You could have heard a pin drop......

Some of you have probably seen these before but they're still hilarious.
........................................................................................................




once upon a time, our politicians tended not to apologize for our country's prior actions.



Here's a refresher on how some of our former patriots handled negative comments about our country.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~





JFK'S Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, was in France in the early 60's when

DeGaulle decided to pull out of NATO. DeGaulle said he wanted all US

military out of France as soon as possible.



Rusk responded, "Does that include those who are buried here?"


DeGaulle did not respond.



You could have heard a pin drop.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When in England, at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the

Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of

'empire building' by George Bush..



He answered by saying,



"Over the years, the United States has sent many of

its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom

beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for

in return is enough to bury those that did not

return."



You could have heard a pin drop.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



There was a conference in France



where a number of international engineers

were taking part, including French and American. During a break,

one of the French engineers came back into the room saying, "Have you

heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft

carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he

intend to do, bomb them?"



A Boeing engineer



stood up and replied quietly: "Our carriers have three

hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are

nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to

shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to

feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand

gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a

dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and

from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships;



how many does France have?"



You could have heard a pin drop.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included

admirals from the U.S., English, Canadian, Australian and French

Navies at a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large

group of officers that included personnel from most of those countries.

Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a

French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many

languages, Americans learn only English. He then asked, "Why is it that

we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than

speaking French?"



Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied, "Maybe it's because the

Brit's, Canadians, Aussie's and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't

have to speak German."



You could have heard a pin drop.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~





AND THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE...



Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane.



At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport



in his carry on.



"You have been to France before, monsieur?" the customs officer asked

sarcastically.



Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France

previously.



"Then you should know enough to have your passport ready."



The American said, "The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it."



"Impossible! Americans always have to show their passports on arrival in France!"



The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he

quietly explained, ''Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in

1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find a single Frenchmen

to show a passport to."



You could have heard a pin drop.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

It's too bad the rest of the world sees some of our TV shows and internet posts and thinks that we all suck.
:gp:

 

I think that America has a better reputation than you may think. In my travels, in talking to people from other places and in talking to people who travel much more than I ever will, the anti American thing is simply not there, or at least not in countries that you would care much about.
I think like many things, the negative is promoted by media and politicians with an agenda.
People around the globe, in general are far less harsh.

 

I travel to many American cities, towns and villages doing my job keeping the economy moving, and definitely agree with your statement. :beer Of course, there will always the occasional "Negative Norm or Nelly", but they're easily left on their own. :laugh:

Since I'm usually attired in some sort of Green Bay Packers gear, that often becomes a conversation starter, even in Minnesota.:bla: I've met many great people just because of that.

 

There are certainly a number of places in this world where you Americans are not as welcomed as you would perhaps wish.

There are also a number where you are more than welcome, in fact here in Oz we sort of feel related, like southern cousins with extra southern.

 

I think the sentiment is nice, but I couldn't help but notice that the accounts are slightly (extremely) anti-French. I don't really think that is fair. If if weren't for the French, we would be living in the United States of Great Britain, and drinking tea. And yeah, we helped out France during World War II, but they didn't just surrender and watch the rest of the world fight it out. France lost 567,000 people in World War II. 350,000 of those deaths being civilian, due to "military acts and crimes against humanity". The United States lost 418,000 people, with only 1700 of those being civilian. Every one of those deaths was a tragedy, but at least the servicemen had a fighting chance.

And Charles DeGaulle, the guy who wanted American servicemen out of his country, was a national, and international hero. He fought in the French Resistance. In fact, he FOUNDED the Free French Forces, who fought on every battleground of WWII, including the Normandy landings. They spearheaded the move that retook Paris(DeGaulle almost attacked without Allied backing, because he thought Eisenhower was taking too long.) By the end of World War II, the Free French Forces were the 4th largest allied army, and they helped invade Berlin. They were planning on sending troops to help us out with Japan, but the atom bombs ended the war before that could happen. They were there, every step of the way. Then after that, DeGaulle helped rebuild France, remarkably quickly, back into a world power. Given that background, I think it was perfectly reasonable for him to not want American soldiers to babysit France for the next 20 years after World War II. He wanted France to be given some respect, which is still isn't getting. We can't keep soldiers stationed in every country forever. Bury the dead, and move on to the place where the living are needed most.

Overall, I think the servicemen who died in World War II were some of the bravest, noblest men who ever lived. But I also think that the thousands and thousands of French who died were also some of the bravest, noblest men who ever lived. And while American service men got to go back to the booming US, buy houses in suburbs, and start the baby boom, the French soldiers had burned out homes, and massacred families to bury. Sure, we helped out France a lot, but we were returning a long due favor, and I just think that the idea that we went in and did all the dirty work for them while they sucked their thumbs is a bit arrogant. France has a very strong history, and they don't get enough respect, considering the things they've gone through.

 

^ getting schooled by a 19 yr old on world history = priceless

I love the diversity of this board

 

Good history lesson Lance!

However the support of the North Vietnamese and by extension the VC burned my bridges with those guys.

Seeing Peugot anad Renaults financial problems really tickles me.

---------- Post added at 07:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:43 AM ----------

Sorry Lantz!

 

I made a minor revision to your statement, since there were more than just Americans and Frenchmen who died in service during World War 2. My grandfather served in the Canadian military overseas.

Otherwise, I'm with Alan. :gp:

 

I have traveled fairly extensively in Europe and have not found any significant anti-American feelings. That includes France and Russia.

---------- Post added at 09:04 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:53 AM ----------

As has been said on this board before Lantz, you are wise beyond your years. Actually, there would be no United States without France. The Marquis Lafayette led and trained many of our troops in the revolution, France kept England watching it's flank, and the battle of Yorktown would have been lost without the timely arrival of the French Navy. The French actually lost more men at Yorktown then did we. After Normandy, the French gave land above Omaha Beach to the United States so that our troops who died in Normandy could be buried on American soil. The American flag is the only flag that flies over the American cemetery there. I am not a French-basher.
I think some of the anti-French sentiment comes from Americans who have visited Paris and think they have seen France. That's like a foreigner visiting New York City and thinking that he understands the USA.

 

Hi Jason, I have seen that before. I really hope that it actually happened. I do have a not-dissimilar story that I know for a fact is true: In the late '80s my father-in-law was in Hawaii to photograph an upcoming solar eclipse (his specialty was high-speed film. He has been published in Life Magazine, and he was the person CBS selected to analyze the Zapruder film of JFK's assassination). He was standing in line for check-in at his hotel, a Japanese-appearing man of about his own age was standing in line in front of him. The desk clerk was trying to be friendly, polite, and courteous; when the man started to check in, the clerk ask if he had ever been to Hawaii before. He answered "Yes, on December 7, 1941". The clerk was speechless.

 

Make even prouder to be an American

 

bill, that was awesome!

 

X2 :TU:

Lance I have to say I think you made your point very well.

We have some fantastic board members here :beers2:

 

Lantz has a good point.Maybe it's not my buss,I was not born in this great country,but I did serve here in the military,attached to the famed 82 Airborne Division,as such I think I can make a small point.Did the Americans at the time the French helped us here tell them:You helped,thank you,but now we don't need you anymore,so get out!One small [big ]point Lantz did not point out.As to DeGaulle,he was a great leader,but also he was human,and as such he made some mistakes.Telling the Americans to get out was one of them.As to the things that were first said,nobody questioned the fact that those incidents really happened,so if they are true,they are not bashing the French,they are just posting a fact.If it happened and you don't like it,it's too bad.Reporting the truth is just that,the truth.Don't want to keep,so BrunoD. going