Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Military You could have heard a pin drop

JFK'S Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, was in France in the early 60's when DeGaulle decided to pull out of NATO. DeGaulle said he wanted all US military out of France as soon as possible. Rusk responded, "Does that include those who are buried here?"
DeGaulle did not respond. You could have heard a pin drop.
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.
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 intend 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 ships. How many does France have?"
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 drinks when 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 Brit's, Canadians, Aussie's 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...
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 their 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 a single Frenchmen to show a passport to."
You could have heard a pin drop!

Awesome.

Great post, thanks.

Correct response each time.

OUTSTANDING!!!

The FRENCH have been accused of lots of things, but being BRAVE is not one of those !!

Just read it again- love it!

First thing in my mind was on the last one....

the soldier who came ashore on D Day in June 1944....

Sitting here in front of my computer, first thing in my head was still to stand up and give that Veteran a salute of respect.

But all of those stories, the average person in this country under age 30 to 40, wouldn't even understand what Bugger is talking about.

Yeah, the French forget real quick.... they were like that when I was there in 1964 and 1965 with the family on vacation, as a military dependent. My dad was stationed in England from 1963 to 1966.

DeGaulle was a piece of work.

How do I forward this? Harry Truman called DE Gaul the most ungrateful man in the world.

Great post. Thanks.

Bugger, I salute you - one of the best posts ever.

De Gaulle was a self centered idiot of the first order. I forget the name of the Island off the coast of Canada, that was French territory. During WW2, it was guarded by the US and Canadian Navies, to keep German U Boats from docking there, and trying to take over. To save face, DeGaulle lead a group of French soldiers to invade it to occupy it, in 1940 or 41.