Oklahoman receives long overdue recognition for World War II service

Staff Sgt. Garney Christopher, of Sallisaw, Okla., was presented with seven awards that he earned during World War II, but never received. The awards presentation took place in Sallisaw on Thursday, February 18.



Photo of
Staff Sgt. Garney Christopher
in Europe during World War II

Christopher, who is now 84, was drafted into the U.S. Army at 18 as a light machine gunner. He served mostly in Europe in Gen. Patton's Third Army during four major battles. He attained the rank of Staff Sergeant and served as a machine gun crew squad leader. Christopher also helped liberate the Gusen Concentration Camp in Austria. He was honorably discharged on May 6, 1946.

During the ceremony, Christopher was presented the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Bronze Star Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with two bronze service stars, the Army of Occupation Medal with Germany clasp, the World War II Victory Medal, the Army Good Conduct Medal and the World War II Honorable Service Lapel Button.

Staff Sgt Garney Christopher receives

seven awards he earned during World War II from
Maj Gen Myles Deering adjutant general for Oklahoma
Photo Capt Geoff Legler Oklahoma National Guard Office of Public Affairs

American Minute - Feb. 4 - Dietrich Bonhoeffer killed by Hitler 1945

American Minute
with
Bill Federer

Jimmy Carter, in his book Sources of Strength, 1997, wrote:

"Rev. Niebuhr urged Dietrich Bonhoeffer to remain in America for his own safety. Bonhoeffer refused. He felt he had to be among the other Christians persecuted in Germany.

So he returned home, and...in resistance to Hitler...preached publicly against Nazism, racism, and anti-Semitism...

Bonhoeffer was finally arrested and imprisoned, and FEBRUARY 4, 1945, just a few days before the allied armies liberated Germany, he was executed on orders of Heinrich Himmler.

He died a disciple and a martyr."

Jimmy Carter concluded:

"The same Holy Spirit...that gave Bonhoeffer the strength to stand up against Nazi tyranny is available to us today."

On February 16, 2002, Dr. James Dobson told the National Religious Broadcasters:

"Those of you who feel that the church has no responsibility in the cultural area...

What if it were 1943 and you were in Nazi Germany and you knew what Hitler was doing to the Jews...

Would you say, 'We're not political-that's somebody else's problem'?"

Dobson concluded:

"I thank God Dietrich Bonhoeffer did not give that answer, and he was arrested by the Nazis and hanged in 1945, naked and alone because he said, 'This is not right.'"

Iceland Invites The Russians to take over NATO airbase (WTF)

The president of Iceland has offered Russia the use of an abandoned NATO airbase.

The Russians declined, partly because the president of Iceland does not have the authority to make such a deal.

What is happening here is that, at the moment, Iceland is unhappy with their NATO allies. Partly this is the result of the global recession hitting Iceland particularly hard.

That's because Iceland's economic boom was fueled largely by Icelandic banks making heavy use of risky derivatives. This was fine when the global economy was growing, but leverage works both ways, and GDP is expected to contract by at least 15 percent in the next year.

The Icelandic currency has lost over half its value (against major foreign currencies.) Icelanders suddenly feel poor, although unemployment is still under four percent, that is high by local standards. But the real sting has come from the unwillingness of European nations to help bail out the Icelandic banks. This has caused bad feelings towards the NATO countries, which have provided for Icelandic defense for over half a century.

The U.S. has had troops stationed in Iceland since World War II. That's because Iceland has no armed forces of its own, and occupies a strategic position in the north Atlantic.

During the Cold War, U.S. warplanes regularly intercepted Russian maritime patrol aircraft that strayed into Icelandic airspace.

But two years ago, the U.S. Air Force withdrew its fighters. Right about then, Russian long-range patrol aircraft, which had been absent since the Cold War ended in 1991, returned. Since then, Russian aircraft have wandered into Icelandic air space over a dozen times. So the Icelandic Defense Minister (actually the Minister of Justice, who also takes care of military matters), asked NATO for some help.

NATO countries agreed to provide interceptors (usually four at a time) on a rotating basis. But what Iceland would really like is some economic assistance.

Some Icelanders believe that leasing the old air base to the Russians would generate some needed income. A few million dollars goes a long way in Iceland, because the island nation only has a population of 320,000.