After the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, John Adams, then age 16, lied about his age to join the Marines so he could fight those who had dared attack his country. His enlistment date was December 10, 1941, just three days after the attack on Pearl Harbor (see below). As a Marine rifleman, he fought the Japanese from island to island, across the pacific, including at Iwo Jima. We may have good men, but we never had better.
Date of enlistment: December 10, 1941. Now that's what you call stepping up! - but he was not alone. And neither are you.John Adams was my father-in-law. Once my young son, always full of questions, asked his Grandpa John "how many Japanese soldiers did you see go still in your [rifle] sights, Grandpa?" (yes, my son talks like that) Grandpa John, who usually was not at a loss for words, and never passed up an invitation to launch into a good story, just looked away for a moment, in a thousand yard stare, and then looking down at his grandson simply said "too many."
Until his death in 2006, he was a dedicated patriot who still took his oath to defend the Republic deadly serious.
May God grant you the courage to do likewise.
Stewart Rhodes
In memory of that sixteen-year-old boy who went to war so long ago and saw things no sixteen year old should ever have to see, and in the hope that his service was not in vain, we dedicate this song:
THE MINSTREL BOY
by Thomas Moore
The Minstrel Boy to the war is gone
In the ranks of death you will find him;
His father's sword he hath girded on,
And his wild harp slung behind him;"
Land of Song!" said the warrior bard,
"Tho' all the world betrays thee,
One sword, at least, thy rights shall guard,
One faithful harp shall praise thee!"
The Minstrel fell! But the foeman's chain
Could not bring that proud soul under;
The harp he lov'd ne'er spoke again,
For he tore its chords asunder;
And said "No chains shall sully thee,
Thou soul of love and brav'ry!
Thy songs were made for the pure and free,
They shall never sound in slavery!"
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3 comments:
I wrote this a couple days ago, and a friend told me about the Oath Keepers site. If you like it, you may use it anywhere you wish. I call it,
"Change"
April nineteen, seventeen seven five.
Boys stood where men would in just an hour and five.
It's happened time and again; Black Panthers round 'Nam.
The Jews, they lost theirs before Kristallnacht began.
To deprive them of arms, Red masses marched across farms.
After powder stored in Concord, and muskets piled in barns.
Building frst through the mist, the beating drum pulse and fife rings,
Josiah said to Sam, "They sound as terrible things."
Gapping stone walls, there rose calls, to "Stand rank, men steady!"
How though? Are boys, even men, ever ready?
Boys hot with fear, watched a rider call, "Drums rear!"
"Fix bayonets ... fire! Advance, field to clear!"
The world changed. Men ran, but once clear they all knew.
Resolve found in spring winds, home fields sodden with dew.
"To Mill Brook boys! Middlesex men gather past the homes, men, laid waste."
... but the muster point, much pondered, was chosen wisely in haste.
They held both the pastures, and the hill, and the pass.
Advancing themselves over Redcoat stained grass.
Concord's powder kegs safe, by militia flannel on flint.
These boys who ran, no shots fired, in the end, well they didn't.
What started that day? Freedom birthed, now ... alive.
Who could have imagined, on the green, that first hour and five?
April nineteen, seventeen seven five.
- rightcoast
Hey Nightcoast, thanks for the poem. Well done. But one question - the reference to Black Panthers is to them being disarmed?
Also, if you are a vet, please submit your testimonial here as a comment, and I will post both your testimonial and your poem as a stand alone post on the blog.
Stewart Rhodes, OK
De Oppresso Liber - To the Utmost Extent of Our Power.
Sorry - I meant "rightcosst"
Really, a great poem. Obviously not your first time doing that. Thanks! Please do post your testimonial if you took the oath.
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