MG Vallely and Scott at his induction ceremony in 2003

April 20, 2010 marked the 6th anniversary of Scott Vallely’s passing. This site was created as a living tribute to Scott by his mom and dad; Muffin and Paul Vallely, and his sister Dana.

Dana, Paul, and Muffin Vallely

Please join us in your thoughts and prayers as we remember Scott on this fateful day and all the others who passed before and after him. We ask you to use this occasion to remember the other soldiers and their families who have also lost loved ones in the line of duty. This fund was set up to memorialize them and to aid their families.

Lt. Col. Oliver North and MG Vallely at Scott’s Marker in Bigfork, Montana

Your efforts and donations are well received by those in need, and everyday we hear of another family in need. Please consider a donation today, no matter how small, and it is 100% tax deductible.

Laurie Dhue and the Fox News Special on Scott and the Soldiers Memorial Fund

Right now, the volunteers are considering nominees sent in by you to present “Leadership Awards” to graduating high school and college seniors who are heading off to the military. You can nominate a student at anytime, so please submit a student’s name today. Each award is $1,000 and the student can use it in any fashion to launch their military careers.

MG Vallely presenting University of Montana ROTC graduate Craig Talarico a $1,000 Leadership Award

Connie Still presenting University of Washington Cadet Adam Starkey a $1,000 Leadership Award

From Cleveland.com

Courtesy of Gilbert family Marine Gunnery Sgt. Robert Gilbert in Afghanistan.

The letter sat on the dresser for four years.

Robert Gilbert never opened it. He only touched the envelope when he needed to dust around it. He wanted to give it back to his son unopened.

Every time his Marine son was deployed, his son would ask, “You still got my letter?”

His dad never wanted to read what was inside an envelope marked: “Dad, open this if I am wounded. Love, Robert.”

The call to open it came March 8.

“Is Robert Gilbert there?” a voice from Marine headquarters in Quantico, Va., said.

“Junior or Senior?” Robert said.

“Senior.”

The father felt his stomach drop even before he heard the words: “Your son has been injured in Afghanistan.”

When he heard his son received “possibly a mortal wound,” he sat on the bed, opened the yellow envelope and pulled out four handwritten pages of spiral notebook paper.

I’m sorry if you’re reading this…

Robert Gilbert and his son Marine Gunnery Sgt. Robert L. Gilbert were more than dad and son. They were best friends. Robert, a police officer for Richfield, a village in Summit County, became a single dad the day his wife, Catherine, died of cancer in 1992. He stood at the cemetery with Robert, 9, and Ruth Ann, 11, wondering what to do next.

As soon as his son was old enough to drive, Robert Jr. headed to the Marine Corps recruiting office and came home with posters. Soon, he resembled that poster: 6-3, lean and powerful. He graduated from Revere High School, then from Parris Island. At 20, he became one of the youngest sergeants in the Marine Corps. He served five tours of duty: two in Iraq and three in Afghanistan.

I believe in sacrificing for freedom and I love America.

The last time Robert saw his son was in September. After a week together riding motorcycles around Richfield, his son grabbed a couple beers and said, “We gotta talk.”

Instead of a father-to-son talk, this was a son-to-father talk. The 27-year-old Marine looked his 56-year-old dad in the eye and said, “If I’m incapacitated, don’t keep me on life support. If we can’t smoke cigars, drink a beer and ride motorcycles, let me go.”

His dad resisted. “I really would like to keep you alive,” he said.

The Marine insisted.

His dad made a promise he never imagined he’d have to keep.

Courtesy of Gilbert family Marine Gunnery Sgt. Robert Gilbert, Jr. with his dad, Robert Gilbert, Sr., who is a police officer in the Village of Richfield.

Dad, you gave me the desire and strength to do what I wanted to do . . .

The father couldn’t be by his son’s side to protect him from danger, but he sat by his side for the long journey home. The bullet from the rooftop sniper caught his son in the back of the head. Robert explained the damage to me this way: What allows you to breathe and your heart to beat is working, but what makes you Robert is not.

Before traveling to Germany to be with his wounded son, Robert began a journal on Facebook, to give friends news of his son: “Unless God grants me a miracle, I will find a badly broken child of mine that served America, his country that he loved, like none other.”

When Robert arrived at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, he found his son in the head trauma section. His eyes were black and blue. “But he was my Robert,” he told me.

Seeing the strong Marine with a full beard and mustache unable to speak was heartbreaking.

Robert flew home to America with his son in a C-17. The cargo plane was big enough to hold two tanks. At the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Brigadier General David Berger gave his son the Purple Heart as the family looked on in yellow hospital gowns, gray gloves and blue face guards.

The next day, they signed the papers to donate his organs.

I believe I lived more life in 20 some years than most lived in a lifetime . . .

Last Sunday, the father kept his promise. He held his son’s head as doctors removed the ventilator. But his son’s heart wouldn’t give up. There was one last moment to share.

His birthday.

Marines filled pill container cups with Jack Daniels and sang Happy Birthday. Robert rubbed a drop of whiskey on his son’s mouth, just like he had done 27 years ago when his boy was teething. Then each Marine kissed his son’s forehead goodbye.

Robert told his son, “I love you. Thank you for being my son.” He placed his right hand on his son’s heart and felt the last beat March 16th, the day he first felt it beat.

His son got to turn 28.

“He passed from his father’s hand to his Father’s hand,” Robert said. “I gave him back.”

I pray for your health and happiness every night and I plan to continue. I love you. Your son, Robert.

After the funeral next Sunday, the father will put his son’s letter back on the dresser. He plans to keep it there until the day he joins his son.

by Michelle Oddis

Human Events

One of three Navy SEALs facing a court martial announced at a rally Saturday that he has passed a polygraph test, casting doubt on the Pentagon’s case against him.

In Scottsdale, Ariz., over 130 people rallied in support of the three Navy SEALs facing courts martial after capturing one of the most wanted terrorists in Iraq, Ahmed Hashim Abed, mastermind of the murder and mutilation of four Blackwater security guards in Fallujah in 2004.

Navy SEALs Julio Huertas, Jonathan Keefe and Matthew McCabe are accused of punching Abed after capturing him.

At the rally, Operations Petty Officer 2nd Class McCabe (who faces three charges) said that he successfully passed a professional polygraph in which he was asked if he punched Abed and or lied about it.

Rep. John Shadegg (R.-Ariz.) who attended and spoke at the rally, told HUMAN EVENTS that “while the lie detector test results won’t be admissible in a court of law and their jury will never know that he passed, it is nonetheless important for the American public to know.”

“A lot of people have been accusing these guys of lying about it, so having him pass the polygraph was an instrumental step in his case and his word of anything,” said Graham Ware, who has garnered a great deal of awareness and support by creating the Facebook page, Americans United AGAINST The Prosecution of 3 NAVY SEALs with over 264,000 members, as well as helping to organize fundraising events.

Ware says on Saturday they doubled the amount previously raised for the SEALs legal defense fund. “In quick estimates – for the four hours of the lunch – we were able to raise anywhere between $12,000 and $20,000,” said Ware.

Rep. Shadegg said the prosecution of the SEALs “sends a terrible message to the young men and women across our nation thinking about serving our country, that we would second guess them of their performance of their duties … I believe the charges should not have been brought and they should be dismissed, and that the whole incident is an outrage.”

“Rather than being charged these young men ought to be thanked,” said Shadegg

“What Matt’s faced with – a lot of people don’t realize – it’s a lose-lose situation for him,” said Ware. “We really need to look at the policy, how these came about. Because this terrorist was able to make a claim, it has taken [McCabe] off of the line, it has made him incur all these legal costs, it’s made him have to defend his honor, his reputation and his career, at allegations that appear to be very weak. So even if he’s exonerated, he still loses because he’s had to go through all this.”

Ware and others that support the three SEALs – who face courts martial as early as next month – plan on a larger-scale event in Coronado, Calif. They hope to be able to get people like Glenn Beck and Marcus Luttrell to attend.

“We really have to keep our motivation” said Ware. “Keep it going as best we can, even when it feels like things are progressing and the charges are going to be dropped, we have to keep pushing, it’s easy for people to just kind of relax in their efforts.”

Donate here to Save Our Seals

DOD Identifies Army Casualty

Department of Defense

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

Sgt. 1st Class Carlos M. Santos-Silva, 32, of Clarksville, Tenn., died March 22 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device.

He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

For more information the media may contact the 82nd Airborne Division public affairs office at 910-432-0661 or 910-384-4550.

Those of us at the Soldiers Memorial Fund extend our heartfelt condolences to the family of Carlos Santos-Silva. May he rest in peace knowing that he gave the ultimate sacrifice to his country. May he never be forgotten in the pantheons of our history and our nation.

By Scott W. Winchell

Also posted a The Gold Coast Chronicle

Folks,

This is just one of the most beautiful ideas I have seen in my lifetime. Please watch the following video and spread the word. Its these fine Americans who deserve our adoration, loyalty, and the highest of honors!

They paid and we did not hear,

They paid and we did not see,

They paid and we did not understand,

They paid and we suffered,

As a nation,

As a people,

As a family,

As a lost understanding,

We lost our way,

We lost our sons,

We lost our identity,

We lost our soul!

Never again shall we do so,

Never again shall we spit upon them,

Never again shall we dishonor,

Never again shall we forget!

Our Fathers began an adventure,

Our Fathers began an experiment,

Our Fathers began a movement,

Our Fathers began a nation,

We shall redeem them,

We shall remember them,

We shall revere them,

We shall forever be in their debt!

Vietnam or Lookout Mountain,

Guadalcanal Canal or the Somme,

Bunker Hill or Tripoli,

Fallujah or Bastogne,

We shall be Americans in debt to the few,

In debt to the brave,

In debt to the intrepid,

In debt to the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice, and the families who bore them, loved them, and adored them!

Ours is the time to remember,

Ours is the time to come back home,

Ours is the time to believe again,

Ours is the time to RECLAIM!