Wakarusa Patriot Day ~ ‘Remembering 9-11’ Blood Drive and Ceremony

Tags

9-11 Remembrance, Blood Drive, Boy Scouts, Boy Scouts Surge, Community, Community Service, Elkhart County, Honoring America's First Responders, Patriotism, Sheriff Brad Rogers, United States Armed Forces, Wakarusa Indiana

Open to the Public

Patriot Day/Remembering 9-11 Blood Drive and Ceremony
BLOOD DRIVE (South Bend Medical Foundation)
When: September 11, 2013
Time: 2:30pm – 5:30pm EST
Where: Wakarusa Memorial Park
(Behind Wakarusa Elementary School)

CEREMONY

When: September 11, 2013
Time: 5:30pm – 6:15pm EST
Elkhart County Sheriff, Brad Rogers is our guest speaker.

The Wakarusa 911 Remembrance ceremony will feature guest speaker, Elkhart County Sheriff, Brad Rogers.

Where: Wakarusa Memorial Park
(Behind Wakarusa Elementary School)
Bring Chairs – Their will be some shelter.

Your local scouting community is holding their 3nd annual Scout Surge a 9-11 remembrance ceremony at Wakarusa Memorial Park. This service will last approximately 45min. Please bring your chairs as we honor and our local first responders, our armed forces and their families as well as remember this day in our nation’s history. Our guests of Honor include all branches of our local United States Armed Forces as well as our Local and County First Responders. Help us say Thank You! You will also get a chance to see Memorials MedFlight Chopper!

On September 11, 2001 nearly 3,000 innocent people died in the most devastating terrorist attack upon our country. For the families and friends of those lost on 9/11, commemorating their lives in a meaningful way ensures that their memory will live on for future generations.

In the days following 9/11, people of all ages came together as one in communities around our country. Join the Surge and show your patriotism by participating in a Day of Remembrance in your community. With your help we will Always Remember! To learn more about Scout Surge please CLICK HERE

Blood Drive Facebook Link >> CLICK HERE
Ceremony Facebook Link >> CLICK HERE

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Happy Birthday America!!!

Tags

4th of July, Boy Scouts of America, Celebrate, Depression, God Bless America, Hitler, Irving Berlin, Kate Smith, Patriotism, Ronald Reagan

By: Anna Kroyman

Courtesy of Peter Recchio

Do you remember Kate Smith?

Frank Sinatra considered Kate Smith the best singer of her time, and said that when he and a million other guys first heard her sing “God Bless America” on the radio, they all pretended to have dust in their eyes as they wiped away a tear or two.

Here are the facts…

The link at the bottom will take you to a video showing the very first public singing of “GOD BLESS AMERICA”.  But before you watch it, you should also know the story behind the first public showing of the song.

The time was 1940. America was still in a terrible economic depression. Hitler was taking over Europe and Americans were afraid we’d have to go to war. It was a time of hardship and worry for most Americans.

This was the era just before TV, when radio shows were HUGE, and American families sat around their radios in the evenings, listening to their favorite entertainers, and no entertainer of that era was bigger than Kate Smith.

Kate was also large; plus size, as we now say, and the popular phrase still used today is in deference to her, “It ain’t over till the fat lady sings”. Kate Smith might not have made it big in the age of TV, but with her voice coming over the radio, she was the biggest star of her time.

Kate was also patriotic.  It hurt her to see Americans so depressed and afraid of what the next day would bring. She had hope for America, and faith in her fellow Americans. She wanted to do something to cheer them up, so she went to the famous American song-writer, Irving Berlin (who also wrote “White Christmas”) and asked him to write a song that would make Americans feel good again about their country.  When she described what she was looking for, he said he had just the song for her.

He went to his files and found a song that he had written, but never published, 22 years before – way back in 1917. He gave it to and she worked on it with her studio orchestra.  She and Irving Berlin were not sure how the song would be received by the public, but both agreed they would not take any profits from God Bless America. Any profits would go to the Boy Scouts of America. Over the years, the Boy Scouts have received millions of dollars in royalties from this song.

This video starts out with Kate Smith coming into the radio studio with the orchestra and an audience. She introduces the new song for the very first time, and starts singing. After the first couple verses, with her voice in the background still singing, scenes are shown from the 1940 movie, “You’re In The Army Now.”  At the 4:20 mark of the video you see a young actor in the movie, sitting in an office, reading a paper; it’s Ronald Reagan.

To this day, God Bless America stirs our patriotic feelings and pride in our country.  Back in 1940, when Kate Smith went looking for a song to raise the spirits of her fellow Americans, I doubt whether she realized just how successful the results would be for her fellow Americans during those years of hardship and worry….. and for many generations of Americans to follow.  Now that you know the story of the song, I hope you’ll enjoy it and treasure it even more.

EVERYONE HAVE A SAFE AND WONDERFUL 4TH OF JULY!!!