On this Veteran's Day there are so many options as to posting pictures or stories to spread the awareness of what truly happens when one is in any military service for this country. Yesterday I spent some time watching "Vietnam" on the Discovery Channel and was truly amazed by the MANY heroic acts that were captured on film, now being shared and discussed in further detail by the person who experienced it.
There are so many touching stories, not just on the Vietnam war, but in every act of service our military provides for us! Today I correlate two great stories that discuss history in war & recent events that occurred.
Flipping the middle finger was something that has been done throughout history, however, in times of war it is linked to the days when Archery was the greatest tool for weaponry. Opposing sides would purposefully aim for their enemies middle finger in order to handicap them and prevent them from being able to shoot a bow and arrow. If the target was missed or if after combat battle, a soldier's middle finger remained, he would flip up his middle finger towards his enemy as if to say "Look, I still have my middle finger!", also showing that he still has the ability to fight in war!
As time passed the gesture has turned into an act more so of obscenity than anything else.
I present to you a great story that I find chilling, heroic and hilarious all in one.
*Please note: I use the term "hilarious" because of the correlation between the history of "flipping the bird" with the following story. Not because I find any acts of violence or the seriousness of war funny. I suppose I could use the term "ironic", but still when you read the following, I'm sure you too will have a smile on your face by the time you're done reading it!
The following picture and story is something a friend posted on Facebook. DWP Carpet Binding does not own rights to the picture, nor the story that follows it. I merely copy & pasted what was posted on Facebook.
"Leading the fight is U S Marine Gunnery Sgt. Michael Burghardt, known as 'Iron Mike' or just 'Gunny'. He is on his third tour in Iraq .. He had become a legend in the bomb disposal world after winning the Bronze Star for disabling 64 IEDs and destroying 1,548 pieces of ordnance during his second tour.
Then, on September 19, he got blown up. He had arrived at a chaotic scene after a bomb had killed four US Marines. He chose not to wear the bulky bomb protection suit. 'You can't react to any sniper fire and you get tunnel-vision,' he explains. So, protected by just a helmet and standard-issue flak jacket, he began what bomb disposal officers term 'the longest walk', stepping gingerly into a 5-foot deep and 8-foot wide crater.
The earth shifted slightly and he saw a Senao base station with a wire leading from it. He cut the wire and used his 7" knife to probe the ground. 'I found
a piece of red detonating cord between my legs,'
he says. 'That's when I knew I was screwed.' Realizing he had been sucked into a trap, Sgt. Burghardt, 35, yelled at everyone to stay back.
At that moment, an insurgent, probably watching through binoculars, pressed a button on his mobile phone to detonate the secondary device below the sergeant's feet. 'A chill went up the back of my
neck and then the bomb exploded,' he recalls. 'As
I was in the air I remember thinking, 'I don't believe they got me.' I was just ticked off they were able to do it. Then I was lying on the road,
not able to feel anything from the waist down.'
His fellow Marines cut off his trousers to see how badly he was hurt. None could believe his legs were still there. 'My dad's a Vietnam vet who's paralyzed from the waist down,' says Sgt Burghardt. 'I was lying there thinking I didn't want to be in a wheelchair next to my dad and for him to see me like that. They started to cut away my pants and I felt a real sharp pain and blood trickling down. Then I wiggled my toes and I thought, 'Good, I'm in business.' As a stretcher was brought over, adrenaline and anger kicked in. 'I decided to walk
to the helicopter. I wasn't going to let my team-mates see me being carried away on a stretcher.' He stood and gave the insurgents who had blown him up a one-fingered salute. I flipped them one. It was like,'OK, I lost that round but I'll be back next week.'
Copies of a photograph depicting his defiance, taken by Jeff Bundy for the Omaha World-Herald, adorn the walls of homes across America and that of
Col. John Gronski, the brigade commander in Ramadi, who has hailed the image as an exemplar of the warrior spirit.
Sgt Burghardt's injuries - burns and wounds to his legs and buttocks - kept him off duty for nearly a month and could have earned him a ticket home. But, like his father - who was awarded a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts for being wounded in action in Vietnam - he stayed in Ramadi to engage in the battle against insurgents who are forever coming up with more ingenious ways of killing Americans."
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This is why I enjoy this story so much; it's appropriate on so many different levels. Plus, who doesn't love "flipping the bird"?!
To all of our Veterans,
We thank you for your services; past, present & future.
-The Team of DWP Carpet Binding
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