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Never Forget
I meant to send the below out on several mediums a few weeks ago. Business in my life obviously kept it in my draft file and it never was posted. Perhaps you may think the timing is poor, if so apologies are extended to you.Several years ago on a trip to Germany my son-in-law and I had the opportunity to visit the Dachau Concentration camp.
Dachau (/ˈdɑːxaʊ/)[3] was the first concentration camp built by Nazi Germany, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler’s political opponents which consisted of: communists, social democrats, and other dissidents.[4] It is located on the grounds of an abandoned munitions factory northeast of the medieval town of Dachau, about 16 km (10 mi) northwest of Munich in the state of Bavaria, in southern Germany.[5] After its opening by Heinrich Himmler, its purpose was enlarged to include forced labor, and, eventually, the imprisonment of Jews, Romani, German and Austrian criminals, and, finally, foreign nationals from countries that Germany occupied or invaded. The Dachau camp system grew to include nearly 100 sub-camps, which were mostly work camps or Arbeitskommandos, and were located throughout southern Germany and Austria.[6] The main camp was liberated by U.S. forces on 29 April 1945.
Prisoners lived in constant fear of brutal treatment and terror detention including standing cells, floggings, the so-called tree or pole hanging, and standing at attention for extremely long periods.[7] There were 32,000 documented deaths at the camp, and thousands that are undocumented.[8] Approximately 10,000 of the 30,000 prisoners were sick at the time of liberation.[9][10]
In the postwar years, the Dachau facility served to hold SS soldiers awaiting trial. After 1948, it held ethnic Germans who had been expelled from eastern Europe and were awaiting resettlement, and also was used for a time as a United States military base during the occupation. It was finally closed in 1960. (Reprinted from Wikipedia)
Now it is clear why the media hardly mentioned Pearl Harbor this year.When I was a kid, I couldn’t understand why Eisenhower was so popular. Maybe this will explain why General Eisenhower Warned Us. It is a matter of history that when the Supreme Commander of the Allied
Forces, General Dwight Eisenhower, found the victims of the death camps he ordered all possible photographs to be taken, and for the German people from surrounding villages to be ushered through the camps and even made to bury the dead. He did this because he said in words to this effect: ‘Get it all on record now – get the films – get the witnesses – because somewhere down the road of history some bastard will get up and say that this never happened.
This week, the UK debated whether to remove The Holocaust from it school curriculum because it ‘offends’ the Muslim population which claims it never occurred. It is not removed as yet. However, this is a frightening portent of the fear that is gripping the world and how easily each country is giving into it. It is now more than 70 years after the Second World War in Europe ended. This e-mail is being sent as a memorial chain, in memory of the, six million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians, and 1,900 Catholic priests Who were ‘murdered, raped, burned, starved, beaten, experimented on and humiliated’ while many in the world looked the other way! Now, more than ever, with Iran, among others, claiming the Holocaust to be ‘a myth,’ it is imperative to make sure the world never forgets.
How many years will it be before the attack on the World Trade Center ‘NEVER HAPPENED’, because it offends some Muslims?Do not just delete this message; it will take only a minute to pass this along. Remember when all classrooms had an American flag in them? Do they even teach our children about the World Trade Center attacks in 1993 and 2001, or did it go the way of Pearl Harbor and Veterans Day? Don’t even mention Christmas or Hanukkah or prayers in school. Many schools no longer recite the Pledge of Allegiance and many children do not know the words to our National Anthem, or that we even have one!
On a more joyous note I wish you all a very Merry Christmas.
Semper Fi
Ash Wednesday Years Ago

Herself and I ventured into town yesterday to receive Ashes on the first day of lent. The night prior a fine Roast Beef dinner was served to our daughter and her husband and two of our grandchildren, it was a great evening. Whenever they come around to check on the elderly we are blessed. You always splurge on Shrove Tuesday and Tuesday night was no exception.
A blogger I follow (https://madhatters.me.uk/2017/03/02/ashes-guide/) had the below chart posted on his site, it is so true and I’m sure should you have been Catholic for a number of years (50+ years for me) you’ve seen them all. I never did get ashes so many years ago back in my Methodist days. If I remember right I couldn’t play cards, get dirty or have fun on Sunday either, reverence was the way of the day back then.

The day did remind me of a time back in high school, 1961 in fact, when a group of us guys came to school late after getting ashes. We, five or six of us went to one member of the group’s house and hung out for several hours during the same time the Ash Wednesday service was going on in town. When it was time to get back to school, Father Fiddler dipped his thumb in the ash tray we had filled up and placed the sign of the cross on each heathen’s forehead. I’m thinking that must be some kind of sacrilege and someday I’ll pay for it.
Thanks Mike McVeigh for providing the venue on that day.
So now we Catholics spend forty days of suffering, giving up something we enjoy until Easter Sunday. My brother in-law Bobby gave up beer for 6 days each week of lent. Somehow it was OK to partake on Sundays. Some will give up candy, some soda and of course some will give up nothing at all. As for me, I shall give up staying home on Sundays and get my sorry ass to church.
Oh, and by the way, we never got questioned for being three hours late to school. I’m guessing I did a good job being the forehead scribe. It was a Lucky Strike we never got caught.
Several years ago I got to spend Shrove Tuesday in Munich, Germany with my son in-law Jeff and am providing the attached site for those who may be interested in The German Way and more. (https://www.german-way.com/history-and-culture/holidays-and-celebrations/fasching-and-karneval/)
What will you give up over the next forty days?

