Happy Birthday, America!!!
 

Happy Birthday to America!!

Land of the Free and Home of the Brave. No place I'd rather be...

God Bless our troops who fight the good fight and may we see them home safe and sound as soon as their job is done. And God Bless those who have died throughout our brief history to keep her free. Without the selfless sacrifice of our nations best and brightest this great country would not be what it is today, a beacon of hope to the world.

I hope that you all, my friends here on the forum that have shown me such friendship over the past couple of years, have the best Independance Day celebration ever! Stay safe on the roads and stay with us here for many more years to come. :cheers:

Amen

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I am reminded today of Jerry Burney's wonderful quote "For those that have fought for it, freedom has a flavor the protected will never know.."
(or the rest of us..not sure I have this right) I love this quote. Thank you, Jerry.
My local paper (12-half size pages complete)has a tribute to July 4th. Given is a short summary of what happened to the signers. Clearly, many had successful lives and went on to further service to the nation.
Some gave everything they had. From the paper:
John Adams was hunted, moving his family five times in a few months.
Abraham Clark of New Jersey had two of his sons captured by the British during the war.
Eleven had homes and property destroyed. Francis Lewis's New York home was razed, his wife taken prisoner.
John Hart's farm and mills were destroyed and he died fleeing capture.
Carter Braxton and Nelson, both of Virginia, lent large sums of their personal fortune to the war effort, and were never repaid.
Seventeen signers fought in the revolution. Five were captured during the war. Richard Stockton never recovered from his incarceration, and died in 1781.
To believe in freedom so much!
I do believe we are fighting the good fight still. Or trying to. And we should be doing that.
I am convinced that the people and ideas we are fighting now will be our biggest challenge, and if we are not in this fight we will all die
or subsist until we are hunted and killed for what we are: Free.