Nemo me impune lacessit

No one provokes me with impunity

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No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

Article 1, Section 9, Constitution of the United States

If this is the law of the land...why in a republic (little r) and as republicans, do we allow mere POLITICIANS to the right to use a "title of office" for the rest of their lives as if it were de facto a patent of nobility. Because, as republicans, this should NOT be the case...just saying...

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Monday, September 17, 2012

Operation Market-Garden, Sep 17, 1944

Today is the 68th anniversary of Operation Market-Garden.  The attempt by Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, KG, GCB, DSO, PC , to cross the Rhine River and end World War II in Europe by Christmas.  It was "less than successful."  It was in two parts, a massive airborne drop, in fact the largest in history, with a large scale ground assault by Gen. Sir Brian Horrocks, XXX Corps.




The 101st Airborne was to be dropped in the south of the single road corridor near the city of Eindhoven.  The 82nd Airborne Division would be dropped in the centre at Nijmagen, while the British 1st Airborne Division (the Red Devils) would be dropped outside of Arnhem, Netherlands.



From Wikipedia
Initially, the operation was marginally successful and several bridges between Eindhoven and Nijmegen were captured. However, Gen. Horrocks' XXX Corps ground force's advance was delayed by the demolition of a bridge over the Wilhelmina Canal, as well as an extremely overstretched supply line, at Son, delaying the capture of the main road bridge over the Meuse until 20 September. At Arnhem, the British 1st Airborne Division encountered far stronger resistance than anticipated. In the ensuing battle, only a small force managed to hold one end of the Arnhem road bridge and after the ground forces failed to relieve them, they were overrun on 21 September. The rest of the division, trapped in a small pocket west of the bridge, had to be evacuated on 25 September. The Allies had failed to cross the Rhine in sufficient force and the river remained a barrier to their advance until the offensives at Remagen, Oppenheim, Rees and Wesel in March 1945. The failure of Market Garden ended Allied expectations of finishing the war by Christmas 1944.[18]
The British 1st Airborne suffered nearly 80% casualties in killed, wounded and captured before crossing to the south side of the Maas (Lower Rhine) River...

My father was scheduled to fly as deputy commander of his troop carrier squadron, but ended up with an inner ear disorder and was grounded for several weeks prior and after the operation.  That's a good thing for me, because the pilot that took his place was shot down...and killed, but he  got his stick off before his plane went in.



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