You could have heard a pin drop

You could have heard a pin drop

 

At a time when our president and other politicians tend to apologize for

our country`s prior actions, here`s a refresher on how some of our

former patriots handled negative comments about our country.

 

These are good

 

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 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 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 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 a single Frenchmen to show a passport to."

 

You could have heard a pin drop.