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Dangerous Old Men
By Ebben Raves

Everybody knows a Walt Kowalski. He is the grizzled Korean War veteran Clint Eastwood played in the movie Gran Torino. A man who spends his days sitting on the porch, keeping his house and yard immaculate, satisfied to drink his cheap beer while watching his neighborhood and country go to hell around him. He is an anachronism, a dinosaur -- part of the old America where you worked hard, took pride in your work and where you lived, and fought for your country and what it stood for when called upon. Armed with his M1 Garand rifle and 1911 .45 pistol he brought back from the war, he put new meaning in "Get off my lawn."

(Warning: spoilers follow.)

As anyone who has seen the movie knows, Kowalski is recently widowed and terminally ill. He does not have much to live for until he befriends his young Hmong neighbors. After teaching them what honor and self-reliance are, he eventually gives his life for them.

Fewer have heard of Ben Mitchell, who features in the book Enemies Foreign and Domestic. Mitchell is a former Vietnam-era Green Beret operative who paralyzes Washington, D.C. by crippling the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. (Again, spoilers follow.) Though not terminally ill -- yet -- Mitchell does not see much of a future ahead of him and is angered about his friend being set up by the federal government during an unconstitutional gun-grab passed in the heat of the moment by legislators after a tragedy. Before losing his life, however, he manages to take out most of the federal law enforcement team sent against him.

Both of these men are fictional characters, but is it just fantasy? Let us look back at Samuel Whittemore. Samuel was an old man -- seventy-eight years old, to be exact -- on April 19, 1775. After many years of service bearing arms for the British Crown, surely he was too old to fight, and his wife even told him so. On that fateful morning, though, he gathered up his musket, two pistols, and a cavalry saber that he acquired from a French officer who "died suddenly" and took his place to meet the British Regulars in Menotomy. When it was over, the British thought they were fired upon by a whole company and sent the same to subdue him. After dispatching some British Regulars by emptying his musket and pistols and drawing his sword, he had half his face shot off and was bayoneted thirteen times and left for dead. Samuel did indeed die -- ten years later.

There is also David Lamson, a mulatto voted by his peers to take charge of a group of gray-haired old men. On that same morning, they surprised one of General Percy's supply columns, asking them to surrender. Seeing just a few old men, the British refused, leading to Lamson's men shooting the officer, the sergeant, and the horses in their traces. The remaining grenadiers fled, finally surrendering to old Mother Batherick after throwing their arms away. Hearing about this, a British paper printed, "If one old Yankee woman can take six grenadiers, how many soldiers will it require to conquer America?"

There are over twenty-five million veterans in the United States -- among them many Walt Kowalskis -- and most of them are gun owners. Some of them remember the horrors of the concentration camps and of communism. Others are from the Vietnam era and remember what awaited them when they came home. They see John Kerry, the same man who threw his medals over the White House fence and was photographed with Jane Fonda and the North Vietnamese, nominated as secretary of state. They remember. ObamaCare, where you get painkillers instead of treatment because you are old? They have heard this. They have been spat at and vilified before, and now, with time running out for them, and the America that they knew seemingly fading away, many will say, "At one time, I was asked to write a check to my country for up to and including my life. Do I need to do it again?"

You would be surprised at what you can overhear at the VFW, or even the "early bird dinner," for that matter. Thanks to the "War on Terror," there are also many younger combat veterans, many from a lineage of soldiers. They know that old people can be stubborn, and "the government threw grandpa in jail because he didn't turn in his guns" will not go over well. As an older friend of mine whom I see at Denny's on occasion tells me, "I'm just sayin'."

Ebben Raves is a veteran, constitutional activist, and speaker who teaches American history and has been a guest on several talk radio shows. He can be reached at ebshumidorsyahoo.com.

Ad triarios redisse

Thanks my friend. That is great.

Your thread reminds me of the old lady in the movie "Every which way but loose". Ma vs Black Widows.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azxFvvUtu40

Great post. True too.

TLEE;
Thanks so much for the good read which serves as a reminder to us all. I hope that this finds you and yours well and that 2013 has treated you all fine thus far.

I believe at one time I shared a couple stories with you of vets that I worked with over the years who indeed fit the description of your thread.

One of them, a veteran of the German Army's failed Russian campaign, who'd subsequently spent 4 years in concentration camp after the war was always like a father to me.

There was however a chap who moved up here from California to avoid the draft in the '70's who loved to torment him.

One memorable occasion when the teasing finally got to my German friend, his countenance changed and he simply picked up the other fellow, walked him 30' over to a garbage bin and dropped him into it. I'll never forget the look on my older friend's face as he sorted out what he'd do next, then he simply shook his finger at him - shared a couple unprintable but pertinent thoughts and left.

As the other chap got out of the garbage bin, I walked over to him and observed, "You just had an honest to goodness near death experience there - if it was me I'd watch how I talked to him from now on....."

Another late friend of my late father foiled an armed robbery in a local bank - this would have been in the early '80's I think, by grabbing the would be robber by the throat and threatening to gouge out his eyes if he moved.

Now the interesting detail here is that this particular robber must have been brighter than average at reading sign - you see Dad's buddy had in fact led an escape of Allied war prisoners from a German prison - and had told Dad that he'd killed one of the guards with a similar move.

Anyway, I'll again say a heartfelt thank you to all the service men and women here. Your sacrifice has not gone unnoticed and many of us do not take our freedoms for granted.

Here's to all the dangerous old men in particular here, may you all have a wonderful 2013 and never again have to use what you learned in your younger days.

Dwayne

I hate that old German didn't go ahead and kill Bill Clinton's sorry draft dodging a$$ when he threw him in the trash.

CrimsonTide;
I hope that this finds you and yours well this Sunday afternoon sir.

What the chap in the bucket didn't realize was that my German friend had been impressed into the army at gunpoint. He said they showed up at the family farm and said if he didn't come with them he'd die along with the rest of the family - so he went to the Russian front.

He was in no way, shape or form pro Nazi, which is what he was wrongly accused of by the fellow in the trash can.

Although my older friend didn't talk much about it, at times privately with me he'd share the horrors he'd seen in the concentration camp. To say he was anticommunist would be just scratching the surface in my view CrimsonTide.

Anyway I've known a lot of vets from several conflicts and have nothing but the deepest respect for them. The overwhelming majority have treated me in an exemplary manner and I've done my best to return that courtesy.

All the best to you and yours in 2013 CrimsonTide.

Regards,
Dwayne

Dwayne my friend,

All is well here with family and friends as I hope is with you. You Sir are one of the real good guys here and I always appreciate hearing from you and you opinions are valued.



Terry

I hope my post didn't sound like I thought your German friend was Nazi. I have little doubt but that many German boys were pressed into service with the Wermacht.

I agree that we owe a debt of respect and in some cases, gratitude to veterans of any war. A man who has seen the elephant should never be taken lightly.

May 2013 bring health and blessings to you and your family,
CT

Proudly a member!

One of my ship mates (M Schoch) at the Naval Photographic Center was a German boy who'd been forced to be a Hitler youth. I'm sure that none of us who knew him ever supposed that he'd been a Nazi. He was a shooter, too.

And if I remember correctly, a nephew of Adolf Hitler was also an American serviceman at the time.

CrimsonTide;
Thanks for the greetings and blessing sir, I do appreciate them.

To be clear sir, I took nothing in your post to reflect that you felt my friend was a Nazi other than being forced to fight for them.

I should have been more clear in my response in that my intention was only to add that detail and not that I'd inferred anything from your reply. Sorry for that oversight on my part.

Thanks again for the kind words CT and all the best to you and yours again.

Regards,
Dwayne

T. Lee,
Liked the subject matter on the old vets and the seeming attitudes they have when confronted with losing freedoms and having their rights encroached upon. Something I can totally relate to along with driving the train for Jane Fonda along with thousands of others like me.
Seeing my country vanishing by the day is unnerving to say the least. Listening to Reid and Pelosi demeaning vets and elderly who have given their lives to this country brings the hair up on my neck for sure, but the stealing of our rights by executive order and yelling he has the mandate because he stole the election and that gives him permission to do so..... NOT.!
I know for sure, after being shot twice, that I can be killed, but the price that will be paid will be steep. Old but very determined to keep my country and my rights and certainly my private property.!! JIM Lloyd, FROGMANJIM67

Welcome, frogmanjim67, and compliments on a GREAT first post !

hope you'll stick around.

GTC

AMEN Cross, ya beat me to it.

Welcome to the 'fire, Jim!

Anybody who doesn't believe stories like that should just watch the movie, Enemy at the Gates, which is about the Russian front, though told through the eyes of a drafted Russian instead. The movie certainly implies that although the protagonist is Russian, he isn't Communist. The scenes of the Russian officers shooting conscripts that are terrified of walking into the Nazi death machine are particularly brutal.

Great post sir. And welcome Jim. Sounds like you'll fit in real nice.

Great stories. As a veteran of the Vietnam fiasco I later served with a unit that attempted to control the many anti-military demonstrations. Many of these hippies are now grandparents of sons & daughters that leach off the government & are dedicated liberals. Grandparents, parents, & now sons & daughters were frequent users of drugs. I believe all the illegal drug use has contributed to todays gun violence by producing young men with defective chromosomes. I do volunteer work with Wounded Warriors & they do honor to our greatest generation. Any man or woman that served in the military needs to be congratulated. I am over 70 & teach security officers to shoot & work as a armed guard at so called secure facilities. Many of my young co-workers are amazed that I hunt, shoot, fish, drive an ATV, & a high speed bass boat.