

The Royal Irish Regiment, formed 1992

Merger of Royal Irish Rangers and Ulster Defense Regiment

"Green Is The Colour"

Royal Irish Celebrate March 17, 2003 at Home


FRANCE

The Battle of Cremona, 1702

Irish Regiments Save the French Army in Italy

The Battle of Fontenoy, 1745:

The Irish Save the Day for France in Belgium

Fontenoy 1745, by Emily Lawless:

Poetry Celebrating Irish Role in French Victory over English

Battle of Culloden, Scotland in 1746:

Irish in French Service Support Scots against English

Irish Brigade Officers in the American Revolution:

Dillon's Regiment Against the English at Savannah, 1779

Napoleon's Irish Legion:

Raised to Invade Ireland, Decimated in European Campaigns

Napoleon's Legion Irlandaise, 1803-1815

With Names of Commandants and Bibliography

Wild Geese Heritage Museum and Library

Galway-based Tribute to Irish in French Service


GERMANY

Hitler's 'Irish Brigade':

A German Effort to Recruit Irish-born Prisoners-of-War


RUSSIA

Field Marshal Peter Lacy

A Limerickman in 18th Century Russia

The O'Rourkes of Belarus

Descendants of Exiled Earls in Russia and Poland


SPAIN

Irish in the Spanish Civil War:

Connolly Column versus O'Duffy Volunteers


AFRICA

Rorke's Drift, South Africa:

Irish in British Service against the Zulus, 1879

Irish Regiments in the Boer War

1,500 Irish Dead in Defense of Britain's Empire

Tom Crean Earns a VC against the Boers (free registration required)

Dublin-born Doctor Tends the British Wounded Under Fire

The Boer Republics' Irish Allies

Major MacBride Leads Irish Commandos Against the British

John MacBride of Westport

Co. Mayo Origins of the Transvaal Irish Brigade

Irish Police in South Africa

Keeping Order in the Cape and Natal

South African Irish Regiment:

Bagpipes and Wolfhounds in the SANDF



ASIA

INDIA

The Irish Soldier in India

Birthplace of the Dublin (Madras) and Munster (Bengal) Fusiliers

IRAQ

Paddy and Saddam

War is Serious Business, and the Irish Wage it with Humor

KOREA


THE IRISH IN FOREIGN SERVICE
(General Web Sites)

The Honourable Society of the Irish Brigade

Irish Soldiers in Every Cause But Their Own

The Irish in Uniform

World War I to Vietnam, With a Tipperary Emphasis

The Wild Geese Today

Ireland's Exiled Soldiers, With U.S. Civil War Emphasis

Thanks Gav! Patrick Cleburne is one of my heros. He tried to get Davis to free slaves in exchange for fighting for the confederacy long before it was done by either side. I am an Irish history buff.

Cannistershot, you are more than welcome for the above "injection" of the Irish contribution to this planet (not all good I may add- but thats the way it goes) but it aint bad for a country of 4 million!!!. Throw into the bargain that we helped build this young country, 30 somethin % claim Irish ancestry, I cant remember the percentage but a sizeable amount of your presidents have had Irish ancestry. This is why I don't listen to georgeob1 when he complains that 1000's of Irish american families send money back to their families in Ireland.

Since you are an Irish history buff - surely you recognise the futility of a regular army trying to fight a guerilla army to a stand still?. Man, it just doesnt work!!. We've been struggling with the British for 800 years and all we got was 3/4 of the country (then the bastards divided us up nice and conveniently). But do ya know what I'm saying Cannister? Do you see the parallels between the Irish struggle and pretty much every other struggle in the planet - ETA,ANC,PLO it just goes on man. FFS the thing that really helped kick off the modern "troubles" in the occupied 6 counties was when civil rights movement started in this country!!!

War is not for children and other living things.

I am a backseat driver from America
They drive to the left on Falls Road
The man at the wheel's name is Seamus
We pass a child on the corner he knows
And Seamus says, Now, what chance has that
kid got?
And I say from the back, I don't know.
He says, There's barbed wire at all of these exits . . .
And there ain't no place in Belfast for that kid
to go.

(chorus)
It's a hard life
It's a hard life
It's a very hard life
It's a hard life wherever you go
If we poison our children with hatred
then, the hard life is all that they'll know
And there ain't no place in (Belfast) for
these kids to go

A cafeteria line in Chicago
The fat man in front of me
Is calling black people trash to his children
he's the only trash here I see
And I'm thinking this man wears a white hood
in the night when his children should sleep
But, they slip to their window and they see him
And they think that white hood's all they need


I was a child in the sixties
dreams could be held through TV
With Disney, and Cronkite, and Martin Luther
Oh, I believed, I believed . . I BELIEVED
Now, I am the backseat driver from America
I am not at the wheel of control
I am guilty, I am war, . . . I am the root of all evil
Lord, and I can't drive on the left side of the road

This thread is to honor heros not to protest. If you want that start another thread please.

Americans have fought and died for our freedom for over 200 years. If you think that they should be at war or not do those soldiers not deserve respect and support? If you hate the government fine, but take it out on the government the soldiers in Iraq are there doing their job, please respect them if not the war. When you protest the war in a soldiers eyes you are then protesting them. Please if you want to protest Iraq, or Bush or whatever start another thread. Please feel free to honor the heros here who give/gave us the freedom to protest.