The “Celebrate America and Remembering 9/11” Event in Kalispell, Montana was one of the greatest events staged in America on September 11 ,2011. This event was sponsored by the Flathead Valley Republican Women and Stand Up America. The slide show is worth watching. LTG Thomas McInerney of Fox News Channel was the keynote speaker and MG Paul Vallely was the Master of Ceremonies. All First Responders, Active Duty Armed Forces, Veterans and Patriots were honored at the event. Please pass this slide show on to other to view and view what real Patriotism is in America.

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of nine servicemen, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

1. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. William J. Sarsfield of Philadelphia;
2. 2nd Lt. Charles E. Trimingham of Salinas, Calif.;
3. Tech. Sgt. Robert L. Christopherson of Blue Earth, Minn.;
4. Tech. Sgt. Leonard A. Gionet of Shirley, Mass.

These servicemen will be buried as a group in a single casket on Sept. 21 in Arlington National Cemetery, along with remains representing previously identified crew members:

1. 2nd Lt. Herman H. Knott;
2. 2nd Lt. Francis G. Peattie;
3. Staff Sgt. Henry Garcia;
4. Staff Sgt. Robert E. Griebel, and;
5. Staff Sgt. Pace P. Payne

Each were individually buried in 1985.

These nine airmen were ordered to carry out a bombing mission over Rabaul, Papau New Guinea (P.N.G.), in their B-17E Flying Fortress nicknamed Naughty but Nice, taking off from an airfield near Dobodura, P.N.G., on June 26, 1943. The aircraft was damaged by anti-aircraft fire and ultimately shot down by Japanese fighter aircraft. A tenth man, the navigator and only survivor of the crash – 2nd Lt. Jose L. Holguin – was held as a prisoner of war until his release in September 1945.

In 1949, U.S. military personnel in the area were led by local citizens to a B-17 crash site on New Britain Island. Remains were recovered but couldn’t be identified given the technology of the time. The remains were buried as unknown at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.

In 1982 and 1983, Holguin returned to the area and located the crash site. A fragment of the aircraft nose art was recovered and is displayed in the War Museum in Kokopo, P.N.G. In 1985, the remains were exhumed and identified as Knott, Payne, Garcia, Peattie, and Griebel. In 2001, a team from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) excavated the site and found additional human remains and crew-related equipment.

Among forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC used dental comparisons and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used mitochondrial DNA – which matched that of some of the crewmembers’ families – in the identification of their remains.

At the end of the war, the U.S. government was unable to recover and identify approximately 79,000 Americans. Today, more than 73,000 are unaccounted for from the conflict.

MG Vallely speaks at the Montana Rodeo August 19th Kalispell Fair

By Paul E. Vallely

Today we salute and honor our Wounded Warriors, all members of our Armed Forces, Veterans and Patriots of America. We remember our fallen heroes, the men and women who answered the call of freedom and paid the ultimate sacrifice. Let us remember and thank them for the nights they slept freezing in a tent or sweating in the desert, for the lonely days they spent fighting boredom and missing loved ones, for the hours they spent sick in pain from battle and without someone holding their hand other than their fellow soldiers, for the moments of sheer fright in the heat of battle, for the wounds suffered fighting evil, for the endless days in hospitals undergoing painful surgeries, for the precious occasions missed at home with family and friends.

The General escorted into the ceremony via wagon ride

For all of these sacrifices, we need to thank them on behalf of millions of Americans who are so grateful. We truly appreciate their dedication to duty. A special thank you to all families and friends, to the parents who raised them, stood by them and made them honorable men and woman. We thank the wives, husbands, and loved ones who stood by them and supported them with their love.

May their legacy be honored for generations to come, may the tears shed over their coffins fertilize the fields of patriotism in our nation. The new generations to come must be built on strength, duty, honor and country, willing and able to follow in their Warrior footsteps when duty calls to defend America. May their blood not have been shed in vain. May we prove worthy of their sacrifice.

You who have served and are serving as our brave ones, our heroes, are our national treasures. You are the pride of our nation, our strength and our foundation. Thanks to you, millions have been freed around the world. Those who criticize our country, burn our precious flag, and speak ill of this country, are able to do so because their freedom is built upon their blood and sacrifice.

Our son speaks from his resting place below our feet here in the Flathead Valley. He speaks to me each day from his hallowed space with beautiful skies and mountains majestic white with snow. God bless his soul and the others we thank them for their wonderful contribution to our life. They must live forever in our hearts and memories. I fear no evil when I walk with Warriors. We walk in the valley of death but we fear no evil. We are the Masters of our Destiny and the Captain of our souls. They are the wind beneath our wings. We fly with you forever in eternity.

We remember those who have served our nation in the past and those who currently serve America today. I went to Walter Reed Army Hospital last week and visited four of our recently Wounded Warriors, their family members and the Medical Staff. It was heart-wrenching and emotional to say the least. Please take a moment to remember and honor America’s fallen and current day warriors who are advancing freedom’s cause today. WE salute you one and all. WE bow before you in respect and humility. May God bless you and God bless America, land of the free and home of the brave. Thank you for being here today.

IN LOVING MEMORY OF AMERICA’S SOLDIERS & NAVY SEALS WHO WENT TO “GLORY” IN AFGHANISTAN!

by Patra Minocha, ©2011

©2011, Brave Hill Productions

Packing Boxes for Troops

Mick Borges tosses a puzzle book into a box that will be sent to troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

by Brooke Andrus/Bigfork Eagle

Muffin Vallely has organized the mailing of care packages to United States troops for the last eight years, and as she and a crowd of volunteers prepared to make the first shipment of 2011, Vallely showed no signs of slowing down.

“You read too often of somebody having lost someone in war, and we want them to know we are always thinking about them and praying for them,” Vallely said.

Vallely and her husband Paul, a retired major general with the U.S. Army, started the box-packing effort in 2003 when their son, Army Pfc. Scott P. Vallely, was in boot camp.

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