coulda heard a Pin Drop....

[OcBassman63]

Got this in a email......

In lieu of the "Ugly American" image we seem to have throughout Europe, especially in France :

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When in England at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of 'empire building' by George Bush.

He answered by saying, 'Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders.' 'The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.'

You could have heard a pin drop.

Then there was a conference in France where a number of international engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a break one of the French engineers came back into the room saying "Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intended to do, bomb them?'

A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: 'Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the

capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day; they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such hips, and we sent two; how many does France have & send?'

You could have heard a pin drop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included

Admirals from the U.S. , English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies. At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of Officers that included personnel from most of those countries.

Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their dr inks but a French Admiral suddenly complained that, 'whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English.' He then asked, 'Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French?'

Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied 'Maybe it's because the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have to speak German.'

You could have heard a pin drop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AND THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE... A group of Americans,

retired teachers, recently went to F rance on a tour.

Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on.

'You have been to France before, monsieur ?' the customs officer asked sarcastically. Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously. 'Then you should know enough to have your passport ready.' The American said 'The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it.' 'Impossible. Americans always have to show your passports on arrival in France !' The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained. 'Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find any d**n Frenchmen to show it to.'

You could have heard a pin drop.

[SuskyDude]

Sounds like a bunch of that was made up to inspire some good ole American pride.... :

[fishbear]

made up or not, it is dead on the money.  All these countries that complain and whine about America would not have that freedom if we had not fought for them in WW1, WW2, and stopped the Russian Communist advancement after WW2.  

I for one thank God every day for all the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice so I can live as I want, go where I want, and fish and hunt when I want.

Sorry if this got to political and needs to be deleted.  

[guitarkid]

This just goes to prove that some other countries just do not understand.

By the way, We do a lot more humanitirian stuff than the french could ever know.Maybe they should just go eat more snails and keep their nose out of America's Business. But the old veteran was right, The french quite litterally saw the Germans coming and said I give up.

                -searoach

[Micro]

France seems to be attempting to improve its relations with the US. This Sarkozy guy strikes me as a fairly straight shooter, and decidely unlike the wimp-like Jack Charac. It seems to me the US is reciprocating. I wouldn't be surprised if the US Air Force's decision to use Airbus to build it's next generation tankers is not an effort in that respect.

And as far as helping in WWII "keeping the French from speaking German," we would do well to remember that the French kept the Amercians from paying homage to the King of England after 1782. I know, there are French graves a few miles from my house at Yorktown. They also sold us a huge chunk of our country for chump-change.

France strikes me as one of those old friends you had in school that you always fought with. But if anyone else did, you'd kick their ***.

[Micro]

But the old veteran was right, The french quite litterally saw the Germans coming and said I give up.

           

Sorry, but I hate when I see this. The French suffered 4.5 million casualties in WWI fighting the Germans. Three times as many as the United Kingdom. And twenty-one times as many as the US. Only Russia suffered more. WWI depleted the French male population so severely that it affected France's ability to field a healthy army by the time of WWII.

In WWII, the French suffered more killed than the US, and as many total casualties as the US. Not to mention that France suffered another 1/4 million civilian casualties, and the US suffered a handful. Interestingly, the US population at the time was 129 million, and the French population was 42 million. Per capita, the French suffered far more than the US.

Here's a bit of trivia: Who's army did the US first fight in WWII in it's war against Germany? Answer: the French. The Vichy French were German co-beligerants. When US troops landed in North Africa in 1942, they went up agaisnt Vichy French troops. US Navy fighters had to deal with French Curtiss fighters in the skies over North Africa. This was the first time in history where where US planes fought US-made planes in a war.

[guitarkid]

Good point. Almost forgot about that.

           -searoach

[=Matt 5.0=]

Well said Micro. Seems some of us forget the past. America would be a very different place if it weren't for Ben Franklin and France.