Simon Conway

July 4th has been about Vacationing and not really about remembering. But without the sacrifice of so many who have laid down their lives to protect our freedoms, we would not be doing any vacationing this weekend – or probably any other weekend come to that.

The greatest generation of both this country and indeed the United Kingdom where I was born – was undoubtedly the generation that fought for us in World War II. All they knew was that without victory there would be tyranny. Without victory there would be evil. Without victory there would be no freedom.

The victory was a victory for freedom, but it was a victory won at an enormous cost in lives. That generation understood way better than we do now that however much you may hate violence and war – and let’s be honest, only the truly insane love either one of them – sometimes wars have to be fought and evil has to be stamped out to preserve the greater good.

The victory allowed us to continue with our way of life. To attend schools and colleges; churches, synagogues and mosques. It allowed us to continue to hand power from one President to another no matter what the political party without violence. One Congress to another in a similar way as the politicians bow to the will of the people. The victory allowed us to raise our families and build our communities and chase our dreams and even to reach for the stars – and get there.

You who laid down your lives in the name of freedom have given us all of this and so much more. You bought these things for us with your blood and most of us don’t think about you when we are at the beach or on the lake this weekend. We think about the laughter of our children and not your cries of pain. We look in wonder as the sunlight sparkles across the water and we certainly do not see your limbs spread across a battlefield.

We are all so busy chasing the American Dream that we rarely pause and think about the great American Sacrifice. It was Lincoln who referred to it as “The last full measure of devotion”.

September of 2001 taught us that freedom has a price as the descendents of the evil of World War Two brought death and destruction to our land.. It was perhaps a wake up call and we did wake up. But today – just a few short years later, we seem to be falling asleep all over again.

The parralells between Europe of the 1930s and the World of right now is too close for my personal comfort at least. And so today more young men and women are paying the price of freedom on our behalf.

I have already mentioned Lincoln in this short piece and as I think about how to pay tribute to those who gave everything for this country, I am drawn once again to his words – words written enroute to a Cemetery filled with thousands of graves in a small Pennsylvania town called Gettysburg.

He said: "We cannot dedicate. . .we cannot consecrate. . . we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men - living and dead - who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. . . . "

"It is for us - the living - to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us. . .that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. . . that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain. . . that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. . . and that government of the people. . .by the people. . .for the people. . . shall not perish from the earth."

This was Lincoln’s challenge in 1863 and it remains ours today. I for one know for sure that it is because of their sacrifice that we are still able to shout out – Let Freedom Ring.

PLAY THE SONG!! It is not a regular version. It was recorded within days of 9/11.

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(Copyright © 2008 By Simon L Conway All Rights Reserved.)

Simon Conway is the winner of the FIVE STAR Best in Client Satisfaction for Real Estate Agents in the Orlando area. Please give me a call if you have questions about the Central Florida real estate market. You can reach me on 407 876 8200. Also visit my web site at www.simonconway.net or www.move2orlando.net

So here we are on Memorial Day Weekend and we have service men and women in harms way once again.

These are special people. I would say they are wired differently to the rest of us, but the evidence just doesn't back that up. Take Flight 93 on nine eleven as a perfect example. Or the soldiers, sailors and airmen of World War II. It is in us all. We just need to find it.

The picture on the right is of my friend and national hero, Master Sergeant of Marines, William "Spanky" Gibson, who is the first ever member of any branch of our military who returned to a combat zone having had an above the knee amputation.

It is a picture of Spanky saluting a flag at Camp Fellujah in Iraq. He chose to honor me and that specific flag is hanging proudly on the wall of my home today.

Thank you Spanky. Not for the flag, but for what you have done for us all.

Last night I was talking to a client for about an hour. A huge part of that conversation was about her 87-year-old grandpa who served aboard the USS Arizona. He was on that ship the day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. His brother is STILL aboard that ship as he perished there when the boat went down.

She told me that whenever they visit, her Grandpa walks onto the Memorial and Salutes and says to his brother: "I will always love you. I will never forget the sacrifice you made for all of our freedom." It gives me goosebumps just hearing about it. I believe that all Americans should visit the Arizona Memorial at least once in their lifetime. Until you have been there (I have twice), you simply cannot understand what I'm talking about. The picture below is of the USS Arizona sinking in 1941.

These people understand with every fiber of their being what defending freedom means. A freedom that so many of us take for granted. A freedom that simply wouldn't exist without the ultimate sacrifice these people make in our country's name. In our name.

The following is an excerpt from "A Foxhole's View". Written by an ordinary soldier in the middle of World War Two.

The man who wrote it received

* 1 Silver Star
* 2 Bronze Stars
* offered Purple Heart, turned it down because he thought it was bad luck

The time: December, 1944 - a few days before The Battle of the Bulge. The place: The Hurtgen Forest

I had gone down about four houses when I saw, at the convergence of the "L", a German tank supported by a platoon of infantry. This was the counter-attack. We hadn't gotten any anti-tank guns into the town as yet. There were only two bazooka gunners with our attack...and where could they be?

Being caught out in the open all alone, I panicked. I tore through the back yard fences, trying to get to the others and warn them. If the tank reached the corner of the "L", we would be trapped.

But a heavy machine-gun squad had already set up and started firing. He was no match for the tank, but if he could scare or kill the supporting infantry, the tank would be more vulnerable.

It looked like a hopeless situation. The tank slammed an 88 into the **machine-gunner's legs, but in a super-human effort, he continued to fire at the tank and the infantry. The infantry finally retreated and the tank pulled off of the attack. The machine-gunner - Ralph Neppel -was later awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

As I ran along I passed an unmanned German tank. Had it been in action during our crossing of the field, it would have been devastating. I also noticed a row of craters, the largest I ever saw during the war. They must have come from our bombers. Although they had missed the houses, I thought how they must have rattled the windows! One of the houses would have easily fit into one of these huge craters.

About twenty minutes later the town had been captured and we had taken numerous prisoners. Company L, which had been in reserve, had taken almost as many casualties as we did because of tree-top bursts from the German artillery.

The rest of the day was spent in setting up mortars and defenses. That afternoon, one of our tanks was placed at the other end of town where the German tank had appeared earlier. A German tank somewhere off to the left spotted our tank as it parked. It opened fire and knocked out our tank before it could get off a shot.

That night, Johnson, from our platoon, lay on a table in the light of a flickering candle. He had taken a piece of shrapnel in the back. I had expected that to happen sooner or later because I had noticed his reflexes weren't too good. Johnson was doing a lot of moaning and groaning which indicated he was out of his head. We couldn't get him out or get a medic to him until morning. Lt. Benjamin lost patience with him and told him to shut up, but to no avail. That next evening we heard that Johnson had died. This made *Lt. Benjamin feel guilty for not knowing how badly Johnson was wounded. And a few days later, Lt Benjamin was killed in action.

We all know where we would be without our servicemen and women. I have a nephew who served in Afghanistan. We all know people who have fought for our freedom or are doing so right now. It is beyond my comprehension that with all the money currently being spent by the Administration, military spending cuts are the only serious cuts they are talking about. So on this weekend we must remember our service men and women. We must thank them and we must consciously know where we would be without them.

Every one of them gave something - some gave everything.

So do me a favor - if you are traveling through an airport or a port this weekend or you just see a man or woman in uniform in a restaurant. Please go and shake their hand and thank them for their service. And while you're at it, pick up their tab too.

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(Copyright © 2009 By Simon L Conway All Rights Reserved.)

Simon Conway is the winner of the FIVE STAR Best in Client Satisfaction for Real Estate Agents in the Orlando area.

Please give me a call if you have questions about the Central Florida real estate market. You can reach me on 407 876 8200. Also visit my web site at www.simonconway.net or www.move2orlando.net

I have written many times about my friend, Master Sergeant of Marines, William "Spanky" Gibson. You can read his story here and then you can read about his promotion here and you can even read about the truth from the front lines of Iraq right here. And if all of that isn't enough for you, then you can read my personal story of how Spanky chose to honor me.

Well now Spanky, who has been working in DC on a Congressional Fellowship (something usually reserved for those with the rank of Captain and above) is at it again. Not content with currently training for a solo attempt to swim the English Channel, he has now joined Night Train Swimmers - a group who are part of the Wounded Warriors Project and they plan to undertake the longest swim in the history of mankind - starting in La Paz , Mexico and swim straight across the Sea of Cortez. The swim is expected to take between 150 and 180 hours and it will be a non stop relay event.

Spanky has joined the team as Safety Officer and he is also helping to train the swimmers. Of course the whole idea is to raise money for the WWP. "We will swim under the English Channel rules: no wet suit and strict one hour shifts. This should take us roughly 150 to 180 hours swimming night and day, non stop. Each swimmer can expect to swim 15 to 18 hours total. Knowing that you donated and that we are committed to such a huge cause will mean the world to each swimmer while in shark-infested waters at 3am when it's totally dark."

Over the past few years, Spanky has trained for and completed multiple triathlons and endurance events. "His addition to our team is invaluable and not losing a swimmer in the middle of the night is most desirable," said Night Train co-founder John Mathews.

So what should you do? Well the answer is quite simple. This group is dedicated to helping severly wounded war heroes. They need money! Why else would you attempt to swim 157 miles non stop, right?

But first let's hear from Vito Bialla - a Vietnam Vet who perhaps sums up why something like this is so needed. I REALLY hope the media is paying attention!! "First, you deal with depression, then ridicule. The media lets you know daily what you did really isn't all that popular. Then you try to pick up the pieces and regain some normalcy in your life. The experience of real combat, getting wounded and shot at by people who really hate you, and our country, leaves you scarred if not physically certainly emotionally . There simply is no other way to put it. This is where the Wounded Warrior Project comes in.

Wounded Warrior Project is a non-profit organization whose mission is to honor and empower wounded warriors. It serves to raise awareness and enlist the public's aid for the needs of severely injured service men and women, to help severely injured service members aid and assist each other and to provide unique, direct programs and services to meet their needs. For more information, please call (904) 296-7350 or visit www.woundedwarriorproject.org.

Matthew Davie, a Night Train Swimmer had this to say. "We are very excited to swim the Sea of Cortez, but even more excited for the opportunity to raise awareness and funding for Wounded Warrior Project. It's a good cause that deserves recognition and support, and it will keep us going when it's 3am and we can't see land in either direction."

Night Train Swimmers has set a goal of raising $500,000 for Wounded Warrior Project with this swim, with donations made directly to WWP through www.nighttrainswimmers.com

I can think of no more worthy cause than helping the men and women who have sacrificed so much to ensure our freedom. You even have the freedom not to help - but hopefully you will send a link to this blog to everyone in your data base so they can get on board and help Night Train Swimmers smash that $500,000 target to pieces. Don't forget! Support Spanky! He gave so much for you! Support the Wounded Warrior Project! They are there to help others who have sacrificed! And before you send this blog on to your friends, please visit www.nighttrainswimmers.com and send them a few bucks.

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(Copyright © 2009 By Simon L Conway All Rights Reserved.)

Simon Conway is the winner of the FIVE STAR Best in Client Satisfaction for Real Estate Agents in the Orlando area.

Please give me a call if you have questions about the Central Florida real estate market. You can reach me on 407 876 8200. Also visit my web site at www.simonconway.net or www.move2orlando.net