4th of July - Remember!

Preface / Introduction
Remembering - 4th of July!!!

Table of Contents
1. What we have lost along the way: the great Republican festivals and why America needs them now. 2. 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion...'; the great truth assailed by the little man from Pennsylvania, former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum; John F. Kennedy's historic address on the matter revisited. 3. Abraham Lincoln... captivated by words, created by words, empowered by words, glorified by words. Reflections on his Cooper Union Speech, February 27, 1860. 4. Thoughts on the "war to end all wars", mustard gas, Uncle Will, and remembrance. 5. The boy next door... the best of the Great Republic. You sleep easy through the night because of him... and millions like him. A Tribute! 6. 'Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean.' Independence Day Fifty Years Ago.

4th of July - Remember!

What we have lost along the way: the great Republican festivals and why America needs them now.
By Dr. Jeffrey Lant Did you have a nice day yesterday? It was the 4th of July hereabouts, a day sacred to beach going, music in the park and, of course, fireworks, Boston's being always notable. It is also a day celebrating the nation, my nation, the United States of America. Yet the vast majority of my fellow citizens will have enjoyed the day without stopping, even for an instant, to consider what the day is truly about... and why we forget it at our peril. Dudes with powdered hair. On this date (July 5) back in 1776, the great document called the Declaration of Independence was riding in the saddlebags of people anxious to spread its momentous news to all the people of what was fast changing from a gaggle of squabbling colonies to a nation of revolutionaries. First of all, you must realize that the events of those heady days were dangerous, extremely dangerous. The great problem of history is that we know how things turned out. Thus we have the tendency to treat events that were by no means inevitable as if they were. Nowhere is this more true than with the days when our ancestors forged a great nation. Because they won we think their winning had to occur; that it was inevitable, certain, a piece of cake. In fact it was anything but. Let us be very plain with each other: conceiving, writing, printing, posting, disseminating the Declaration of Independence, all these were deeds of treachery. Each of these activities was designed to diminish, denigrate and degrade the crown of England, to which each one singly and all collectively had sworn an oath of loyalty, fidelity and commitment. His Most Gracious Majesty King George III and all the king's horses and all the king's men took a very dim view of what the colonists across the pond were up to and about. And on July 4th these self-same colonists took the ultimate step... for they passed from being protestors within the system... to be declared traitors without. In so doing they put their heads into the noose. Had the British caught these fellows they would lose their property, their freedom, and their lives. Revolutions, you see, are a very serious business.... and no one knew this better than the royal Hanoverian dynasty of George III; he got the crown, after all, as a result of the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688. He knew what revolutions could deliver... but also how nervous and undependable they made people who could so easily become gallows fodder. Oh, yes, revolutions were a very dicey business indeed. Thus did the gentlemen in Congress assembled tread warily up to moment they signed, with whatever secret misgivings. As they put quill pen to paper, they were signing what could be their own death warrant... and at such a moment of moments may a man wonder... and the spouse of his body sit up and cry aloud in the dark hours of the night, praying to God Almighty for succor, guidance, and mercy. The revolutionary landscape was confusing. There were Loyalists; there were Revolutionaries. Then there were the people who did the best they could as events broke around them. Winning over these people, the great majority of the people, was always a major objective of both sides. Bit by bit, this http://www.Profit2Riches.com Copyright Lance Sumner - 2012 4 of 21

4th of July - Remember! great majority became committed to the goals of the Revolution, clearly outlined in the ringing prose of the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." The British lost the Revolutionary War because they could not match what the Revolution offered, much less better it. And so, mind by mind and heart by heart the Revolution from being unthinkable became unstoppable. The Revolution, the great religion of America. As the Revolution developed, grew strong, and gathered momentum, the realization became overwhelming that these one-time colonials, now citizens, had succeeded in doing something no other people or nation had ever done: they had won complete political freedom. They owned themselves, the most precious and important gift of all. This was an event so significant, so earth-shattering, so gratifying and so thrilling that the people of America longed to gather at periodic intervals to remind each other about what had happened, why it happened, what each had done... and what all would do again, should it ever be necessary to put down the plough and take up the gun. July 4th became sanctified as the great day of freedom! Liberty! Revolution! And the people demanded it be celebrated in high style to match the importance of the event, the goals of the Founding Fathers, and the soaring rhetoric they all knew. Each prophet of this Revolution all knew, too, and wished to honor again; special reverence was always paid to Jefferson, who gave the Revolutionaries the golden gift of heart-touching words... and to Washington, the man who had turned down the crown of America for the surer crown of his countryman's respect, love and undying admiration. Each place in America, no matter how small, competed to remember and to honor and so did the festivals of the Great Republic commence and grow... for the people, having wrenched America from the hands of tyrants, were determined to celebrate their great achievement and remind the entire world what it meant... and invite them to join the future. Days before these festivals took place preparations would begin. A Liberty Tree would be festooned with the robust and venerated slogans of the Revolution. Old Continental Army uniforms would be taken from chests, to be tried on (and let out) . Larders were raided for ample picnics and still rooms for a variety of distillations and brews, essential for toasts. Wagons were packed; a few extra comforts added for Grandpapa who got his honored wound at Cowpens (1781)... and his wife whose prayers for his safe return had been answered. They were all going and joyfully. And the same scene played all over America, for the 4th was the quintessential American festival... an event of the people,by the people, for the people, long before Lincoln used these immemorial words. Whether the festivities were small or grand; whether addressed by a well regarded student with a future... or by one of the great orators of the day... didn't matter. The republican verities were the stars of the event, stated, restated, the principles for which they had fought and which so much had been sacrificed. And if, at the larger gatherings so many could not hear, even those practised orators with the greatest reach, that did not matter. For the people knew in their bones what was said, its impact, and importance. And they were satisfied to be there at all, each one so necessary for the whole. Now all this is gone... remembered by few, practised by fewer. Who, then, can wonder at the state of America, when we ourselves have removed the means for understanding, celebrating and http://www.Profit2Riches.com Copyright Lance Sumner - 2012 5 of 21

4th of July - Remember! reverencing her? She needs these now more than ever.

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4th of July - Remember!

'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion...'; the great truth assailed by the little man from Pennsylvania, former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum; John F. Kennedy's historic address on the matter revisited.
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant Author's program note. Religious fervor, religious metaphors, religious language, religious dispute, religious assertiveness, religious iconography, religious music all pulsate through every aspect of the Great Republic, its life and affairs. And that is why the Founding Fathers as their first order of business and to establish the tone and substance for all that followed, wrote the First Amendment to the Constitution. In sparse, incisive, resolute, unequivocal language they rendered their bold and well considered opinion thus: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." These sentiments were the more necessary because of the very vibrancy of religion and all of its manifestations in the Great Republic... for every religion, (because of its adamant belief that its way to God is The way to God), is messianic, exclusive, intolerant, and so potentially divisive, disruptive, even dangerous. And no one knew this better than the great and thoughtful Founding Fathers who had as their matter of high and abiding significance the preservation of the many great things rendered by religion... whilst avoiding the imperial tendencies of all religions, to uplift themselves, even unto the seizure of the Great Republic, whilst denigrating the rest. The great problem set, these same Founding Fathers commenced their high business of solving it. For make no mistake about it, the objective of the Founding Fathers was not the crippling control and suppression of religion so much as it was creating an atmosphere and civic establishment in which religions -- all religions -- might flourish to the glory and benefit of the Great Republic they were crafting and meant to have. Thus I give you the occasional music for this article, and a better tune one could hardly have for this subject: "Give Me That Old-Time Religion." It's a traditional Gospel song dating from 1873. Charles David Tillman took this song, which may have originated as a black folk song, and by his publishing and enthusiasm for its adamant, uplifting message turned it into a staple of white congregations and so it has abided, a joyful manifestation of the Good News. To get it, go now to any search engine. You'll find many fine renditions of this song; I prefer the get-up-and-praise Him version belted out by Mahalia Jackson, Hallelujah... for if it was good enough for my father... good enough for my mother... then it's good enough for me! The background to the First Amendment. To a person, the men who constituted the Founding Fathers, were men knowledgeable about religion, its history, uses, practices, and tendencies. As a result, they were haunted, almost to a person, by the damages religion could deliver, as well as its comforts. And they knew, none better, that left to its own devices religion could chill individual inquiry rather than encourage it, could become the harsh means of fettering the human mind, not advancing it. And what they wanted, to the point of obsession, was a land of liberty, not a land where uniformity of view was the order of the day, and was enforced by priests, pastors, and pontiffs; different in their views, the same in their http://www.Profit2Riches.com Copyright Lance Sumner - 2012 7 of 21

4th of July - Remember! the day, and was enforced by priests, pastors, and pontiffs; different in their views, the same in their devices for achieving them; working each to control with bell, book, and candle. They, too, were aware that such a land, so unfettered in its thoughts, a paradise for every believer not just one, had never existed in the history of mankind where uniformity of outlook reigned as the desired objective. As a result the Founding Fathers, here as elsewhere, found themselves on the cutting-edge of this crucial matter of statecraft and belief.... and they gave the matter their utmost consideration... for no question exercised them more that what they could do to place the people of the new republic into a proper, sustained relationship with their common Creator. They selected a solution Erastian, latitudinarian, tolerant. Tolerance for all, hegemony and control for none. This became their guiding light , and they found vital sustenance for it amongst the works of Thomas Erastus, (1524-1583), a 16th century German physician and theologian. He held that the punishment of all offenses should be referred to the civil power and that holy communion was open to all. Thus should the church and its ministers be made subservient to the officials of the government, rather than these officials of the government made subservient to the church and its ministers. They looked, too, to the cool reason of John Locke (1632-1704), who advocated, first and foremost, a tolerance which had, perhaps, never been seen before... a latitudinarian whose profound thoughts once glimpsed became the abiding vision of all sensible people, and the basis for civil peace, not internecine strife. From such beginnings did the idea of religious tolerance grow, until at last it was written and proclaimed in the First Amendment, as the very essence of what we stood for as a Great Republic and who we wanted to be. Thus as the Founding Fathers surveyed it, they saw their work whole... and knew it to be a great resolution to a great problem, a great policy indeed for the Great Republic. .. and from the moment of its inception it has done its work... JFK, admirable in Houston. Then John Fitzgerald Kennedy ran for president... and many people worried that as a Roman Catholic he would sabotage this verity, pledging instead fealty to the Bishop of Rome, rather than the Great Republic. And so, he went to Houston where before the Greater Houston Ministerial Association he presented himself and his views. The date was September 12, 1960... and it was perhaps his most admirable day on Earth; for on this day he stated with vehemence and resolution these words: "I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute." And if, perhaps, he did not persuade all the reverend doctors present (for some were not to be persuaded) he did persuade the people of the Great Republic, who in their turn elected him...thus proving with their ballots the kind of inclusive, tolerant, pacific society they desired and affirmed. It is this society, this vision, the most profound ever imagined that one little man has challenged, in a way at once crude, graphic and alarming. "I don't believe in an America where the separation of church and state are absolute." Rick Santorum, (College of Saint Mary Magdalen, Warner, New Hampshire, October 2011 and reaffirmed thereafter). "The idea that the church can have no influence or no involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical to the objectives and visions of our country... to say that people of faith have no role in the public square? You bet that makes me want to throw up." http://www.Profit2Riches.com Copyright Lance Sumner - 2012 8 of 21

4th of July - Remember! This is the statement of a zealot, a demagogue, a radical... and thus a danger to the community, the comity, the country... and to the Great Republic itself. The firewall called Michigan held... but barely. The results are now counted in Michigan which Tuesday, February 28, 2012 held one of the most important presidential primaries ever, and by just the smallest of margins denied Santorum and his radical views, views that would roil the essential verities of the Great Republic and divide the people. Is this the end of the war then? Alas, no. For this battle, which sensible citizens thought was settled centuries ago by the expansive vision of the Founding Fathers, is under attack by incendiaries like Santorum who mean to light their way to the God they arrogantly suppose they know with autos-da-fe, a ghastly light unto eternity. That is why the rest of us must remain vigilant, for a right undefended is a right at risk... and this right has been too hard won to be threatened, much less eviscerated and destroyed, by a man like Santorum, for all that he fancies himself the agent of God and his Holy Will. ** What do you think? We invite your comments below.

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4th of July - Remember!

Abraham Lincoln... captivated by words, created by words, empowered by words, glorified by words. Reflections on his Cooper Union Speech, February 27, 1860.
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant Author's program note. 150 years ago, March 4, 1861 Abraham Lincoln (born 1809), became 16th president of the United States. And if you do not believe in destiny, fate, or kismet, even you will wonder at the undoubted fact that at the time of its maximum peril, the Great Republic should have found the perfect man to guide her affairs and so preside not over her premature dissolution (as so many thought and even wished) but her greatest trial, from which, terrible forge though it was, emerged the greatest of nations. Oh, yes, here was the hand of God, indeed... to the wonder of all... and as we know His ways are mysterious so we shouldn't wonder at this man and his story... a story to be told in the words he loved, the words he mastered, the words he used to effect his great purpose... the words we all have at our disposal... but which only he used with such grace and power... and such resolve... the mark of the consummate master of our language and the great uses to which it can always rise... For this tale, I have selected as the occasional music a tune Abraham Lincoln loved and tapped his toe to, "Jimmy Crack Corn". It's a frolicksome number thought to be a black face minstrel song of the 1840s. Like so much that touches Lincoln, it's not quite what it appears to be.... that is, a black slave's lament over his master's death... it has indeed a subtext of rejoicing over that death and possibly having caused it by deliberate negligence.... "Dat Blue Tail Fly"... It is a feeling every slave must have thought at some time... which every master must have understood and feared... and from this seemingly unsolvable conundrum Lincoln freed both, saving the people, cleansing the Great Republic. Without benefit of formal education... yet with every necessary word to hand. Consider the matter of Illinois, the 21st state, frontier of the Great Republic in 1818 when it was admitted to the Union. It was a land firmly focused on the bright future all were certain was coming... the better to obliterate and make bearable the rigors and unceasing travails of the present. The land was rich... the richness of the people would soon follow. In this land of future promise, inchoate, Lincoln, like all those who delight in words, found his labors lightened and vista magnified by books, and thanks to the good and helpful work of Robert Bray (2007), we may learn just what books he possessed, and so which words he knew, by whom rendered, and how. It is impossible to know in just what order young Lincoln found the books, read the books, and with what degree of joy and enthusiasm, for Lincoln (unlike many who love and live by words) was not a great writer of marginal commentary, in which reader engages in often enraged tete-a-tete with author. Such marginalia are cream to any biographer, but in Lincoln's case were infrequent. In any event, we can surmise that he learned his words first from the great King James version of The Bible, perhaps the most influential and certainly most lyric book in the language. If so, it bestowed on him not only the words but their sonority, cadence and above all, moral certainty, all of which were critical in the development of his mature style and so helped save a great nation from self-destruction. There followed first the odd volume, happily received, then a steady trickle, then the glorious days when he could have as many books, and so as many words, as he wanted; paradise to a man for whom each word, and every book, was a key to greater understanding of the cosmos... and himself... http://www.Profit2Riches.com Copyright Lance Sumner - 2012 10 of 21

4th of July - Remember! Thus, E.A. Andrews and S. Stoddard "A Grammar of the Latin Language" (1836); Nathan Bailey "Dictionary of English Etymology" (1721); James Barclay "Dictionary" (1774); George Bancroft "History of the United States (1834); Francis Bacon "Essays" (1625); John Bunyan "The Pilgrim's Progress" (1678); Benjamin Franklin "Autobiography" (1818); Edward Gibbon "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" (1776)... ... and one great poet after another, for as Lincoln learned, as every word smith must learn, there can be no mastery of words where there is no understanding of poets and their precise, meticulous craft... and so one finds without surprise the works of Robert Burns, Lord Byron, Thomas Gray whose "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" (1751) he so loved... with its sad beauty, lines which, once read, seem to have been written for Lincoln himself: "The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, Awaits alike the inevitable hour, the paths of glory lead but to the grave." It was a thought Lincoln knew only too well, and he had but to touch this poem to think on its powerful, unanswerable, haunting words, including these... "Slow through the church-way path we saw him borne"... but not yet... not yet. And so Lincoln on every day sought out the light enabling him to learn the words, all the words he needed and his work demanded.... thus was he up with day's first light... to finish his work betimes, to snatch some minutes for the words..., then to pass the night and gain some further words by fire light and smokey tallow. Because the words would not be denied... Lincoln was not to be denied. They beckoned. He followed... until he was at last ready to begin, just to begin, his great work... the work that needed all of him... and so every word at his command. Thus was he summoned from Springfield in Illinois to the greatest city of the Great Republic, New York, where its most renowned and anxious citizens, worthy, substantial, concerned, waited with impatience, condescension, worry and, yes, even hope to hear what a prairie lawyer named Lincoln had to say to them about the great issue of their day and how this great blot upon the Great Republic could be resolved... and their great experiment in governance be purified. And so did Abraham Lincoln rise to speak, at Cooper Union, February 27, 1860. The most important speech since Washington's Farewell Address (1796). These days only specialists are knowledgeable about the Cooper Union speech... but this is wrong, for it gave the Union a new voice, a new leader, and a man fiercely dedicated to the preservation and triumph of the Constitution. Without Cooper Union Lincoln would never have been nominated in 1860, so never would have served, and could not have brought his signal talents to bear on saving the Great Republic. And thus the greatest experiment in human history and affairs might well have come to naught, to the impoverishment and despair of our species. But Cooper Union did happen... and with every word the nation knew it had found not merely a good and honest man, but a savior... a man fiercely dedicated to truth... fiercely dedicated to working together with even obdurate men who hated and outraged each other... fiercely determined to find the formula to protect and defend the Union... And so he was fierce in his moderation... fierce in his implacable opposition to anyone threatening the great federal Union... fierce in asking all good citizens to step forward and work for the greater good... And such was the power of his fierce message of what must be done, such was the excellence, clarity and reasonableness of his words, that this audience of the great thrilled and cheered him to the very echo. This single man whose ambition was defined (according to his law partner William H. Herndon) as "a little engine that knew no rest", was now in place for the uttermost struggle, a struggle for http://www.Profit2Riches.com Copyright Lance Sumner - 2012 11 of 21

4th of July - Remember! common sense, common purpose, common decency and the validation and acknowledgement of all. He was ready... for he had the ideas, the fortitude, the moral certainty... and, above all, the words he needed, the words that saved the Great Republic and remind us still of what is possible when we have a leader who summons the "better angels of our nature."

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Thoughts on the "war to end all wars", mustard gas, Uncle Will, and remembrance.
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant. Author's program note. This Memorial Day for the first time since the clock struck eleven on the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, the day of Armistice, there are no known World War I veterans extant. The last U.S. veteran, Frank Buckles, died in 2011 after celebrating his 110th birthday. He served as a U.S. Army ambulance driver in Europe, rising to the rank of corporal before the war ended. Then there was just one more... Florence Green died in 2012 at age 110, just two weeks before her 111th birthday. She joined the Women's Royal Air Force in September 1918 at the age of seventeen. She went to work as a waitress in the officers' mess at RAF Marham in eastern England, and was serving there when the war ended in 1918. With these two deaths, now they are all dead, in their millions, the men and women who fought to make the world safe for democracy, theirs the "war to end all wars" as President Woodrow Wilson earnestly asserted and solemnly pronounced to a world which, after its great sacrifices, wanted so very desperately to believe him, no one more so than William Edward Marshall, my Great Uncle Will. How an Archduke changed the life of a gridiron hero, the most handsome man in Henderson County. "The Great War", as its survivors dubbed it, began when a zealous young Slav nationalist named Gavrilo Princip shot the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, and his morganatic wife Countess Chotek at point blank range . They both died at once... while Austrian authorities proceeded to break Princip's body like so many pretzels. Thus did Princip, just 20, become the first man of millions who yearned for home and peace, finding premature death instead. And so he died starting the invidious process that killed tit... which then had to kill tat... who outraged, had to kill tit yet again. Why did he plan to murder, to assassinate The Heir? For only the highest and best reasons you may be sure... reasons for which over 60,000,000 people around the world died, every day that trail of blood and mayhem emanating from the slumped body of His Royal and Imperial Highness grew broader and broader still. His dead eyes asked a single question, the question hitherto unquestioning millions would ask in their turn "Why"? The answer is to be found in part in William Edward Marshall, citizen of Stronghurst, Illinois, 21st state of the Great Republic. To understand World War I you must understand how Will Marshall, as everyone always called him, gave up everything he knew and valued to go fight on behalf of faraway people he didn't know and would never meet, knowingly risking life and limb, remember -- for total strangers. About Will Marshall. William Edward Marshall achieved the highest rank his country could confer the moment of his birth, for then, the very instant he was born he was Citizen of the Great Republic, a title, style and dignity unknown in most of Europe whose opulent princes had subjects, not citizens. Here Will Marshal, for all that he was not a prince or count, was better off -- and knew it. Thus his belief in the Great Republic, its whys and wherefores, came as easily as breathing. He was a free man in a free country, a man whose right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness was assured by the Constitution of the United States. These rights came from his relationship to God, not because of http://www.Profit2Riches.com Copyright Lance Sumner - 2012 13 of 21

4th of July - Remember! some calculated gesture of a Machiavellian prince who might later rescind what he rued to give. William Edward Marshall's rights were sacrosanct for him.... and every other Citizen. This was America in 1890 the year Will Marshall was born, the land of the free and the home of the brave. Football hero, farmer, respected man of peace. Will Marshall was called without irony the handsomest man in Henderson County. "That and two bits will buy you pie and coffee," even his deflating father said. Will didn't mind the raillery; after all, tall, well made, fleet of foot and master strategist he was that most American of local heroes... from whose agile moves came a lifetime's respect from those who would tear the goal posts down after they had seen Will Marshall run past them -- again. Such feats are cherished everywhere in America, but nowhere more than in the tiny hamlet of Stronghurst, Illinois; population still under 1000 souls in 1914... everyone of them knew what a good man Will Marshall was... how hard-working, how public spirited, how well he must stand with his God. And so things might have continued but for the murderous meeting between an archduke on a sunny July day and a zealot determined to exterminate him. Will Marshall goes to war, to France, to his destiny. Will Marshall was not a warrior, not a man of marshal attitudes, uniforms, poses and gestures. Farmers, tillers of the land, bringing forth its bounty by their own incessant labor, seldom are. They know how difficult it is to create life, to spend any of their limited time on this planet destroying it. Will Marshall abhorred war, yet went to war, the greatest and most destructive war ever, because the Great Republic and its affairs needed him... and that was that. "The Yanks are coming." Thus, Will Marshall became part of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) and in due course found himself one of over one million citizen-soldiers stationed in France, over half of whom were at the front lines, including him. There as the increasingly desperate German imperial forces grew more desperate yet, considering, doing every single thing they could do to snatch victory from increasingly certain defeat, Will Marshall met his fate, in a cloud of poison gas. Mustard gas. Contrary to popular belief, gas as a weapon was first introduced by the French army. However it was the Germans with their customary organizational genius and chemical skills who perfected the process. For the defence and glory of the Fatherland anything, even the most horrid thing, was contemplated, considered and ultimately used. Some apologist somewhere would no doubt advance a comfortable rationale... And so one ordinary day an ordinary German solider lobbed the mustard gas that sent William Edward Marshall, citizen, descendant of the great Chief Justice who helped shape the new nation, one of nature's gentlemen, to his knees, brought low by the toxic beauty of gas; stealthy, silent, serene. But there, you see, is the rub. For gas is one of the cruelest weapons ever created. During the actual mustard gas attack its manifestations may not be seen, will not be seen for hours, even days. Then... the gas you inhaled, perhaps without knowing it, became the pernicious agent of your end... the gas rules you and decides whether you live or die, what manifestations and disabilities may be yours and torment you for years, for life. Thus, starting from the day he was gassed until the day he died, Uncle Will lived a life where his sight degenerated . Remedies were tried. Doctors consulted. Prayers by one and all given for his recovery, for he was a popular man. All to no avail. The effects of that gas cost him at once one eye. http://www.Profit2Riches.com Copyright Lance Sumner - 2012 14 of 21

4th of July - Remember! The second deteriorated year by year until in 1934 he could see nothing at all. Light, for him, had ceased to exist. Uncle Will and Me. When I was growing up in the 'fifties, my family visited Stronghurst every so often. We never failed to visit Uncle Will and his charming wife Alma. My father made sure we behaved properly. He was especially keen on the handshake, "Firm, NOT limp!" And how to walk across the parlor properly, so Uncle Will knew how many steps you took. In this way he calculated how tall you were and how much you'd grown since the last visit. The room was quiet, sound muted, light filtered. Uncle Will sat in a great, sturdy chair, its size necessary to contain the football player of old. I looked closely at his face; this was the face of a man of resignation and calm acceptance. He remained handsome, even noble right until the end. He never complained. Never said a word about that day so long ago. Never was anything but gentle, polite, good humored and glad to see you. He had fought his war, done his bit, paid the terrible price and could look the world in the eye, his pride deep, profound, abiding. The Great Republic has besought his help. He had given in full measure, and for him it was "Over, over there", not a bitter reality revisited daily. Now not only Uncle Will but every veteran of the Great War is gone. Now they no longer die by thousands each day... but, far worse, are forgotten in their thousands each day; men and women whose lives were utterly and completely committed to us, now not even a moment's thought by us. Yet we are all the children of their unequalled gifts and should always be glad and glad to say so. They ask so little now, but we begrudge them even that, satisfied to take, satisfied to give them nothing, not even heartfelt recognition of our eternal debt. May God forgive us. Author's closing note. Like so many of his buddies, Uncle Will loved "Over There", a jaunty tune written by George M. Cohan in 1917.. Find it in any search engine. Turn up the sound and remember.

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4th of July - Remember!

The boy next door... the best of the Great Republic. You sleep easy through the night because of him... and millions like him. A Tribute!
The boy next door... the best of the Great Republic. You sleep easy through the night because of him... and millions like him. A Tribute! Author's program note. When was the last time you considered the state of our Great Republic and did anything -- anything at all -- to sustain and improve it? If you cannot immediately say and cannot recall what you did, if you have nothing but rancorous thoughts and feelings about our continuing great experiment in the governance and well being of mankind, then stop and focus your full, undivided attention on this article and its subject: Howard Hector Martell, Jr. For this day, like every other day over the past 20 years, Howard Martell has served us... you, me, the Great Republic, all of us able to live life as we wish because of him and his colleagues in every great service of our great nation. To set the stage for this story, to provide the essential sound, I have selected music from one of the greatest public affairs programs ever -- "Victory at Sea." It is a documentary television series about naval warfare during World War II that was originally broadcast by NBC in 1952-1953. The stirring music was composed by Richard Rodgers and Robert Russell Bennett. Rodgers, well known for a string of iconic Broadway musicals, contributed 13 "themes"; short piano compositions a minute or two in length. Bennett did the scoring, transforming Rodger's themes into a variety of moods, all designed to touch your heart and fire your imagination. The result was pure magic. Find out for yourself. Go now to any search engine. Listen to a few of the "themes" to get you started. I like "Hard Work and Horseplay", "Theme of the Fast Carriers" and, of course, "The Song of the High Seas." However, to honor Howard Martell, listen to "Guadalcanal March." It is the essence of what a grand march should be... the kind of march Howard has so well earned... I'm playing it now as I write. New London. New London, Connecticut is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States. It is located at the mouth of the Thames River which locals demand you pronounce to rhyme with "James", unlike the great river of London, England which rhymes with 'hems". The folks in New London insist upon their rendering; after all, they were part of the victorious Revolution that tossed the Brits out -- and their eccentric pronunciations. As you hear this said, you begin to grasp the fact that New London is not merely a place of picturesque aspects; just what meets the eye. Rather, it is a place where young boys glimpse the great sea at hand, so beckoning, and dream dreams of faraway places and what life can be. Howie Martell was such a boy. He was born June 27,1973, attended local schools, graduating from Griswold High School. People remember him, if they remember him at all, as shy, uncertain; a boy who would smile at you... but only after you had smiled at him. Teachers with many students to instruct would remember him indistinctly and call him "average." But such an appraisal would have been incomplete, inaccurate, failing to capture his essence, for this boy was a dreamer of great dreams... and New London, for centuries the home port of audacious mariners, offered him the means to live them, mere dreams no longer. On August 10, 1992, just 19, he left the comfort of family, friends, the only place he had ever http://www.Profit2Riches.com Copyright Lance Sumner - 2012 16 of 21

4th of July - Remember! known, placing his future in the hands of strangers who would, in due course and short order, become comrades, a word civilians may know but so seldom understand. And so Howard Martell entered the service of the Great Republic, discovering a destination more important than any of the 48 countries he came to visit. He found himself... and became a man. From this point, his resume tells the story... it is all USN, the resume of a man who studied hard, knew his business -- the Great Republic's business -- and was esteemed by superiors who always found him ready to assist, eager to learn, and above all trustworthy and responsible. In the process a man was shaped who was the complete Navy professional, respected by all, able to be, as events required, a man who could lead, a man who would be loyal, a man you wanted on your team, because he (and this touches the heart of this man) always stood for the success of his team, never just his own. As people came to know him, they saw this... and admired the man who put collective success above mere personal gain. Thus the Navy took Howard Martell, once a shy boy no one could quite remember, to its heart. He received one deserved honor after another... Navy Good Conduct Medal... six times... Navy & Marine Corps Achievement Medal... four times... Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal... Iraq Campaign Medal... two times. And most telling of all a plaque from his fellow First Class Petty Officers who thereby saluted one of their own. He was indeed the complete Navy man... a man who twenty years before had made the right decision. The need for service in the age of selfishness. It is a truism that older citizens will engage in endless rodomontades which detail the innumerable outrages perpetrated by the young against society. How they are ill-educated, lazy, unkempt, unclean of body and language. How they cannot be depended upon... how they flout all established behavior, video game obsessed wastrels who cannot be trusted and will never amount to a hill of beans. Thus goes the jeremiad; you can catch a whiff of it whenever two adults of fifty or so gather. From the very start of the first civilization each man steps into this argument in his maturity, as easily as he dons casual clothes. It is one of the perqs of aging, and no senior citizen will ever give up this sacred right to pontificate. I shall not give it up either and so I give you some pungent thoughts on the matter of service, a concept that alternates between being an afterthought and the salvation of the nation. What we require is calm reflection and sensible policies on the matter. And so I choose to use my words not to grumble but to exhort... to touch a shy boy or girl reading this article and help them both select the responsible path, the path trod by Howard Martell and generations of young people before... the path of service... and the abiding need of the Great Republic for... you! Young friend, our way of governance, our core beliefs, the very future of our noble enterprise is not only challenged, but at risk. You have a choice -- mindless dissipation and decay, or personal development and redemption through the bestowal of your time, mind and heart to the pressing affairs of the Great Republic. In short, you can ignobly remain part of the problem, or become infinitely more valuable as part of the solution. There is nothing neutral about this decision. It is of the greatest possible consequence and can only be made by you. A great idea, the greatest notion of statecraft ever propounded, the Great Republic itself awaits your verdict, hopeful, expectant, confident. Howie Martell made the right choice. Will you? ... And now it is time to end Howard's military career with all the pomp and circumstance he has earned... and which a grateful Navy can provide. Stand forward Petty Officer First Class Howard Hector Martell, Jr.. For your service, your nation, your friends, family and comrades mean to honor you before the world in due recognition for what you have so abundantly given... above all the gift of loyalty and fidelity to a great institution so http://www.Profit2Riches.com Copyright Lance Sumner - 2012 17 of 21

4th of July - Remember! needed by this great nation. And so through each of the hallowed retirement traditions all Naval personnel know so well... until this event, at once festive and solemn, reaches the Shadow Box. This is a symbol of a sailor's many career accomplishments and recognitions. Shadow boxes contain a U.S. flag folded into a triangle, ribbons and medals, insignia and revered devices. They act as a reminder of ranks earned by the retiree and the awards received. It is a mark of the highest honor and cherished accordingly. Yours, Howard, comes complete with the unqualified gratitude of the nation you have served so well... none better... and the sincere thanks of us all. May God grant you sunshine and a fair wind to your many ports of call still to come. Envoi. End this article by returning to any search engine and playing the "Victory at Sea" theme. It remains glorious.

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4th of July - Remember!

'Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean.' Independence Day Fifty Years Ago.
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant Author's program note. July 4th, Independence Day commenced when 13 fractious colonies decided to sunder the greatest empire on earth... challenging every verity of governance in order to raise up a pristine nation where "all men are created equal." From this signal phrase, Godlike in its ringing clarity and unanswerable in its adamantine proposition, everything else has flowed... making Columbia truly the gem of the ocean and Independence Day an event calling for the full attention and participation of all. For on July 4, 1776 a handful of righteous people, fortified by the mightiest ideas on Earth, changed everything... as every monarch and potentate everywhere soon came to know, to their eternal detriment... and as millions worldwide thrilled to discover and bless America as much as any Citizen of the Great Republic. Oh, yes, Columbia was the "shrine of each patriot's devotion" from the very moment of each new patriot's birth, when they became Citizens and as such those who had the responsibility for fostering their great creation, even unto death itself. For such a grand event a grand sound is needed. And so I give you one of the greatest of our national anthems, "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean." Lyrics and melody were written by Thomas a Becket, a fact his colleague David T. Shaw disputed, claiming the work as his own. Becket proved his authorship by means of his original handwritten composition. Shaw's skullduggery did, however, prove one thing: that its tune, its lyrics, and the effect it had on people everywhere (starting with covetous Shaw) proved that it was one of America's treasures, eminently suitable for "The home of the brave and the free." Go now to any search engine and find this stirring melody and its sharply etched words, a paean not merely to a geographical entity, but, far more important, to what these bountiful acres stand for in the affairs of men and their human destiny. Listen to the lyrics for they cut deep, incised in each Citizen, never to be forgotten, always to be cherished from sea to shining sea. I like the version orchestrated and sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It makes me proud to be an American. Go find it now and let the stupendous rhythms flow over you as heaven's balm. For they are surely that. Independence Day, July 4, 1962, Illinois. Right from its first celebration Independence Day was meant to be the most important civic event of the year, the day when business stopped and the great events of the Great Republic were regarded, remembered, revered, recalled in every detail because each detail was a significant and honored part of the monumental event. Each counted. Every person associated with them counted. Even the smallest act deserved recognition and on July 4th such recognition was freely given. No more so than in Downers Grove, Illinois. A village in Downers Grove and Lisle Townships, a model of post war homogeneity and life. Picture for a moment a metropolis of some 12,000 souls (since grown to nearly 50,000) where the objective was unity, not divisiveness. Where there would be no titans of industry and plutuocrats of unimaginable wealth; neither would there be poverty whether blatant or hidden. Instead its residents would strive for similarity of income and of lifestyle, all men truly equal, the Declaration of Independence wrought in ranch homes and acres of grass for young Citizens like me to cut on a hot summer day. Downers Grove (the lack of the expected apostrophe a quirk the town fathers were certain gave http://www.Profit2Riches.com Copyright Lance Sumner - 2012 19 of 21

4th of July - Remember! panache to their enterprise and refused to alter) was founded in 1832 by Pierce Downer. He was a religious evangelist from New York. Other early settlers included the Blodgett, Curtiss, and Carpenter families, names given to the main streets, for townspeople liked their history, even though (or perhaps because) there was not so very much of it to learn and that quickly and proudly told. How abolitionists had found zealous adherents in its free soil. How there were houses still extant that served as stops on the Underground Railroad moving runaway slaves in dead of night to a new life, a free life. How 119 soldiers served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. How the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was extended from Aurora to Chicago through Downers Grove in 1862, boosting its population as newcomers came to claim their portions of the leafy lanes, the quiet prosperity, neighbors who were neighborly and where local boys and girls grew up together, married each other and did not just pursue happiness, but found it. It was these people who were now busily at work on what was to be not only my last Illinois Independence Day but the last such day we were all united, Citizens and world, offering "homage to thee", Columbia, and our confident mission of freedom, liberty, progress, and brotherhood. It is achingly clear in my mind's eye.... ... the civic worthies (including my grandfather) gathered on the reviewing stand on Main Street, swapping stories and flasks of aged favorites. They were not merely the solons of our village but each a veteran who had helped America when America needed help. Behind them in the shade in hats and gloves sat their ladies, the women, however frail they may have looked, who had demonstrated grit and fortitude while their men were away on the nation's far-flung battlefields. In those worrisome days they knew secret despair, but their genius kept it from the children who were their unceasing focus. Then the bandmaster, resplendent in Ruritanian uniform, raised his baton to signify America and the great State of Illinois were on fete... and the band marched smartly ahead, down flag festooned Main Street and into the recesses of my mind. That day I watched them in high glee, happy... today I know that this was the last unclouded tableau before the President was killed... before the war sundered the nation and made acrimony, not amity, our daily portion. I know this, but all the patriotic residents of Dowers Grove, so many of whom celebrated the day by marching in the town's parade, did not. They were marching, as we all march, into a future they must live to know, a future that challenged, threatened, and changed everything they believed in and to which they renewed their allegiance this day of remembrance, rededication, and high resolve. One era ends, another begins, this is the way of people and the nations which reflect them. Just days after Independence Day, my father removed his family from Downers Grove to accept a better job in Los Angeles. There, just a few months later on the school's basketball court, I learned of the President's assassination. This was the beginning of a train of epochal events. One of its many casualties was the scene so reminiscent of Currier & Ives I saw in all its beauty my last prairie Independence Day. Now gone forever. Columbia, the gem of the ocean, "The boast of the red, white and blue" sailed on to triumphs and tragedies but its great unities, unities that forged glorious destiny, were no longer present but merely aspects of history. We need them so today. And cannot be truly great again, a cynosure for a world that needs it, until we are united again.

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4th of July - Remember!

Resource
About the Author Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc. at www.worldprofit.com, providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. To see Dr. Lant's blog go to www.jeffreylantarticles.com Dr. Lant is happy to give all readers 50,000 free guaranteed visitors for attending his live webcast today. Visit Worldprofit for details. Republished with author's permission by Lance Sumner http://Profit2Riches.com.

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