By: jeepin_al Mood: full of life Date: 04/18/2007 23:14:53 Music: Patriotic

Believe it or not, I was had the honor and headache of being a Mayor. The local VFW asked me to give the speech at the Memorial Day Parade, and service at the local cemetery. It was a beautiful day, and after placing a wreath on a WW I veteran's grave I gave the following speech:

Bumper stickers, they are as varied as the vehicles they are placed on and their people who display them.

The one bumper sticker I think of most on this day is God, Guts and guns made America free.

God, Guts and Guns made America free.

Some see this as the mantra of the ill informed, or the battle cry of the NRA,

I see it as a truth.

God,

God has blessed this great nation since its inception; he was with our fore fathers during the revolutionary war, as he is with us now in our conflict in the Middle East.

God has stood shoulder to shoulder next to our armed forces since the beginning and through all the sacrifices, they have made. God has brought all our men and women home, either to himself or to the individual’s loving family.

Without God we would not have this great nation nor would we have the men and women of our armed forces.

God, Guts and Guns made America free!

Guts,

Guts, is the internal fortitude, bravery, and the drive that each of the men and women who sacrificed their time, and their lives, to protect us and our way of life.

Each one of these individuals standing here and the ones that that have went before them has had the internal fortitude, bravery and drive to heed the call of their nation, and perform the tasks asked of them during the time of war. They had the guts to leave the comfort of their families and homes. They had the guts to withstand over whelming odds and win. They had the guts to come home and rebuild their lives among us.

Today, our young men and women have heeded their call, and they have shown us that they to have the same internal fortitude, the bravery, and the drive to be Americas best.

Without God, our armed forces and America’s citizens would not have the guts to perform and survive as well as we do.

God, Guts and Guns made America free!

Guns

Guns are just one of many tools used during the time of war. To me I equate the word guns with the technology that has been developed over the years that keep our forces safe, give our forces an advantage, and has made us the most powerful military force in the world.

This technology has also made our lives more comfortable, giving us warm homes, fast transportation, and a standard of living envied by the nations around us.

Without God or guts, the gun, or technology would not possible. We needed God to inspire us, we need our guts to experiment and develop new and greater technologies.

God, Guts and Guns made America Free.

Without any of the three, we would not be free. If it were not for the love of God, his blessings and his patience, we would not have the other two.

So next time you see one of these bumper stickers, think of the men and women who served this great nation, think of their families, and think of what would have happen if we as a nation did not God, Guts or Guns.