GOLD STAR MOTHER'S DAY IS SUNDAY, SEPT. 30, 2007

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary


For Immediate Release September 21, 2007

Gold Star Mother's Day, 2007
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By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

The gift of liberty is secured by heroes who have answered the call to serve when America needed them most. On Gold Star Mother's Day, we honor the mothers of the service men and women who have given their lives in the defense of our great Nation.

America's Gold Star Mothers are remarkable patriots who serve their communities by demonstrating good citizenship, providing support and services to our troops and veterans, and helping comfort the families whose loved ones have made the ultimate sacrifice. Their sense of duty and deep devotion to our country inspire our Nation, and we thank them for their compassion, determination, and strength. Though they carry a great burden of grief, these courageous mothers help ensure that the legacy of our fallen heroes will be forever remembered. On this day, we offer our deep gratitude and respect to our Nation's Gold Star Mothers; we honor the sons and daughters who died while wearing the uniform of the United States; and we pray for God's blessings on them, their mothers, and their families.

The Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 115 of June 23, 1936 (49 Stat. 1895 as amended), has designated the last Sunday in September as "Gold Star Mother's Day" and has authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in its observance.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim Sunday, September 30, 2007, as Gold Star Mother's Day. I call upon all Government officials to display the flag of the United States over Government buildings on this solemn day. I also encourage the American people to display the flag and hold appropriate ceremonies as a public expression of our Nation's sympathy and respect for our Gold Star Mothers.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-first day of September, in the year of our Lord two thousand seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-second.


GEORGE W. BUSH

THE ORIGINAL RUBBER STAMP CONVENTION

This is sticky....scroll down for more......

A couple of weeks ago I got brave & called up A Stamp in the Hand to let them know about the Cards for the Troops project. Well much to my surprise it happened that I was speaking to The Stamptress, Kat Okamoto herself.....WOW! It turns out that they had just been talking about wanting to do something like that but didn't know where to start .....my phone call came at the perfect time! So....below is the information & you can also go to A Stamp in the Hand website for more information on the show. Hope I get to meet some of you there.

The Marine Slogan Won!

Back on September 4th I posted that The Few. The Proud. The Marines had been nominated for BEST SLOGAN for the Madison Avenue Advertising Walk of Fame. Well.......thanks to all who voted.....it is a winner!!

Here's an article about it that I was sent after I posted this.....thanks Kathy

Corps slogan takes out the competition
Staff reportPosted : Friday Sep 28, 2007 10:48:14 EDT

The Marine Corps’ legendary recruiting pitch, “The Few, The Proud, The Marines,” defeated such famous ad slogans as “Just Do It,” “Have It Your Way,” “Take a Bite Out of Crime” and “Think Outside the Bun” for a spot on the advertising industry’s Walk of Fame in New York City.

This year’s two winning slogans — the other is Southwest Airlines’ “Ding! You are now free to move about the country” — were announced Wednesday as part of Advertising Week 2007, an advertising industry convention in New York City. The Corps beat out a number of companies and agencies in a nationwide Internet poll for the honor, including Nike, Burger King, the National Crime Prevention Authority and Taco Bell.

The Corps and Southwest will join previous winners, such as the Texas Department of Transportation’s “Don’t Mess with Texas,” Verizon’s “Can You Hear Me Now?” and Hallmark’s “When You Care Enough to Send the Very Best,” on the Madison Avenue Advertising Walk of Fame, which consists of a plaque on the sidewalk between 49th and 50th Streets in Manhattan.
Other nominees the Corps beat out include: the USDA Forest Service’s “Give a Hoot. Don’t Pollute”; the California Milk Process Board’s “Got Milk?”; Major League Baseball’s “I Live For This!!!”; Dunkin’ Donuts’ “Time to Make the Donuts” and Allstate Insurance’s “You’re in good hands.”

SOME VIDEOS & SUCH TO SHARE

Here are some video's & such to see for all branches to see a different side & hopefully give them more of the respect they all deserve.

US ARMY DRILL TEAM HOOAH!!! Here's a Montage too.

Check out these NAVY SEALS.........very kewl. Make sure you click the download so you can see this on the entire monitor screen.

BLUE ANGELS & Again Here (Gonna see them next week)

And here are some sites for the Marines........Silent Drill Platoon (make sure to look at all the photos) & Here too, Combat Artists & The Three Jarheads

Here's a link you really need to check out......

And last but certainly not least is the US Coast Guard.....Here & then here too.

The Few, The Proud, The Romantic

And from the other side.....from a deployed Marine to his Wife. It isn't letting me embed it so I hope the link works.
From Scotty with Love

An Army Wife's Love for her Soldier

This was made by the wife of one of "The Communicator's" Battle's at AIT who was recently deployed to Iraq. They just got married in March of this year. This gives you an idea of just how much our service men & women (and their families too) give up to protect our freedoms. Please watch.

Some News to share.....

Thought you all might like to know that some of the service members that we have been sending cards to over the past few months have returned home with a few to return soon. Some have given me the names of their replacements so that the hospitals will continue to receive cards for several months to come. The emails I have shared here show how important this seemingly simple project has been to our men & women serving overseas. I will be collecting cards at Original Rubber Stamp Convention in San Jose this weekend & hopefully will continue to get cards mailed to me by those who have been with us since the beginning & many new card makers. Also please remember that we do take store bought cards also so if you wish to participate & do not make cards then you can send ones you buy along too. Maybe you have Christmas cards from past years laying around? Just please make sure that you have envelopes to go with the cards & that the glue is still good. We also need Cards written out to them, thanking them for their service......words of encouragement....plus Holiday cards to them are also needed. Remember........they aren't going to be spending the holidays with their families & friends.

Also.......Operation: MOM is doing a fundraiser for our Holiday Packages to the Troops. We are having a Spaghetti Feed & are looking for donations to use for raffle prizes. All the proceeds from this event will go for the Holiday Packing. We will also be collecting items to put in the boxes for this packing. You can see what is needed on this Christmas Wish List......thank you in advance for any help you can give us.

Vets for Freedom & Families United Video

This is a must see video......please take the time to watch & listen.

POW/MIA Recognition Day Cermony at Lone Tree Cemetary

This was a wonderful ceremony......much more emotional than we expected it to be tho. I have been to ceremony's on Memorial Day in the past which touched on honoring these hero's but I must say this ceremony really affected me. I will be there every year for this ......we must never forget.

Sgt. Michael L. Emerson, from the Castro Valley VFW, Marine 1982-1992 (Desert Storm) was master of ceremonies for this event.

Standing room only in the Mausoleum after plan b had to be used due to the rain.



Members of Operation: MOM were in attendance.

Vietnam Veterans were present & accounted for...... finally getting the praise, recognition & support these deserved 30+ years ago (please lets not do this again now).




VFW Honor Guard Post #9601....also Vietnam Vets.

Sonja, Col. John McPartland (retired) & me


The Vietnam Veteran's Memorial at Lone Tree Cemetery in Hayward, CA.

You may see more photo's HERE & HERE TOO.

Packing for the Troops

Another packing is over & done with. We sent off about 350 boxes yesterday to our wonderful troops overseas. Alot of the boxes were done on Friday by employees of Mervyn's who donated product & packed the boxes too. So appreciated for sure. I didn't take alot of photo's as we were busy trying to get done as most of us wanted to go to the POW/MIA Recognition Day Ceremony which was being held later in the morning. We were able to finish packing early so we could lock up & go. Some of us then came back to clean up & take what was leftover back to the storage containers. Diane & Bill both took pix & I will post some of those when I get them.

Sonja & her son, Cory....active duty Army

The only students who came to this packing....thanks so much girls for all your help. Hope you come next time too.

2007 NATIONAL POW/MIA RECOGNITION DAY

We will be going to the local ceremony at Lone Tree Cemetary in Hayward which will be held tomorrow.......will post more later along with photo's. I apologize for the quick post but packing is tomorrow & still bagging more cards up.

QUOTE FOR TODAY

"Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale, and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled or hanged."

President Abraham Lincoln

HAPPY BIRTHDAY US AIR FORCE!!

Today is the Air Force's 60th Birthday & Diane & I are off to a celebration in San Jose. Will post photo's later.

Here are some of the photo's I took today....this event was held at the San Jose City Hall & there was a reception before the city council meeting. The City issued a Proclamation declaring today, September 18, 2007 as United Air Force Day. There were several WWII Air Force Vets in attendance as well as other Air Force Vets....one of which was an Operation: MOM member, Tom Ballard who came with us. We also heard the story of John Buecheler, My Glide for Life, which he told to Stories-of-Service.org in the Spring of 2006. Mr. Buecheler died in December 2006 but will never be forgotten because of this wonderful organization. I strongly suggest that you check out this website to listen to these stories & also to see how you can help preserve this valuable history. Do you have a veteran in your family that you would like to be remembered forever?


Me & the Lt. Colonel's






This is the San Jose City Hall.

Livermore, CA

After we went to the CTMH Open House on Saturday we decided to take a drive thru downtown Livermore as we had heard about the tree that was smack dab in the middle of it & we wanted to see. Well I was so touched......this tree is covered with Yellow Ribbons as you can see. As you walk around all the light poles have banners hanging from them with the name of different service members along with the branch of service below their names. Our Local Paper doesn't put anything in about the accomplishments of Our Local Service Men & Women. This is Hayward, CA which calls itself the "Heart of the Bay".......... Does you town do something like this to honor our Service Members? If so can you please send me photo's & name of town/city with em by email so I can forward on to the Hayward City Council. I would greatly appreciate it.

As we roamed around we found a nice shop, "Country Morning", which had this fabulous print hanging on the wall. It's called "Liberty Awake" by Timothy Wistrom. The original painting is waiting to go into a Memorial Museum for 9/11. May have to save up for this one.

Another week has started.....

I'm so sorry that I didn't do anything again this weekend but Saturday I went to an Open House & did some sightseeing/shopping over in Livermore which may have netted some raffle .prizes for Operation: MOM's upcoming Spaghetti Feed. I took some photo's around Livermore to share with you all later.

Last evening we went to pay our respects to the family of Cpl Carlos Gil Orozco, a 23 year old Marine, who was killed last Monday, Sept. 10th in Iraq. The funeral is this afternoon. If you wish to leave your condolances you can do so at the Guest Book on Legacy.com.

Last Tuesday, Sept 11, 2007, Diane & I had the honor of going to watch the Marine Silent Drill Platoon during filming of the new commercial for the Marines which will air in 2008. It was very amazing & what a great group of young men. Truly made me proud to be an American. For more information on them go to Our Marines.......if they will be near you then you MUST try to go see them. Here is the slide show I put together of all the photo's Diane & I took plus a couple from the Our Marines site.......enjoy!

SOME GOOD NEWS TO START THE WEEK

Iraqi boy leads troops to weapons cache
Monday, 17 September 2007

BAGHDAD — A Multi-National Division-Baghdad unit discovered a cache of explosives and improvised explosive device-making materials in a western neighborhood of the Iraqi capital following a tip from a local boy Sept. 15.

A platoon from Battery B, 2nd Battalion, 32nd Field Artillery Regiment (Task Force Patriot), was conducting a census operation in the western Baghdad neighborhood of Yarmouk when an 11-year-old Iraqi boy pointed out an abandoned house and suggested that insurgents had used it as a base of operations in previous months.

The Soldiers discovered two cache sites within the house after a detailed search. The contents of the two caches included four RPG-7 rockets, nine 57mm rockets, two 82mm mortars, one 130mm artillery round, one 122mm artillery round, one block of TNT, a foot of detonation cord, 52 AK-47 magazines and an assortment of IED-detonating devices.
An explosive ordnance disposal team responded to the scene and removed the explosives for detonation later in a controlled environment.

“We’re encouraged by the fact that a tip from an Iraqi child led us to this cache,” said Capt. Jayson Morgan, commander of Battery B and a Munday, Texas native. “It’s just another sign that our efforts in this community are paying dividends.”

Morgan said he will return to the neighborhood later this week to pay the family of the young boy a reward for providing such valuable information.

Coalition forces capture 12 suspected terrorists in Baghdad
Monday, 17 September 2007

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Coalition forces captured an Iraqi terrorist with links to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps - Quds Forces (IRGC-QF) and eleven other suspected terrorists during coordinated early morning operations in Baghdad Monday.

The operations targeted a senior Special Groups leader directly linked, according to sensitive intelligence, to several other high-ranking terrorists operating in and around Baghdad.
Those in custody are believed to be involved in smuggling and storing weapons from Iran used to attack Iraqi civilians and the security forces that protect them. Intelligence further indicates that the group is linked to the production and distribution of deadly Explosively Formed Penetrators (EFPs) and the supporting of foreign terrorist operations.

Coalition forces detained six individuals at the first target area without incident, and followed on with operations at two other sites where they captured the other individuals.

A vehicle approached the security perimeter of the ground force during the operation. The vehicle, which was out after curfew, was warned with lights and warning shots before Coalition forces engaged the hostile threat with machine gun fire and destroyed it. The ground forces assess the driver was killed.

“The capture of key Special Groups leaders will allow us to further disrupt the activities of those who attempt to undermine the security and stability of Iraq,” said Maj. Winfield Danielson, MNF-I spokesman

9/11 Candlelight Vigil

I'm adding this late but I wanted to share what we did this evening to honor those who died on 9/11/01. Our local VFW (Castro Valley, CA), who are very supportive of Operation: MOM, were holding a candlelight vigil in remembrance of all those who lost their lives 6 years ago. It was a small group but very big on heart.

As we finished & were heading home we noticed a huge flag up the hill at The Neighborhood Church of Castro Valley. We had heard they were having a service but had already committed to spending the time with the VFW. We headed up the hill to see if anything was still in progress but they were winding down. I did get some photo's of the awesome flag & all the emergency vehicles that were in attendance. WE MUST NEVER FORGET!

I'm still sorting thru cards........

It has been a VERY busy week & I have lots to share but need to go to a meeting this evening so will post more (with photo's) tomorrow. I got a HUGE box of cards from Dottie & I finally got em all sorted out & pictures taken so had to share. Yes....all 5 of the photo's below are cards from Dottie only......both handmade & store bought cards. Thank you so much Dottie.....these really help alot......your support is greatly appreciated.

United We Stand--9/11