On Jul 13, 12:38*pm, "Capt. JG" wrote:
"jds" ssss wrote in .. .
hmmm, interesting. when i was 17 i was being trained by my uncle sam in
the uses of powerful weapons. he seemed to think i was old, mature, grown
up enough to handle them. turns out i was. i have weapons on my boat, in
my home and on my person at all times. if you have ever needed a weapon to
keep yourself or family alive, you understand what i mean. regards, j.d..

And, because you were "matrure" enough to have them at that age, that means
all those 17 are? Hardly. It's a fact that a young person's brain isn't
fully mature (on average) until they're in their mid-20s.

Spelling Nazi, what about this 14 YO that just passed away?
Was he mature enough?

Youngest Marine to get MoH dies

After lying about age to join Corps, he covered 2 grenades with his
body on Iwo Jima
By Chris Talbott - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Jun 9, 2008 19:05:37 EDT

JACKSON, Miss. — Jack Lucas, who at 14 lied his way into military
service during World War II and became the youngest Marine to receive
the Medal of Honor, died of cancer in the pre-dawn hours Thursday in a
Hattiesburg, Miss., hospital. He was 80.

Jacklyln “Jack” Lucas was just six days past his 17th birthday in
February 1945, when his heroism at Iwo Jima earned him the nation’s
highest military honor. He used his body to shield three fellow squad
members from two grenades, and was nearly killed when one exploded.

“A couple of grenades rolled into the trench,” Lucas said in an
Associated Press interview shortly before he received the medal from
President Truman in October 1945. “I hollered to my pals to get out
and did a Superman dive at the grenades. I wasn’t a Superman after I
got hit. I let out one helluva scream when that thing went off.”

He was left with more than 250 pieces of shrapnel in his body and in
every major organ and endured 26 surgeries in the months after Iwo
Jima.

“By his inspiring action and valiant spirit of self-sacrifice, he not
only protected his comrades from certain injury or possible death but
also enabled them to rout the Japanese patrol and continue the
advance,” the Medal of Honor citation said.

In the AP interview, written as a first-person account under his name,
he recalled the months he spent in a hospital.

“Soon as I rest up, I imagine I’ll run for president,” the story
concluded. “Ain’t I the hero, though?”

Big for his age and eager to serve, Lucas forged his mother’s
signature on an enlistment waiver and joined the Marines at 14.
Military censors discovered his age through a letter to his 15-year-
old girlfriend.

“They had him driving a truck in Hawaii because his age was discovered
and they threatened to send him home,” said D.K. Drum, who wrote
Lucas’ story in the 2006 book “Indestructible.” “He said if they sent
him home, he would just join the Army.”

Lucas eventually stowed away aboard a Navy ship headed for combat in
the Pacific Ocean. He turned himself in to avoid being listed as a
deserter and volunteered to fight, and the officers onboard allowed
him to fight the Japanese.

“They did not know his age. He didn’t give it up and they didn’t ask,”
Drum said.

Born in Plymouth, N.C., on Feb. 14, 1928, Edwards was a 13-year-old
cadet captain in a military academy when the Japanese bombed Pearl
Harbor.

“I would not settle for watching from the sidelines when the United
States was in such desperate need of support from its citizens,” Lucas
said in “Indestructible.” “Everyone was needed to do his part and I
could not do mine by remaining in North Carolina.”

After the war, Lucas earned a business degree from High Point
University and raised, processed and sold beef in the Washington,
D.C., area. In the 1960s, he joined the Army and became a paratrooper,
Drum said, to conquer his fear of heights. On a training jump, both of
his parachutes failed.

“He was the last one out of the airplane and the first one on the
ground,” Drum said.

He was diagnosed with a form of leukemia in April and spent his last
days in the hospital with family and friends, including his wife,
Ruby, standing vigil.


I disagree with your assertion that you have them "on ..your.. person" at
all times, unless you never have to go on a plane trip, visit a Federal (or
State) building, or a bunch other places where they're restricted. Are you a
cop or in the military? When was the last time you needed a weapon to "keep
yourself or your family alive"? Where you on your boat? What were the facts?

Why doubt the man?


I own guns and I see their place in society.

I'm curious. If they are not for protection in the one place you only
yourself to rely on, where else is a more proper place?


I choose not to carry them
aboard, especially if I'm going to another country. You can choose
differently of course. The problem is that some people have decided that if
someone chooses not to carry a gun, that means they must be labelled as
weak, ineffectual, or "liberal," which is complete bs.


No the problem is if you carry a gun, some snot nose weak liberal
has a problem with it, and assumes you are a "right wing nut".

Joe

--
"j" ganz