WWII Vets Knock Over Shutdown Barrier to Visit Memorial

[famousdayandyear]

http://freebeacon.com/wwii-vets-knock-over-shutdown-barrier-to-visit-wwii-memorial/

WWII Vets Knock Over Shutdown Barrier to Visit Memorial
Leo Shane III

BY: Washington Free Beacon Staff
October 1, 2013 11:55 am

A group of World War II veterans in an Honor Flight group Tuesday knocked over barriers imposed during the government shutdown at the WWII Memorial in Washington, D.C., to get inside.

As part of the federal government shutdown, national parks are closed. But the group of veterans continued to the monument Tuesday, as reported by Stars and Stripes reporter Leo Shane:

    Honor flight vets just knocked over the barriers at the WWII memorial to get inside, #shutdown or no. pic.twitter.com/T4bx8kvFYj

    — Leo Shane III (@LeoShane) October 1, 2013

    No sign of folks leaving. The vets have control of the memorial. #shutdown pic.twitter.com/eGj4kmFEiP

    — Leo Shane III (@LeoShane) October 1, 2013

    Credit where due — I watched Rep Steve King distract a park police officer while vets and staffers knocked down the fences here. #shutdown

    — Leo Shane III (@LeoShane) October 1, 2013

[GourmetDan]

Yep, those guys definitely look like a threat to the government.

Taze 'em Bro!

/s

[famousdayandyear]

Yep, those guys definitely look like a threat to the government.

Taze 'em Bro!

/s

Yep, those guys stormed the beaches at Normandy.  They're not dead.   In fact, they're the reason we're communicating in the English language.  A little respect would be much appreciated for "those guys".

[Cincinnatus]

And once again they earn our respect and admiration. Just another "invasion", echoing their bravery at places like Normandy and Iwo Jima. Only this time the enemy isn't the Nazis or the Japanese, it's...

[famousdayandyear]

And once again they earn our respect and admiration. Just another "invasion", echoing their bravery at places like Normandy and Iwo Jima. Only this time the enemy isn't the Nazis or the Japanese, it's...

Well said and eloquent point made.  How ironic the enemy is now their own government. Makes me sick.

[Cincinnatus]

Thank you for your kind comments, FDaY. Like you this whole thing makes me heavy of heart. Is this what we have come to? Men who have got to be in their 80s, possibly 90s, having to storm a monument dedicated to their service in WWII; a monument that, as I understand it, was not supposed to be closed in any case?

[flowers]

It is truly wonderful to see this. 

[famousdayandyear]

HT:  WeaselZippers

Update: Sanity prevails.

    (WaPo) – The group had arrived at 10 a.m. at Reagan National Airport on a chartered flight from Gulfport, Miss. The U.S. Park Police allowed the bus to stop.

    “I’m not going to enforce the no stopping or standing sign for a group of 90 World War II veterans,” said the officer, who declined to give his name. “I’m a veteran myself. ”

[mystery-ak]

more photos here from Louie Gohmert
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151866061401904.1073741833.50375006903&type=1

[GourmetDan]

A lesson in what we all need to do.

Just move the federal barriers out of the way and go about our business...

[famousdayandyear]

A lesson in what we all need to do.

Just move the federal barriers out of the way and go about our business...

Exactly!  ooo-rah

[raml]

God Bless them.

[Cincinnatus]

The battle continues:

TOLEDO -- Locally in the Glass City, we can see the affects of the government shutdown at our museums, monuments, and national parks. The gates are closed and locked, denying access completely to the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge.

TSA employees were still working at Toledo Express Airport, but when WNWO called the TSA to find out if they would be affected, there was a message that said the public relations representative did not have access to her voicemail or email due to the government shutdown.

In a letter from Marcy Kaptur's office in the 9th District, it read, "...only services deemed essential for the safety of human life and protection of property will be continued."

But for a group of World War II vets visiting the national memorial in Washington D.C., an all expense paid trip which is called an "Honor Flight," the shutdown was not stopping them from seeing the tribute that was inspired by them.

"It just goes to show you why we won World War II," says Honor Flight of Northwest Ohio President Lee Armstrong.

Many elderly veterans, some in wheelchairs, broke through the barriers set up around the memorial, as police, park service employees, and tourists looked on.

"The Germans and the Japanese couldn't contain us. They weren't going to let barriers contain them today. They wanted to see their memorial," says Armstrong.

Honor Flight of Northwest Ohio has a trip scheduled to depart from Toledo next Wednesday, October 9.

"We will make the call this Friday to determine if the flight is still a go, or if we will have to re-schedule," Armstrong explains.

He says they are considering going ahead with the trip even if the government is still on shutdown, but when he called the parks service, he was told they would face arrest.

Armstrong says, "I said, are you kidding me? You're going to arrest a 90/91-year-old veteran from seeing his memorial? If it wasn't for them it wouldn't be there. She said, 'That's correct sir.'"

When he asked for her name, he says she did not give it to him and then promptly hung up the phone.

99% of veterans on Honor Flights have never had the opportunity to see the memorial that is devoted to their service.

Through October, the are over 35,000 veterans scheduled to visit the site, more than 900 in the next five days alone.

It may all be waiting in limbo if the government can't complete their job.

[emphasis added]

Oh, by all means, arrest these people. We can't have them just willy-nilly violating park regulations, now can we? 

[olde north church]

A lesson in what we all need to do.

Just move the federal barriers out of the way and go about our business...

 

[Olivia]

Veterans Plot To Expand Revolt Against Government Shutdown

They might tear down the barricades at the Lincoln Memorial next — and pee on the trees — to protest Washington dysfunction. “People here need to be thinking about serving their country and not their own sorry butts.”

Tuesday, with conservatives excoriating Democrats for the monument’s closure as they escorted busloads of war veterans past bewildered park rangers and into the shuttered monument.

On Wednesday, the scene could repeat itself when groups from the Honor Flight Network — a national charity that brings aging World War II veterans to visit the national monument to the conflict they fought in — are scheduled to arrive at the massive outdoor memorial. Meanwhile, veterans have pondered staging a similar protest at the Lincoln memorial, said Jamie Miller, a five-year veteran of the Marine Corps and another organizer of the Iowa group that stormed the World War II memorial Tuesday.

“We are thinking about jumping the Lincoln memorial too,” he said. “If Lincoln was a war memorial I would do it in a heart beat.”
------
Meanwhile, the veterans themselves are unimpressed with everyone in Washington.

“People here need to be thinking about serving their country and not their own sorry butts,” said one Iowa veteran on hand for the Tuesday’s rally. “I wish more of them came down today so i could tell them to get their heads out of their asses.”

http://www.buzzfeed.com/evanmcsan/veterans-plot-to-expand-revolt-against-government-shutdown

 

[mountaineer]

The left's talking points - which I saw on Facebook - are that these veterans were egged on by some Republican congressmen, that they really had no intention of entering the memorial. It all was just a Republican PR stunt, in other words.   :nometalk:

[GourmetDan]

I think that another group of vets is supposed to show up today.  The administration is promising to arrest them if they try to enter the memorial.

[musiclady]

I think that another group of vets is supposed to show up today.  The administration is promising to arrest them if they try to enter the memorial.

I actually hope they do, and that the photos go viral on the internet immediately.

People need to see Capitol police arresting 85 year old WWII vets on behalf of Obama and his thug regime.

[musiclady]

The left's talking points - which I saw on Facebook - are that these veterans were egged on by some Republican congressmen, that they really had no intention of entering the memorial. It all was just a Republican PR stunt, in other words.   :nometalk:

Can't imagine that WWII vets actually think for themselves, can they?

The left assumes that all of America is as brain dead as they are.

[Bigun]

I think that another group of vets is supposed to show up today.  The administration is promising to arrest them if they try to enter the memorial.

Please God! Let this happen PLEASE!

[SouthTexas]

Please God! Let this happen PLEASE!

That would be about the time the rest of the country visited DC.

Sad thing is, it's already past time.

[Bigun]

That would be about the time the rest of the country visited DC.

Sad thing is, it's already past time.

 

[happyg]

They are showing it on Fox now. If they don't get through, they might not live long enough to get another chance to see it.

[mountaineer]

This is insane. This is an open memorial. You walk across a park-like area, and you're there. This isn't like getting into the Smithsonian. Good grief.