You could have heard a pin drop

The following may or may not be true. To be honest we don’t care.
We thank Al for the email and hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
It’s more about a feeling that all veterans get reading a bunch of
words put together like these are. So before you go to Snopes, and
comment that the following post isn’t factual, we don’t care. It is
strickly in the spirit of the holiday.

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 intended 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 Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans
arranged it so you wouldn’t have to speak German.’
You could have heard a pin drop.

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 your 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.

So remember, although today we celebrate our independence, our
military people protect our freedoms to do so.
We hope you enjoy the holiday, drive safe, and we thank all fellow veterans out there.