Sorry, but I can’t understand anything he is saying.
bob
on October 22, 2009 at 7:13 am
Video is blocked at the office, could you expound in text please.
Jeff
on October 22, 2009 at 9:10 am
Amazing! And yes, I cried.
Can someone PLEASE get this into the hands of President Obama. Please. Why the person I voted for hasn’t taken any action – and only paid us lip service – is beyond me.
Thank Goodness some in the media (SNL, Jon Stewart, etc.) are starting to call him on the carpet for not fulfilling on his promises, specifically on repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. Maybe if he saw this video, he’s move faster.
Thanks for the amazing video. I’ll make sure to pass it along.
Andi Reis
on October 22, 2009 at 9:28 am
Transcribed. Please correct where I have misunderstood. Thanks.
Good morning, Committee. My name is Herbert Spooner. I live at ?5 Graham St. I am 86 years old and a lifetime Republican and in an active VFW chapter. …I’ve served Meals on Wheels for nine years. My wife of 54 years, Jenny, died in 1997. Together we had four children, including the one gay son. All four of our boys were in the service. I was born on a potato farm in [??] where I was raised to believe that all men are created equal, and I’ve never forgotten that.
I served in the U.S. Army 1942 – 1945 in the First Army as a medic and an ambulance driver… I worked with every outfit over there, including Patton’s Third Army. I saw action all five major battles in Europe including e Battle of the Bulge. My unit was awarded presidential citation for transporting more patients with fewer accidents than any other ambulance in the north and I was involved in the liberation of Paris. After the war I carried POWs back from Poland, Hungary and Yugoslavia, and also hauled injured Germans back to Germany.
I’m here today because of a conversation I had last June when I was voting. A woman at my polling place asked me: do you believe in equality for gay and lesbian people? I was pretty surprised to be asked a question like that. It made no sense to me. Finally, I asked her, What do you think I fought for on Omaha Beach? [Applause]
I have seen much, so much blood and guts, so much suffering, (stutter) so much sadness and sacrifice. For what? For freedom and equality. These are the values that make America a great nation, one worth dying for. I give talks to 8th grade teachers about the World War 2, and I don’t tell them about the horror of the ovens of Buchenwald and Dachau. I have seen with my own eyes the consequences of a caste system and it makes some people less than others or second class. Never again. We must have equal rights for everyone. It’s what this country was started for. It takes all kinds of people to make a World War. It doesn’t make no sense that some people who love each other can marry and others can’t just because of who they are. This is what we fought for in WW II: the idea that we can be different and still be equal.
My wife and I did not raise four sons with the idea that three of them would have a certain set of rights, but that our gay child would be left out. We raised them all to be hard-working, proud and loyal Americans and they all did good. I think if two adults who love each other want to get married, they should be able to. Everybody is supposed to be equal in equality in this country and that gay people have the right to marry.
Thank you.
Robert Moore, Publisher
on October 22, 2009 at 10:20 am
I am a history buff.
Many times I have watched film footage of the battles fought in WW II and am amazed at the courage and determination of those young men on the D-Day beaches.
They continue to amaze me today. Thank god for them.
Robert Moore
Publisher
Sorry, but I can’t understand anything he is saying.
Video is blocked at the office, could you expound in text please.
Amazing! And yes, I cried.
Can someone PLEASE get this into the hands of President Obama. Please. Why the person I voted for hasn’t taken any action – and only paid us lip service – is beyond me.
Thank Goodness some in the media (SNL, Jon Stewart, etc.) are starting to call him on the carpet for not fulfilling on his promises, specifically on repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. Maybe if he saw this video, he’s move faster.
Thanks for the amazing video. I’ll make sure to pass it along.
Transcribed. Please correct where I have misunderstood. Thanks.
Good morning, Committee. My name is Herbert Spooner. I live at ?5 Graham St. I am 86 years old and a lifetime Republican and in an active VFW chapter. …I’ve served Meals on Wheels for nine years. My wife of 54 years, Jenny, died in 1997. Together we had four children, including the one gay son. All four of our boys were in the service. I was born on a potato farm in [??] where I was raised to believe that all men are created equal, and I’ve never forgotten that.
I served in the U.S. Army 1942 – 1945 in the First Army as a medic and an ambulance driver… I worked with every outfit over there, including Patton’s Third Army. I saw action all five major battles in Europe including e Battle of the Bulge. My unit was awarded presidential citation for transporting more patients with fewer accidents than any other ambulance in the north and I was involved in the liberation of Paris. After the war I carried POWs back from Poland, Hungary and Yugoslavia, and also hauled injured Germans back to Germany.
I’m here today because of a conversation I had last June when I was voting. A woman at my polling place asked me: do you believe in equality for gay and lesbian people? I was pretty surprised to be asked a question like that. It made no sense to me. Finally, I asked her, What do you think I fought for on Omaha Beach? [Applause]
I have seen much, so much blood and guts, so much suffering, (stutter) so much sadness and sacrifice. For what? For freedom and equality. These are the values that make America a great nation, one worth dying for. I give talks to 8th grade teachers about the World War 2, and I don’t tell them about the horror of the ovens of Buchenwald and Dachau. I have seen with my own eyes the consequences of a caste system and it makes some people less than others or second class. Never again. We must have equal rights for everyone. It’s what this country was started for. It takes all kinds of people to make a World War. It doesn’t make no sense that some people who love each other can marry and others can’t just because of who they are. This is what we fought for in WW II: the idea that we can be different and still be equal.
My wife and I did not raise four sons with the idea that three of them would have a certain set of rights, but that our gay child would be left out. We raised them all to be hard-working, proud and loyal Americans and they all did good. I think if two adults who love each other want to get married, they should be able to. Everybody is supposed to be equal in equality in this country and that gay people have the right to marry.
Thank you.
I am a history buff.
Many times I have watched film footage of the battles fought in WW II and am amazed at the courage and determination of those young men on the D-Day beaches.
They continue to amaze me today. Thank god for them.
Robert Moore
Publisher
I held it together 🙂