AND THE TRUTH IS....

We live in a World that is often confusing.  Like the times when we want to take something good and make it less than....

When we want others to fall so that we can someway be bigger, more important or more believable.  But it's TRUTH that will win out in the end.  So if you've ever questioned yourself in staying the course, it's stories like the one I'm about to share with you, that I hope will continue to give you encouragement.  Meet Michael Monsoor, via Wikipedia.   

Michael Anthony Monsoor (April 5, 1981 – September 29, 2006) was a U.S. Navy Seal killed during the Iraq War and posthumously received the Medal of Honor.   Monsoor enlisted in the United States Navy in 2001 and graduated from Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training in 2004. After further training he was assigned to Delta Platoon, SEAL Team Three.

Delta Platoon was sent to Iraq in April 2006 and assigned to train Iraqi Army soldiers in Ramadi. Over the next five months, Monsoor and his platoon frequently engaged in combat with insurgent forces. On September 29, 2006 an insurgent threw a grenade onto a rooftop where Monsoor and several other SEAL and Iraqi soldiers were positioned. Monsoor quickly smothered the grenade with his body, absorbing the resulting explosion and saving his comrades from serious injury or death. Monsoor died 30 minutes later from serious wounds caused by the grenade explosion.

On March 31, 2008, the United States Depatment of Defense confirmed that Michael Monsoor would posthumously receive the Medal of Honor from the President of the United States, George W. Bush. Bush presented the medal to Monsoor's parents on April 8, 2008. In October 2008, United States Secretary of the Navy Donald C Winter announced that DDG-1001, the second ship in the Zumwalt class of destroyers, would be named Michael Monso

A fitting honor for a hero, you might say.  But that's not the end of the story.  Now, let me share with you some visual images of Monsoor. 

Did you notice the tears streaming down the cheek of President George W. Bush?  During the Medal of Honor reception, our Commander in Chief was visibly moved by the act of heroism of this young man.  Fact of hoax?  The answer to that question is rather simple...

Now, here is where the Monsoor story becomes even more interesting.  During the ceremony at the cemetery, 45 Navy Seals presented their Trident Medals and attached them to the Rosewood casket.  As you no doubt saw, the medal was placed on the casket top and then slapped into place.  The image of 45 Trident Medals aligned in several rows provided a lasting memory.     

Not so fast say some....

You can't get such alignment...." Well, I probably couldn't.

I've learned that there's a story going around that a photo of tridents on Monsoor's coffin are a sort of hoax:

"While the report is true the pic is obviously a hoax.

"1# You can't get such alignment by slapping badges on a coffin as it passes by.

"2# A National Cemetery and not one Government headstone in site.

"#3 Plastic flowers hummmm I don't believe they are allowed in National Cemeteries. I have never seen any in the many National Cemeteries I have visited."
(Armchair General and HistoryNet discussion thread (July 22, 2008

A Hoax?  You Decide.....

Frankly, I find these comments insulting.  As should you, I hope.  How can we take something so pure and make it something else, I'll never know.  Believe what you want to about Michael Monsoor.  Share his story with others.  And if you disagree with what I've written here, that's fine, share it anyway.  Because in the end, the TRUTH is..... 

YGG,

John