Victory in New Jersey
April 28, 2008
In solidarity with our friends in Berkeley, on Sunday, April 27th, The Gathering of Eagles told Susie Benjamin and her friends from Code Pink that they were not welcome in New Jersey. What a great day for Eagles!
Susie slinked into sleepy little Northern New Jersey, certain she could defile our state without comment. Imagine the surprise when “Peacers” came down Route 23 and discovered it lined with American flags and patriots there standing up for our troops! The first sign that greeted them? “Code Pink…NOT WELCOME IN NEW JERSEY!” Read more
Veteran’s Rally, Bald Hill, Long Island, NY
April 13, 2008
April 13, 2008
4/12/08 Farmingville, Long Island, NY
Veterans and Patriots gathered at Bald Hill in Farmingville, Long Island this morning to honor veterans of all wars and to pledge to protect and defend the honor of our troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Lee Zeldin, candidate for Congress in New York’s 1st CD was a featured speaker as he described what he intended to do in Congress to assist the troops in the field with funding for equipment and necessities. He spoke of his own deployment with the 82nd Airborne and praised a blue star family for their service at home while their loved one is deployed. He spoke movingly about his own experience when he and his wife, feeling burdened with the tasks of caring for their beautiful twin daughters who were born prematurely, ran into a blue star wife at the base commissary who was caring for six children by herself while her husband was deployed. That blue star mom, as if not already buried under her own burdens, offered help to Lee and his wife! The courage and perseverance of those families and their commitment to supporting their deployed soldiers was a revelation.
Pete Hegseth, Executive Director of Vets for Freedom, having just completed his nationwide Heroes tour came to offer that group’s endorsement of Lee Zeldin for Congress. He spoke of the tremendous improvement in Iraq and the need to complete the mission. He talked about how specific neighborhoods in Baghdad have made a remarkable come back from the terrorist infested areas he patrolled with the 101st Airborne in 2005/2006. He also described the ways in which officers like Lee Zeldin had their backs and kept them in the fight.
A wounded Marine emphasized the need to keep up our support of the troops against all domestic opposition to enable them to win this war.
It was a great rally attended by veterans of all recent wars from WWII to the present.
Some pictures are here:
http://tinyurl.com/6qblq6
Dan Maloney
NY State Coordinator
Gathering of Eagles
3rd Annual Walk of Honor, Long Island, NY
April 13, 2008
April 13, 2008
Who says patriots don’t know how to have a good time?
Not me, and I have the pictures to prove it!
4/12/08 - Rockville Centre, Long Island, NY
The family and friends of Lt. Ronald Winchester, USMC, staged the 3rd annual Walk of Honor in Rockville Centre today. Hundreds of friends of Lt. Winchester and our troops staged a four stop marathon of good times to raise funds for the 1st Marine Division Scholarship Fund and the Wounded Warriors Project. Lt. Winchester, a Rockville Centre resident was killed in Al Anbar province, Iraq, in 2005.
Starting off at 2pm at Stingers Pub, the celebrants proceeded to rotate every two hours to a new location. Raffles and 50/50 drawings were held, T-shirts sold, and much spirits imbibed, all in the name of raising funds for these charities.
Your intrepid GOE contingent provided and mounted Marine Corps and US flags at the entrances to each establishment that was visited. It was a tough job, *hic*, but somebody had to do it!
A great time was had by all as the pictures will show.
Pictures are here:
http://tinyurl.com/6zv9ma
Dan Maloney
Charlotte, NC~AAR
April 13, 2008
The Eagles Gathered at the Myers Park Baptist Church to counter the Vets For Peace sponsored appearance of Jason Hurd..Iraq Vets Against The War…
Supporters for the Jihad supports were few and far between. There were a few tired supporters which included a Blue Star Father who ask me not to identify him with “Those People Inside” who walked down to greeat us with the latest KIA numbers and his Blue Star flag. I ask him to quote me todays latest numbers for terrorist killed during combat operations, he rolled his eyes and returned to the empty meeting hall. The Vets for Peace had received word we were comeing to counter Jason Hurd and they hired two off duty Charlotte NC Police to “Protect” them from our Peaceful Group of Eagles. A total waste of money. The Precher for the church greeted us and thanked us for our respectful protest at his church. I reminded him no Eagle had ever been arrested at all the many rallys we have conducted nationwide. This effort by Vets for Peace was a total Non Event. Myers Park residents & citizens of Charlotte NC met us on the street with waves and honking horns. The highlight of the day come when a young Mother stopped to cheer us on and her two boys joined in out rally with flags and GOE signs. Young American Eagles in training.
Charlotte NC is a All American Town and the Gathering of Eagles has been well received during this and every rally we have conducted. We hold our new GOE flag high with honor, not the same can be said for the Charlotte NC Code Pink and Vets for Peace cannot say the same. Special thanks to Mark Chaswich & Irene Holland for setting the wheels in motion for this great rally.
Video from Skye
March 27, 2008
Well, I’ve tried and tried to get the video to play for you here, but I can’t make it work. Here’s the clip of the “gentleman” that attacked Skye last weekend.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
(LINK UPDATED)
NYC ~”Rain is proof that God loves the Infantry”
March 9, 2008
There comes a time when I am at a loss for words. Today was one of those times!
An event that truly had me concerned due to the number of negative factors, particularly the weather, turned into the most successful rally we have had yet in New York City!
Everyone who participated and helped out was absolutely fantastic! We had the most press coverage ever for ANY GOE event! The story is on EVERY local television station in the New York City area. Every story prominently identifies us as the Gathering of Eagles. Lots of great interviews with Eagles and supporters.
I will include here copies of AARs written by Jennie Booth, our Connecticut State Coordinator and Elyse Buongiorno, Eagles Up! Northeast Coordinator. But first let me give you links to pictures, video and reports from our local bloggers and Eagles. Read more
GoE on Long Island 3-1-08
March 2, 2008
Today was a great day for Eagles on Long Island!
Alerted by Tom DeLuca’s email, I sent out an action alert to all Long Island Eagles to try to make it to Patchogue to face off against the moonbats who have been persistently protesting in front of the Recruiting stations. Tom and Gary Vertichio have been facing these particular cretins unaided for a while now and there was no way I was going to let their request for assistance go unheard.
Although we had snow and rain overnight, the weather cleared by 0900 leaving us a clear crisp day with blustery winds. John and I arrived on site about 10:30 and were greeted by Tom Deluca of the Smith-Weaver American Legion Post and Bill Fries of the Conservative Party of Suffolk County. Over the next hour and a half other Eagles, Veterans, Blue Star Moms and Patriots came to join us until we had thirty plus manning the plaza outside the station. Read more
DC Recruiter Station Follow Up
February 22, 2008
By now we have all seen the reports of the disgusting actions at the
Washington, DC Recruiter Station. I am certain that each of you
responded with the same level of outrage as I did. When I first saw
the photos, and read the reports I remembered my own recruiter, SFC
Purvis. No he never lied to me, and yes, he told me how tough the
infantry was going to be. I enlisted anyway, and he was my second
stop after graduating AIT. When I walked into the station in my Class
A’s with a freshly minted Blue Cord, he was nearly as proud of me as I
was. I envisioned the recruiter in DC being besieged by wanna-be
revolutionaries, knowing he could take them apart single-handed, but
also knowing he couldn’t. I was ready to storm down to DC, with 100
bikers in tow, and dare the SDS/college slacker to try us. Luckily,
cooler heads prevailed; of which mine was not one.
Kudos go out to Beverly Perlson of The Band of Mothers. She
tirelessly worked the phones with DC Metro Police, until an assistant
chief admitted to “dropping the ball,” and promised to post uniformed
officers outside the station whenever any march by the anti-American
forces is planning to be remotely nearby. The quote I received was,
“We are sorry for the lack of response. DC is not Berkeley, and we
will not allow this to happen again.” Metro has always treated us
fairly and they are remorseful. I trust them at their word that this
will not happen again.
Kudos also to a few of our friends in Congress. When we apprised them
of the situation, they were as horrified as we were, and immediately
contacted law enforcement. Beverly had beaten them to the punch, but
they have also promised to provide better over-sight. So, okay. It
is not a perfect result. The offenders are not behind bars, but they
will not get away with it again; at least not in our Nation’s Capital.
I would ask that each and every one of you reading this, stop by the
station the next time you’re in DC. Let these brave men in uniform
know that we respect them for the hard work they gladly shoulder, and
also let them know that if the ball is ever dropped again we will
defend them. Thank you, one and all, for your support of our brothers
and sisters in uniform. They are all that is best about our country,
and I love them as much as I do each of you. Manchu.
–
Chris Hill
Gathering of Eagles
National Director for Operations
http://www.gatheringofeagles.org/
Berkeley Follow-Up
February 14, 2008
Berkeley council won’t apologize
U.S. lawmakers say they will pull funds
Article Created: 02/14/2008 02:37:21 AM PST
BERKELEY — The council’s decision early Wednesday to retract a statement calling U.S. Marine recruiters “uninvited and unwelcome intruders” has not stopped lawmakers from moving forward with plans to pull millions of tax dollars earmarked for school lunches, ferry services and more. Read more
Melanie Morgan reporting in from Bezerkley:
February 13, 2008
Pro-troop demonstration still going strong –but here is my after
action report after 15 hours on the frontlines.
If I were a headline writer I would describe the situation as CHAOS
AND ANARCHY IN BERKELEY today.
Not by our side –by the Marine haters and American traitors.
The cops were openly hostile toward the people who showed up at 5:00
a.m., never stepping in to protect the patriots from the assaults that
took place against elderly folks, Gold Star parents, Blue Star
families and Joe and Jane Citizen who were waving the flags and
showing their pride in the Marines. Read more
Operation Celebrate American Military
January 28, 2008
January 26, 2008
Jacksonville, North Carolina
The NC Gathering of Eagles sponsored an Operation to demonstrate support for and celebrate the American Military.
Hundreds of people came to Jacksonville, from all over North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina and West Virginia.
AAR Nanuet
January 18, 2008
Well, what a day. Bob would’ve been proud. We had a big turnout today. Both corners stocked with Eagles. Tons of honks, thank yous & thumbs up. Some real passionate expressions from those waiting at red lights. I’m amazed at the general feeling of pro-US support people throw at us. We absolutely get the overwhelming majority of support. One woman, told us that her son was killed in Iraq and how appreciative she was that we’re there. That’s what it’s all about.
At first arrival, it was odd not already seeing Bob on our other
corner, but after a few minutes, it was occupied with patriots &
flags. It was good to see that way.
On the moonbat corner stood the same crew of losers as all the prior weekends. They come late and leave at 3pm sharp like programmed zombies. We shouted them down with creativeness that they just don’t have a response for, other than the usual peace sign, and Zieg Hiel salute. Friggen idiots! You had to be there.
Check out Council lets soldiers vote by phone….WE DID IT
January 15, 2008
This was the first operation we undertook after that glorious day in March. It took us many months, and much continued effort, but it is done. We sent out letters to registered voters, attended Council meetings en masse, and supported the servicemember unconditionally. This is proof positive that we can make a difference if we just keep pushing. This effort may have been in my backyard, but it is a victory for us all. Thank you my brothers and sisters for all the effort. Now let’s press the attack. Manchu.
Council lets soldiers vote by phone
Chris Hill
National Director for Operations
Chapel Hill: After Action Report
January 8, 2008
George Samek and the NC Eagles were out to counter the moonbats at UNC-Chapel Hill recently.
Chapel Hill has a long-standing tradition of encouraging freedom of expression and dissension.
During the 1969-70 academic year thousands of UNC students cut classes and risked arrest to take a stand against the Vietnam War.
In January 2007, after President Bush announced his decision to increase the number of troops in Iraq, an influx of anti-war protesters came out of the woodwork at UNC to express their opposition.
“Our goal of change is to press upon Congress to stop the surge,” local protest organizer Allen Spalt said at a Franklin Street protest following Bush’s announcement.
Throughout 2007 protests continued, and while many protests remained civil, some called for police intervention and arrests.
On Feb. 16, six members of UNC’s branch of Students for a Democratic Society were arrested for staging a sit-in at the office of U.S. Rep. David Price, D-N.C.
Although not a war advocate, Price voted to increase funding for the troops in Iraq in an attempt to finance equipment and limit American casualties.
But the SDS members said that regardless of his motives, Price should have opposed the increase.
“We felt like they weren’t listening to us, and we felt like we were getting the same rhetorical answers as always,” SDS member and UNC sophomore Ben Carroll said after being arrested. “We wanted to make it clear that we were not leaving until he heard us.”
SDS is a national organization that has not existed since the mid-1970s, but three students at UNC restarted the organization on campus in September 2006.
On March 20 - the fourth anniversary of the Iraq War - SDS had grown to include about 500 members.
The members walked out of class and marched to Franklin Street to commemorate the lives lost since the war’s inception and demand the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
At the most recent Iraq protest on Nov. 15, SDS members carried a handmade black coffin filled with black-and-white pictures of victims of the war from both the Iraqi and American sides.
“No justice, no peace - U.S. out of the Middle East,” protesters chanted as they marched from the Pit to the Army recruitment center at 1502 E. Franklin St.
“As an apparatus of the state that allows the war to continue, recruiting stations are perhaps the most relevant targets of anti-war protests.” Carroll said in a Nov. 26 letter to the editor in The Daily Tar Heel.
“If there is no one to fight the war, the war cannot continue.”
Counter-protesters, including a number of veterans and members of the Gathering of Eagles, met the students, waving American flags and urging passing cars to honk in support of the troops.
“These are just young kids who don’t know any better,” said George Samek, a veteran who served in the Vietnam War for two years and a member of the Gathering of Eagles.
“We support our military, and these kids are sitting at the mall sucking down Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.”
Carroll said SDS will continue protesting in an attempt to shut down the East Franklin recruiting station.
“On Nov. 15, we shut down the recruiting station for the entire day, meaning they could not recruit more young people to kill and be killed,” he said.
Americans Standing Up in Philadelphia
January 1, 2008
On Sunday, 30 December, 2007 , the Veteran’s for Peace (the old holdovers from VVAW), Code Pink, the usual assortment of leftists and one poor IVAW vet assembled in Philadelphia to call for impeachment of both the President and Vice President. This pathetic assemblage was led by Bill Perry, Vietnam vet and “Winter Soldier” participant. I have included Bill’s testimony below so you can see exactly whom we are up against.
Although we were out-numbered 5 or 6 to one, we made our voices heard and were able to rain on their little America hate-fest. Perry even threw the microphone to the ground when I read his “Winter Soldier” testimony aloud, and the chants of “Soldiers died when Perry lied!” rang out. Several people from the weekly West Chester , PA action joined us, as did a Marine who was just walking by. A number of passers by, including a Blue Star mom, stopped to thank us for not letting these miscreants go unopposed. Never underestimate the power of a few, hearty, extremely loud patriots when we assemble under the flag. It is simply time to take these people on whenever and wherever they gather; no matter the numbers you can muster.
Bicoastal Welcome Home
December 21, 2007
Last week, Eagles, on both coasts, in collaboration with A Hero’s Welcome, welcomed home a Marine and Airman. Both came in from the combat zone, and both were overcome with emotion at seeing us waiting for them at the gate as they deplaned. Much has been made of the things I do. Well, while I thank you all for the accolades, it pales in comparison to the heavy lifting that our brave men and women in uniform are doing every day. For the most part, they get no public praise, and desire even less. They are my model for warriors, and why I fight for them the way I do.
This Christmas, many of our boys and girls will be away from home, fighting a despicable enemy that wishes only to see our way of life vanish. The United States military will never allow that to happen, but if by some chance an enemy force were able to fight their way through all our men and women in uniform they would find us, the American fighting men and women veterans, a little longer in the tooth and a little greyer around the ears, but still ready to strap it on and rain down fire and destruction. That’s what we convey by welcoming our men and women home; the notion that, yes we love you, and yes what you are doing means the world to us, but more importantly, WE GOT YOUR BACKS. So to Sgt Kevin Herring and to Airman
Ricky Glass I say WELCOME HOME, and to all our brave warriors far from home FEAR NOT, GOE STANDS READY TO WATCH YOUR SIX.
Be well brothers and sisters. Merry Christmas. Manchu.
Chris Hill
National Director for Operations
East Coast:
West Coast:
Final Action Report from the corner of the Cannon Bldg. where rumor has it Nancy Pelosi “works”?
December 17, 2007
What a week!!! I am amazed at how many folks stopped by to thank us for being outside Ms. Nancy’s office in support of our troops. They tell me this was an unprecedented event, really never been done before. To demonstrate in support of our Soldiers and play patriotic music outside a congresswoman’s office for an entire week! I enjoyed every minute of it!! I never saw Ms. Nancy, Harry, Chuck or Dick and maybe that is why they are called the most “do nothing” Congress in history! They are doing nothing! Read more
After Action Report: Harrisburg, NC
November 6, 2007
This morning at sunrise, I mounted my flags and hung my signs thanking Vets for their service and using the one the VA has on their site as a hand hold. People in Harrisburg commuting RT 49 don’t see American flags on their way to work. But they did this morning!
There were no mOOnbats present except one guy who flipped me off. I laughed at him! Yes, Poppa Duck, I didn’t whack him.
You gotta love the truckers. They were blowing their horns one after another. I was joined by 2 RVN vets who stopped by, 1 Marine and 1 Army. Great brothers. Hopefully I recruited them into the Eagles.
A touching thing this morning; a woman came into the parking lot at Circle K where I was with her 87 year old father who had been disabled by strokes much like my father-in-law. She was carrying him to the doctor and he insisted she take him over to my corner. It was hard to hear him in all the noise and he could no longer walk. He served on Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Saipan as a combat infantryman in the Marines according to his daughter. She said he didn’t have a lot time left on this earth.
This frail old warrior wanted so desperately to salute the American Flags I was flying this morning. This wonderful man and Marine Veteran raised his knurled hand as best as he good and saluted. As he was holding his salute, his hand was shaking so bad he used his left hand to steady his arm.
I gave her my business card and asked her to call me when God calls him home so I may honor him at his funeral. She said she would.
As they drove off he held his salute the best he could I and returned his salute. Finest salute I ever had. What an honor to meet such a patriot. God Bless him.
There is no doubt we are on the right track my brothers and sisters. I think that made this Marine’s day. I know it made my year. I can say I was profoundly touched and was difficult to keep the tears back. I think I might do a couple more.
All it takes is a flag and maybe one sign and one-hour of time, morning or evening, any day of the week that works for your schedule to bring the message that America is a great country. The people have had enough of the garbage eaters sending a message that America is a failure. Change the face of America? You bet your buns we can!
Faithfully Yours,
Waldo Pepper
After Action Report: Little Rock 10/27
November 6, 2007
Saturday, October 27th was a beautiful day in Little Rock. Caleb and I arrived at the Wal-Mart parking lot around 11:15 AM, and began to unload our signs and flag. A car pulled up, and the lady asked if we were with Gathering of Eagles, and I told her, “yes”. She said she was checking out at Wal-Mart when her husband called her cell phone from Camp Victory, Iraq, where he is deployed. He told her that he had read about our counter protest on the GOE website, and asked her to come by and join us. At that moment, I was truly humbled, and knew our small, short-notice action was getting the message to the troops that the Eagles, and those who support us, have their backs. Unfortunately, I didn’t write down the lady’s name, but know that her husband will read this post, and know to whom I am referring. The main body of PGR’s were in Cabot, AR for a mission, which was far more important than facing down the moonbats.
Initially, we had a couple of folks come to our corner of the very busy intersection, including an original Vietnam Veterans Against the War member. They were somewhat shocked to find someone protesting their protest. The VVAW member tried his best to argue his philosophy concerning the War on Terror versus war against nations, and the criminality of pre-emptive war. He compared the US action in Iraq to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. I finally had to tell Wayne to quit wasting his energy on such tripe, and join us at the curb, which, at that point, was probably a very good thing for the VVAW member’s physical well being.
Many “Impeach Bush” and “Stop The Torture” signs, but, as Wayne noticed too, no American flags. Initially, one of the moonbat organizers came up with a package of small flags, but they seemed to disappear after a few minutes. After a while, the teenage daughter of the lady who joined us initially arrived, and held the flag. The symbolism of a child of a deployed, re-greened 56-year old solider holding the flag against the insurgency at home was awesome! Her daddy should be very proud of her. As a Vietnam veteran, I know it thrilled me to see my son standing with me, also holding the flag. Actually, my son was the reason all of us were there to begin with, as he is the one who called the moonbat action to my attention. Kudos to Caleb for his actions. Additionally, a lady who had just been driving down the street, parked her car, came over to me and asked if we had a sign she could hold. I had made several signs, so I invited her to join us, which she did. Finally, one of the teenage friends of the daughter came, and also held a sign until the end.
The main group of moonbats broke up around 1:00 PM, and I had to get to work, so we closed down our counter protest, except for Wayne, who stayed a while longer. We held our own, we kept the faith and let our deployed brothers and sisters know we have their back.
An old motto from the South says, “Deo Vindice”, “Under God, Our Vindicator”, and that is how I close this report from the hinterlands.
Deo Vindice,
Jim Lites
After Action Report: Chicago
November 3, 2007
Eagles!
Bev Perlson is my hero. She singlehandedly put together a group of stalwarts in Chicago that stood down a much-larger moonbat force, and she got great coverage in the local media!
Please read her After-Action Report to see what ONE PERSON can do! Thanks, Bev, for putting this all together!
Larry Bailey
Chairman
We were about 40 strong and they were about 3,000 strong. However, the local TV stations gave us excellent coverage. All the local media gave our gallant and proud Patriots as much coverage as they gave the misguided “miscreants”. Some of them even thanked us for coming out and said we could call them in the future when we rally! Special thanks to Tera with Fox news and Antoinne with WGN! The Chicago Police were extremely supportive and lots of them thanked us for coming out. They totally surrounded us and those on the horses were not facing us, they were lined up on Dearborn Street facing the demonstrators. I am so proud of what we accomplished and the one thing I had hoped for occurred. As this is my Son’s hometown where these people chose to demonstrate, I wanted more than anything for my brave warrior over in Afghanistan to see his mother out there with her sign declaring pride in his service. Well, I am happy to report my Sign was all over the TV and my Son has seen my sign! He thanked all of us for coming out and supporting our Soldiers! He also had a colorful response to the young man carrying the sign F— the war pigs, but I will leave to your imagination what that was.
Thank You to the Minutemen, Gathering of Eagles, Eagles Up and Each and Every Patriot who came out and stood with us on Saturday! Thanks to Move America Forward and Families United for your moral support! We may have been small, but we stood with mighty hearts in support of our troops and their mission! Size doesn’t matter here, our message does! Everyone agreed we will contune to Step Up Stand Up and Stick Up For Our Soldiers!! Thank you with all my heart to all who came!
One last note, as we were leaving, driving in our car, we witnessed 4 young anti-war protestors throwing their signs away in the garbage can (the Poor Chicago Sanitation Dept!) They saw us watching them and they starting pulling their signs back out of the trash! We took our signs home because we are committed to our Soldiers and their mission and we intend to use them again and, Nobody bought our signs, we paid for them ourselves!
To those who say they support our Soldiers but not the war, I say your actions in demonstrating and holding signs that say F—the War Pigs, are aiding and abetting the enemy and hurting our Soldiers!
It is no coincidence that we have not been attacked since 9/11. Our Soldiers are doing a great job keeping the terrorists out of our backyard. Support them in their efforts as they support your way of life.
I leave you with this quote from General Giap of the Vietnam military and I urge all Americans to learn from history and take heed:
“What we still don’t understand is why you Americans stopped the bombing of Hanoi! You had us on the ropes. If you pressed us a little harder, just for another day or two, we were ready to surrender! It was the same at the battles of TET. You defeated us! We knew it, and we thought you knew it. But we were elated to notice your media were definitely helping us. They were causing more disruption in America than we could in the battlefields. We were ready to surrender. You had won!”
I am
The Very Proud Mother of Sgt. John P. White
HOOAH!!!!Beverly Perlson
Founder, The Band of Mothers
