When the Music Stopped...

(For those who are unaware: At all military base theaters, the National Anthem is played before the movie begins.)

This is written from a Chaplain in Iraq :

I recently attended a showing of 'Superman 3' here at LSA Anaconda. We have a large auditorium that we use for movies as well as memorial services and other large gatherings.

As is the custom at all military bases, we stood to attention when The National Anthem began before the main feature.

All was going well until three-quarters of the way through

The National Anthem, the music stopped.

Now, what would happen if this occurred with 1,000 18-to-22-year-old's back in the States? I imagine that there would be hoots, catcalls, laughter, a few rude comments, and everyone would sit down and yell for the movie to begin. Of course, that is, only if they had stood for The National Anthem in the first place.

Here in Iraq 1,000 soldiers continued to stand at attention, eyes fixed forward. The music started again, and the soldiers continued to quietly stand at attention. Again, though, at the same point, the music stopped. What would you expect 1,000 soldiers standing at attention to do?? Frankly, I expected some laughter, and everyone would eventually sit down and wait for the movie to start.

No!!. . . You could have heard a pin drop while every soldier continued to stand at attention.

Suddenly, there was a lone voice from the front of the auditorium, then a dozen voices, and soon the room was filled with the voices of a thousand soldiers, finishing where the recording left off:

"And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh, say, does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave, o'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave."

It was the most inspiring moment I have had in Iraq , and I wanted you to know what kind of U.S. Soldiers are serving you! Remember them as they fight for us!

Pass this blog along as a reminder to others to be ever in prayer for all our soldiers serving us here at home and abroad. Many have already paid the ultimate price.

Written by Chaplain Jim Higgins, LSA Anaconda is at the Ballad Airport in Iraq , north of Baghdad .




Please share only if you are so inclined. God Bless America and all of our troops serving throughout he world.

And, I was there

Sunday morning, watching an old movie, "She's Back On Broadway," there is a scene in the movie where Virginia Mayo is at the LA airport, with Frank Lovejoy.

I did my Navy "Boot camp" in San Diego, and after that, flew back to Ohio for a visit with family. I flew from San  Diego to LA, had a brief layover, was walking around, and happened to see them filming that segment of the movie. Big incident for a kid from Ohio, that was way back in 1952.

Too Old

I'm getting too old, they announced the nominees for the Academy Awards this morning, I have not seen any of the movies, I have not heard of any of  the movies, and I don't recognize anyone getting an award. Then I realized, the last movie I went to was probably twenty years ago, have no idea what it was. OK, not sure how many years ago it was ...............

We were in LA, after a cruise which did not go well, visiting with a friend of a friend who lived out there, she lived in a house that John Wayne had built for a fellow actor, or something like that. One of the events she had planned for us, was a movie, not just a movie, a "by invitation" to a pre-screening of a movie,, wasn't even named yet. Marlan Brando was in it, some kid that is in a lot of pirate movies now, he was an escort or something, went out with a lot of women, I must admit I don't remember a lot about it. We had to fill out a form after the movie about how we liked it.

That was the last movie I saw.