Ralph Brandt. Common Sense in York, PA - The Freedom Fighter

For over two hundred years one tyrant after another has disparaged his fighting skills or underestimated him. He is both hated and feared by those who would seek to enslave others. Kings and dictators tried unsuccessfully to destroy his resolve to see freedom survive. But he stands firm. Sometimes he was hard-pressed. Sometimes he fought alone. But he is still unbeaten on the field of battle and in his mind. He has at times been unappreciated by some of his countrymen who forget the price he has paid, but always he stands as a hero in the hearts of those who love liberty everywhere.

It really began in 1776. King George demanded the new world support his government. The freedom fighter stood firm to establish freedom. Places like Bunker Hill, Valley Forge and Lexington come to mind. He took on the best George could field and the mercenaries called Hessians, the best soldiers of that day. And he prevailed. In with him, freedom prevailed.

In 1812 he took up arms again against an oppressing foe. On Lake Erie he built ships under the threat of British attack and with those ships, built by amateur shipbuilders using green wood and against all odds, he took on and defeated the mighty British fleet, the best of its day. At New Orleans under Jackson he routed a superior British Army. Maybe the tyrants would keep their armies at home he hoped as he trudged home.

In 1861 a home-grown tyranny called the Confederacy reared its ugly head and he was called again. This time battle-fields were ringed with cannon and ships with iron sides dueled without a winner. The names remain with us today, Sumpter, Shiloh, Vicksburg, Hampton Roads, and Gettysburg. At Sumpter he stood under terrible cannon fire and surrendered only after there was nothing to gain from further bloodshed. At Hampton Roads he stood in the turret of the most modern battleship afloat and exchanged shot with a ship four times as large. Although the battle was a draw, his presence caused the rebel ship to be scuttled ending the threat. At Gettysburg he stood under the heaviest cannonade to that time and repulsed the forces of slavery, fifteen thousand strong. And he as he returned home he hoped against hope that the smell of gunpowder would henceforth be carried only on the winds of the sporting fields. But it was not to be.

To San Juan Hill he was called again. With the Rough Riders he stormed the ramparts and routed the enemy. And at Manilla Bay he loaded the guns that destroyed the powerful Spanish Navy. As he sailed home he hoped that this would be the last time the armored hulls would leave port in anger. Maybe this would be the last infantry charge. Maybe the cannon would henceforth only be used for ceremonial volleys.

But in 1914 the Kaiser called his army together and soon there a new names on the plaques, Bella Wood and Flanders. And new weapons brought new peril, machine guns, poison gas, aircraft, tanks and submarines. And he was called to face them too. And as he came home he heard his leaders proclaim this as the war to end all wars. And how he hoped it was true.

You would think that with this legacy "(his) banners (would) make tyranny tremble", his presence would cause despots to go into hiding. But despots are a strange lot, each thinks he is invulnerable. Within two decades a Godless Japanese Emperor and the tyrant Adolf Hitler both called him soft. He would not fight, they said, and if he did, he would be no match for the super races of Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany. And so they tried his mettle. At Pearl, Bataan, Corregador, Wake and Manilla he gave way only to superior numbers and leadership. But at Guadalcanal he stood against ten to one odds in Banzi Charges and held firm. At Coral Sea for the first time he fought a sea battle against an enemy unseen. At Midway he flew the TBF's against Japanese carriers in spite of 100% losses. But it was not for nothing, the TBD's that followed used that sacrifice and broke the back of the Imperial Fleet. The carriers that raped Pearl went to the bottom that day. At the Suagaro Strait he sailed six outgunned battleships, pulled from the Pearl Harbor mud and defeated the best the Japanese could offer. Like Perry at Erie, he crossed the T and won. In North Africa, Anzio, Normandy, in the skies above Europe, and in the Atlantic he stood tall against the best the Nazi Super race could offer. Monte Casino and Bastogne stand as memorials, he can fight. And he hoped as he came home, maybe this is the last time. But this time he should have seen the signs of what was to come. For the first time he was restrained from fighting, the politicians set the Japanese Emperor's Palace off limits. The un-godly figurehead that helped bring us to war was protected by our own leaders!

North Korea and Red China would not allow him to rest. And at Inchon and a hundred individually unimportant hills with names we don't remember he threw back the best they could offer. He flew Corsairs, B-26's and a host of other planes that had been used in the previous war to support the men on the ground. In the air he met the MIG's nose to nose with F-86's and won except when they retreated across the Yellow River to sanctuary. He was restrained from winning. The victory was snatched from his grasp by his own leaders.

The tyranny of Communism took solace from this and he was to have no rest because the Viet Cong would enslave its neighbors. And although he fought bravely, his leaders prevented a victory. His fellow countrymen tired of the war and he came home with no honor. But there were those who shook his hand when he returned. Unlike their leaders they knew the sacrifice he made and the importance of it.

So during the seventies and eighties he was called many times to "limited engagements" to protect freedom. And sometimes his life was sacrificed with seemingly little gain.

Then in 1990 he was called again. Sadam Hussein called him the great Satan. He flew planes so new that this was their first blooding and so old that they were pulled from mothballs to fly. Some flew the undetectable stealth bombers over Bagdad and returned unharmed. Others flew the ugly A-10 tank busters that were called obsolete. And the ground forces were there too. And when turned loose, in just few days these men in the air and on the ground nullified Sadaam's army.

You ask, who is this formidable warrior? He and she are from ten thousand places, some with names we all know like New York City and LA, and some like Morton IL, Idaville PA, Northeast MD, and Fair Grove MO. But when the chips were down and there was a need for someone to stand up and be counted, they were there.

Thank God, they were there.

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Revised 5/28/2001 DRAAW is not a misspelling, it is an acronymn for Dee, Ralph, Angela, Annette and William.