World War II veterans knock down police barriers to attend memorial on the National Mall

I think it sounds like the Park Police have handled this okay, given everything ...and it's not their fault to be honest. Now that we've seen they didn't bum rush the old guys and try and pull an Occupy like removal. I could find my own gas money to get to D.C. for the protests that follow a thing like that if it happened......

I believe all this shut down the last time the Government did though. It's been so long ago, I don't recall 100% if the monument side of D.C. shut down as well as all the National Parks around the nation or just the parks. Probably both....

In the World War II memorial case? Talk about following the letter of the law....despite the over-all word clearly spelling out W R O N G.

These should never be run as limited access anything, in ANY form ..anyway. Not these open air monuments, and particularly on the Mall. Got problems with punks damaging things? Well.....Aren't these the guys that can tell how a terrorist parts his hair from 30,000 feet before Hellfiring him to Paradise?? They can't patrol for delinquents? Really??

So...Open these up, period. Every day. Without exceptions for politics or anything else. Drop the whole pretense of "limited access" itself for these things. Especially memorials. That's the LEAST we can collectively do in their memory and honor ...have their one special place open to all, all the time.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000

Hit that nail one more time!

This is the worst case of fear mongering by our idiot in chief. DOOM AND GLOOM, OH MY! How stupid can one be to place barricades around open air monuments, continue to staff with Park Police, and then say we can't afford to keep them open?

800,000 workers were sent home today, and will remain home until this budget crisis ends. If we can make it a week without these folks, sounds like we have too many on the government teat!

This administration is not very bright, but anybody knows better than to mess with our vets! Guess they didn't get the memo.

I'm so happy that they were able to walk through. My grandfather (rip) was a WWII vet, and he would have been thrilled to be there with them.

reply to post by retiredTxn



What else can we expect? Obama never served in a war, he has absolutely no idea the sacrifice and the incredible courage these WWII veterans had. He would not understand the respect they deserve, so there is no surprise that he was not there to meet with them, or invite them into the WH, and give them special honor.

My grandpa was a lot of things, but a dude you could get to Washington, D.C. on 24 hours' notice was not one of them. It wasn't a political stunt. This trip was planned a month ago, and the normal people who were guarding the site let them in, because they are not idiots.

As you were.

abcnews.go.com...

Any government worker who believes these men should be denied access needs to find another payroll to work under. That's the president on down to the guy putting up barricades.

michael22
My grandpa was a lot of things, but a dude you could get to Washington, D.C. on 24 hours' notice was not one of them. It wasn't a political stunt. This trip was planned a month ago, and the normal people who were guarding the site let them in, because they are not idiots.

As you were.

abcnews.go.com...

Sometimes, Madam Former Secretary, you don't have to pick the other side.

Hell yeah my uncle 85 years old was down there as he lives close, served on the escort carrier USS Makin Island ,did the winding road to Tokyo,,, the big one the battle of Lettie Gulf * escort carries with 1 5 inch gun8 destroyers 5 escort destroyers held off the Yamato other battle ships and cruisers..turned them back ..there losses....2 carriers 4 destroyers and 2 escort destroyers ...They sacrificed themselves to save the the carriers!
A little known battle that broke down the Japanese ! I am very proud of 3 of my family members that served in WII.
If I had the time I would be down there with him!

THIS CONGRESS HAS TO GO THEY ARE KILLING ME AND MY FRIENDS.

Note: thanks to this government I have worked my butt off I may loose my home...God bless America under Obama!

Sometimes, Madam Former Secretary, you don't have to pick the other side.

reply to post by greencmp


Thank you for the note. I'll have to remember to speak more clearly in the future.

This was not a political event. I'm not taking a side.

It will be interesting to see if there is any blowback against the staffers who let them in? I hope the WH is not that stupid.

michael22

Sometimes, Madam Former Secretary, you don't have to pick the other side.

reply to post by greencmp

 

Thank you for the note. I'll have to remember to speak more clearly in the future.

This was not a political event. I'm not taking a side.

My apologies, I am so used to your contrarian musings that I may be reading into your comments unjustly.

I'm not so sure this push is over either. There were several references today to the many more veterans groups already scheduled to visit these memorials in the coming weeks. To deny them access to this memorial is simply wrong. In their 80s...who is going to tell them to delay their planned visits? They have earned every right to be there.

These veterans fought for our rights. And they are still standing up...even from wheelchairs if need be...to remind all of us what freedom is and what a real patriot looks like.

I don't see them standing down.

And the national parks have a 48 hour timeframe for people to supposedly vacate. There may be more than one person who sees public land as owned by the public. With all these folks out of work newly and those who have been searching long and hard for a decent paycheck, there are those who would volunteer to man the memorials and parks so our veterans and others are not turned away.

These are interesting times...my sincere appreciation goes out to these veterans for reminding us what courage looks like.

Those Park police should have been paying those veterans, just to be in the presence of American soldiers who endured the worst of times, and afterward...the best of times. Their experience, and knowledge, of a life time lived to the fullest, would have been well worth whatever they charged.

It's not over...not even close.

Veterans Plot To Expand Revolt Against Government Shutdown

WASHINGTON — Military veterans are declaring war on the government shutdown.
After a group of veterans broke down the barricades at the national World War II Memorial Tuesday afternoon, organizers of one Hero Flight Network group told BuzzFeed it wasn’t the last Washington would hear from them. Veterans are plotting another protest at the same place Wednesday, and expressed interest in staging similar events at sites across the nation’s capital, including the Lincoln Memorial — an act of civil disobedience that would likely pour fuel on the already highly flammable politics of the government shutdown.
“We have people here that are 80 and 90 years old and they closed down all the bathrooms?” said Tony Nussbaum, a 25-year veteran of the Air Force from Iowa and a leader of the state’s Hero Flight group. “I’m about to just start pissing on the trees.”
The World War II Memorial on the National Mall became a political battlefield 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.”
Wednesday’s rally at the World War II is set to become a political sideshow to the larger shutdown debate, with RNC chair Reince Priebus urging Republicans to show up at the event with American flags to support the veterans and attack Democrats and Obama. Those RNC supporters that show up will find a lot of Republican lawmakers — and at least one Democrat, Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill — at the memorial waiting for them.

Read the full story

This is about veterans - not politicians riding on their coat tails. Today should be a doozy. Lead on!

Really there's nothing they could do to stop the vets. If they tried, it would be comparable to turning fire hoses on present day civil rights protestors. Political suicide. Really they can't stop anybody from seeing the memorials if they wish, we own them, not them. It was just a ploy to generate ill will against the proponents of the shut down and it blew up in their faces. The people win this one.

I'm sure we will hear from some Obama supporters about this.I can hear the shrill cries of "Domestic Terrorists."Already.Let's see how the administration spins this I can them subtlety have some reporters imply that the WWII vets were sent by the GOP to make the Democrats look bad or if they do head to the Lincoln memorial it will simply be blacked out.

Come on people, cuts had to be made..
It was the national parks or tell Michelle she couldn't go shoe shopping this week.
The White House made the obvious choice..

Obama's administration denied the request? I wonder how many wars he fought.

This is a moment in history where Americans have to put aside their differences and get the military on their side. The government is clearly not serving its purpose.

All men are created equal and there are certain unalienable rights that governments should never violate. These rights include the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. When a government fails to protect those rights, it is not only the right, but also the duty of the people to overthrow that government. In its place, the people should establish a government that is designed to protect those rights.

reply to post by TwiTcHomatic


Good for them!! Fighting the nazi terror once agian. I'd like to buy them all a drink!

What makes me love it even more what they did is some of them are from my home state Mississippi...