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Wow!! What a way to ring in my Birthday!! Top 5 rating, I believe!!! #HTTR❤️💛 #RaiseHail

America. Made in Virginia. Happy Birthday General Patton, and likely the most famous Veteran in my family tree. He descends from the German Shennendoah Valley settler Jost Hite, as do I. I posted earlier about how our forefathers fought for this land and country, and opened the doors for others. General Patton died in the same region where his forefather fled centuries before, freeing others. A little re-tread about his Virginia and German ties...

Who else is old enough to remember when Tyson's was the boonies??

Wise words to remember and to live by. Sic Semper Tyrannis #VeteransDay

On Veterans Day I find myself thinking about how far my family has come and who made that possible. My grandfather was a poor carpenter and farm boy from Prague who was conscripted to fight in the First World War under the Austro-Hungarian Empire. When the war ended he left everything behind and came to the United States looking for a chance he never would have had at home. He wanted to own a piece of land, to work with his own hands, and to make sure his sons grew up with freedom, opportunity, and an education. He created that opportunity. He bought land and with his sons built the farmhouse where they lived. His sons went to school and all served in the Army. The life he built here rested on something larger than his own hard work. That something was created by people on my mother’s side of the family who had been here since the 1600's with similar dreams. They served in the French and Indian War on the Virginia frontier, including under George Washington himself. In the Revolution they stood with Washington’s army through the winter at Valley Forge and were on the field in Yorktown when the war ended. They cleared land, held offices, served in militia companies, and fought in the wars that turned a string of colonies into a country. Their service, and the service of so many others, is what made the United States a place a farm boy from Prague could start over; as they had. Years later my father, his two brothers, my sister, and my cousin put on American uniforms. They served in Korea, Vietnam, Iraqi Freedom, and the Global War on Terror. They did not invent the idea of standing up for this place. They inherited it from the men and women who built the country in the first place and from the immigrant who crossed an ocean so his children could live in it. Thomas Jefferson wrote that the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots. My family has seen both sides of that truth. Some of them helped plant the tree. One of them crossed an ocean to live in its shade. Others have watered it in every generation since. I am grateful for all of them. For the ones who served under Washington, for the one who came here looking for a better life, and for the ones who have worn the uniform in the years since. Every generation in this family has benefited from the protection and the opportunity that American service members have provided. To every veteran, past and present, thank you. Thank you for the ordinary days you gave up, for the years you spent away from home, and for the quiet courage and sacrifice that has kept this country a place where a poor carpenter from Prague could own land and raise sons who were free. Your service is the reason the rest of us still have something worth defending. #VeteransDay 🇺🇸 P.S.- #GoArmy

Well played.

True.

I can't remember the last time I used Google, but am now tempted...