Helped Patton's Troops - Got a Loan To Come to America

 

Veteran's Honor Rose reminds our military of their sworn duty.

My wife and her sister were born in poverty and lived for a time in a refugee camp. Her parents borrowed the funds to come across to America. They paid the entire amount back and helped more of the family settle in the States. One uncle joined the US Army.

They all studied to become American citizens, the pride of their lives.

The sisters were coaxed to attend a local state university, and some urged Valparaiso. Christina insisted on Augustana College in Rock Island, within walking distance of my house. We met on the first day in English class and I was asked by my brother about that meeting. I said, "I met a red-head and I'll ask her out and maybe marry her." Decades later, when Christina talked about this, a Moline friend at the same dorm said Chris kept calling my name that week.

Restrain These Immoderate Rains

As the Chief Chaplain of the Third Army throughout the five campaigns on the Staff of General Patton, I should have some knowledge of the event because at the direction of General Patton I composed the now world famous Prayer, and wrote Training Letter No. 5, which constitutes an integral, but untold part, of the prayer story. These Incidents, narrated in sequence, should serve to enhance the memory of the man himself, and cause him to be enshrined by generations to come as one of the greatest of our soldiers. He had all the traits of military leadership, fortified by genuine trust in God, intense love of country, and high faith In the American soldier.

Msgr. James H. O'Neill

The Story of the Patton Rain Prayer

Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate rains with which we have had to contend. Grant us fair weather for Battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call upon Thee that, armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies and establish Thy justice among men and nations.

***

GJ - We had five inches of rain after the big rain, and now the rains have returned.  Sassy and I dropped off the Ichaboat (Town Car) for a minor repair, and walked home a few blocks, watching the gathering clouds.

Although parts of Arkansas will flood, no one here is experiencing the massive flooding and the new rains in Texas. 

We have been in many floods, starting with the

1. Mississippi Flood of 1965, 
2. Midland Michigan in 1986, 
3. St. Louis in 1993, and 
4. New Ulm, Minnesota, 1997.

I doubt whether those floods are close to the horrors of Texas, as flash floods crashed into homes and swept them away, the residences as dangerous to occupy as the vehicles on the road.