As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
I care to differentiate between serving America and serving oneself of America. It is bullshit that all how wear any nation's uniform are Heroes or to be honored.
Sec. of State and Navy officer John Kerry points to 3 Purple Hearts as some sort of service, when it is based upon treachery and treason to these United States.
I place here an American Officer, who was denied his rank by Massachusetts, twice by the Governor, and who was shot in the throat by a Mini ball in the Civil War and wounded several other times, in Nelson Appleton Miles.
The wounding below was as a Lt. Col. serving the New York Volunteers, in 1863. Nelson Miles did not throw his medals or fake medals over the wall, nor did he gain political theater. Instead Nelson Miles would recover from being paralyzed to serve in Aboriginal Wars and the Spanish American War, and volunteer to serve in World War I at a geezer age.
Here is his story of a wounded Soldier and you remember it, when you hear of those who say that all who serve are Heroes. Bullshit.
"While riding down the line at Chancellorsville one of the enemy's bullets struck my metallic belt plate with great force. This caused a slight deviation as it entered the body. The result was an instant deathly sickening sensation; my sword dropped from my right hand, my scabbard and belt dropped to the left; I was completely paralyzed below the waist. My horse seemed to realize what had occurred; he stopped, turned, and walked slowly back—I holding to the pommel of the saddle with my hands. We soon reached a group of soldiers, who took me off and, placing me in a blanket, carried me to the Chancellorsville House, and pulled a dead man off a couch to make room for me. Here I remained until the house was struck by a bursting shell and set on fire. I was then taken out and carried five miles on a stretcher, rested in the woods that night, and the next day was carried in an ambulance over a rough corduroy road twelve miles to a field hospital.
Thence I was sent to Washington, where my brother met me and took me to my home in Massachusetts. Two weeks afterward I was able to move my right foot slightly, and the doctors concluded the bullet must be somewhere in the left side. A consultation was held, and, after a thorough examination, Dr. Alfred Hitchcock, an eminent surgeon, found that the ball had crushed through the hip bone and lodged down in the strong muscles of the left leg. The bullet and broken bones were removed by Doctor Hitchcock, and after several weeks of convalescence I was able to return to the field.
I was always curious to know how close to me the man must have been who fired the shot, as the force of the bullet was terrific. Many years afterward, by accident, I discovered and made the acquaintance of the Confederate soldier. In a letter to me he said: "I used a sharp-shooter's rifle at a range of about one hundred and fifty yards. I aimed at your heart, but think the motion of the horse carried the ball a little low. After what has occurred during these thirty-six years, I am glad I missed that shot."
Miles, Nelson Appleton, 1839-1925. Serving the Republic
Yes America was rewarded in a missed shot and America was rewarded in a Soldier serverely wounded numerous times, not using it for political gain, but returned to Patriot service to these United States.
Nelson Appleton Miles of Massachusetts is what an American Hero is.
agtG
