1776 And all that ...

[CoffmanStarter]

Happy 4th of July to all our friends and colleagues over the pond. Glad to see you haven't turned out too bad following our help to get you started :E

http://www.kfw-adventurers.org/cpages/Files/WavingFlag.gif

Be careful with the fireworks :ok:

Coff.

[brickhistory]

Thank you!

Guess we should wish you a Happy Mother's Day then?

Although your German, George III, didn't seem to want us out of the house...




And, at $15 trillion in debt, in another 237 years, this baby will be paid for!

[BEagle]

It's probably a breach of the 'flag code' to display the pre-1959 48-star flag, CS.

Or have you got something against Alaska and Hawaii?

:\

[CoffmanStarter]

My bad :( ... Now corrected :ok:

Alaska ... too cold, Hawaii ... nice climate but not my taste in shirts :cool:

[teeteringhead]

But Hawaii has excellent taste in the choice of (elements of) its State Flag! :ok: http://www.hawaiianbeachrentals.com/hawaiitravelblog/wp-content/uploads/fHawaiianflag.jpg

[Barksdale Boy]

Ms BB (of the American persuasion) and I (not so) went out this evening to celebrate the 4th of July. We decided that a hamburger was the way to go. It was excellent; it came with a Teriyaki glaze and Japanese mayo (surprisingly good). So talk of who won various wars seemed otiose. God bless those United States.

[BEagle]

But Hawaii has excellent taste in the choice of (elements of) its State Flag!

Not when the Union Flag is incorrectly mounted in canton as in that image, teeteringhead!

This is the correct version:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a341/nw969/hawaii_zps1949d134.gif (http://s14.photobucket.com/user/nw969/media/hawaii_zps1949d134.gif.html)

And the Anglo-American design we used on EX. GIANT VOICE 1979 - when we flew from Barksdale!:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a341/nw969/IMG_0306_zps9c9e98cf.jpg (http://s14.photobucket.com/user/nw969/media/IMG_0306_zps9c9e98cf.jpg.html)

Anyway, enjoy your holiday, you darn revolutionaries! Particularly if you're serving away from home.

Back in 1976, at RAF Brawdy we had a co-located USN sneaky-beaky organisation, known (officially) as the 'US NAVFAC', which looked after the SOSUS installation - if I'd muttered 'SOSUS' back then, it would probably have ended up in a small room with an invitation to meet Mr. Latex Glove....:eek: Anyway, taking a short cut through the SeaBees' yard, one of my course mates spotted a suspicious looking bell-shaped object. "Ah-hah", he thought, "a diving bell - they must use that to check the SOSUS cables in St. Brides Bay!".

Unfortunately our amateur sleuth was rather miffed to see the 'secret' bell a few days later on the back of a low loader - all painted up for the American Bicentennial celebrations as the 'Liberty Bell'!

[Bob Viking]

I often like to remind my American acquaintances that Britain did not lose the War. It was a war we could not lose since it was really just Brits fighting Brits. Some of those Brits were shipped across from Britain to quell the uprising of the colonial upstarts who themselves were just Brits who lived overseas. So, in effect, it was really more of a civil war. I will of course conveniently ignore the involvement of other foreign nationals who called America home at the time.
Regardless of the aforementioned error in the annals of time the America based Brits had one thing right as far as I'm concerned. If I had my way all tea would be thrown into the sea since it tastes like dirty dishwater. The fish in Boston Harbour probably felt the same. I realise I may be in the minority on that point though!
BV:p

[Herod]

Can Britain (or at least England) apply to become the 51st State? I think we would get more control over our own affairs than we do as a member of the EU.

[SASless]

You might want to re-think that....under the Odumbo Administration....individual Freedom has been greatly harmed by centralization of power in the Federal Executive. Add in Congress enacting really disastrous Laws and spending twice as much as they take in taxes.....and a Supreme Court which seems to be acting politically rather than enforcing the Constitution and we are far and away not what we used to be.

On this Independence Day I am looking at the TV admiring what I see going on in Egypt.....Millions upon Millions of Citizens taking to the Streets to stand up against Tyranny by a runaway Government!

As we say over here...."Freedom is not Free and is only one Generation from Extinction!".

[CoffmanStarter]

You darn revolutionaries !

With a quote like that from BEagle ... there is only one film clip that will do :ok:

The Great Escape - 4th of July - YouTube

Coff

[Torchy]

Of course, we Brits don't celebrate Independence Day because we were born independent!!

[smujsmith]

Happy Independance day you Yanks. We love you all really, just need to do it in a "reserved" way.

Smudge:ok:

[TBM-Legend]

Of course, we Brits don't celebrate Independence Day because we were born independent!!

Happy 4th to the USA.

Oh, by the way I'm not sure how the UK celebrates this day: 10th October 1066>>:hmm:

[Bob Viking]

TBM.
It's all lies. Completely made up with unreliable records from that era. It's not like anyone wrote a big book about it. Or made a giant tapestry.
BV

[Barksdale Boy]

Beags

I think it was Teeteringhead's error rather than mine.

BB

[BEagle]

I think it was Teeteringhead's error rather than mine.

Oops, yes, you're quite correct. Sorry about that - post duly amended!

[VX275]

Can Britain (or at least England) apply to become the 51st State? I think we would get more control over our own affairs than we do as a member of the EU.

In idle moments I've wondered if the original 13 colonies/States could be invited to join the Commonwelth.

[TBM-Legend]

Scotland may be secretly planning to join the Union! Free military bases in exchange for protection and foreign aid..

[Motleycallsign]

Or made a giant tapestry.

BV technically it's not even a tapestry, and it never happened (well not at Hastings anyway).

Aren't the original 13 States known as 'The Commonwealth of Virginia'?

[brickhistory]

Virginia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania are each referred to as the "Commonwealth of..." It has no legal meaning anymore. as far as I know.

As to us joining you, we have that difference in allegiance that one side or the other would have to give up.

Oath to support and defend the U.S. Constitution regardless of the clowns in office.

I believe you swear an oath to the reigning monarch (does that have to be taken again upon a change?) regardless of the clowns in government.

[Two's in]

does that have to be taken again upon a change?

It also applies to the "heirs and successors" so on a change of Monarch it's all covered. Not that anyone would remember after 60 years....

[CoffmanStarter]

Backhistory ...

Just for completeness ... each Royal Air Force Officer swears the following oath ...

'I, Peter Crumpington Smythe, swear by Almighty God that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Her Heirs and Successors, and that I will, as in duty bound, honestly and faithfully defend Her Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, in Person, Crown and Dignity against all enemies, and will observe and obey all orders of Her Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, and of the air officers and officers set over me. So help me God.'

British Navy and Army Officers do likewise ...

[brickhistory]

Ok, thanks.

I believe it was you lot denying George Washington a commission in the regular British Army that turned him agin' you prior to the 1776 divorce.

But you did take Benedict Arnold. :E

[SASless]

I would suggest swearing to uphold the Constitution and the Freedoms it provides would trump promising one's Allegiance to an individual. Granted the Monarchy is not what it used to be....but then my Lot has soundly rejected the notion of Royalty and all that imports.

Ours is not a perfect thing but for all its faults....I am far happier living under the Constitution than any other form of government extant.

[CoffmanStarter]

Backhistory, SASless ... You may be interested to know that Thomas Paine, a former Brit and Founding Father of America, came from just down the road here in East Sussex in a town called Lewes ... interestingly the same town our Guy Fawkes came from :ok:

Here is Paine's house ...

http://0.tqn.com/d/miniatures/1/0/H/6/-/-/lewesbull2.jpg

Best ...

Coff.

PS. This is an old pic ... The building has now been refurbished.

[clicker]

Many years ago I worked for an American airline and every 4th of July we, at Gatwick, would be wished a Happy Independence day by any crew passing within VHF range of our A/G.

Needless to say while given in good sprits we brits just growled a little remembering our loss.

My reply, also given in a good sprit, was "Thank you Sir, but remember we got there first." Rarely got a reply to that.

Coff, was that house in Southover High St?

[CoffmanStarter]

Main High Street old chp :ok:

[smujsmith]

Coff,

'I, Peter Crumpington Smythe, swear by Almighty God that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Her Heirs and Successors, and that I will, as in duty bound, honestly and faithfully defend Her Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, in Person, Crown and Dignity against all enemies, and will observe and obey all orders of Her Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, and of the air officers and officers set over me. So help me God.'

No wonder none of our officers worried about complying with their oath of allegiance, unless they were christened Peter Crumpington Smythe! We "other ranks" took a similar oath of allegiance, but used our own names. I know, hat, coat.:rolleyes:

Smudge

[500N]

Boston – National Guard units seeking to confiscate a cache of recently banned assault weapons were ambushed by elements of a Para-military extremist faction. Military and law enforcement sources estimate that 72 were killed and more than 200 injured before government forces were compelled to withdraw.

Speaking after the clash, Massachusetts Governor Thomas Gage declared that the extremist faction, which was made up of local citizens, has links to the radical right-wing tax protest movement.

Gage blamed the extremists for recent incidents of vandalism directed against internal revenue offices. The governor, who described the group’s organizers as “criminals,” issued an executive order authorizing the summary arrest of any individual who has interfered with the government’s efforts to secure law and order.

The military raid on the extremist arsenal followed wide-spread refusal by the local citizenry to turn over recently outlawed assault weapons.


Gage issued a ban on military-style assault weapons and ammunition earlier in the week. This decision followed a meeting in early this month between government and military leaders at which the governor authorized the forcible confiscation of illegal arms.


One government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, pointed out that “none of these people would have been killed had the extremists obeyed the law and turned over their weapons voluntarily.”

Government troops initially succeeded in confiscating a large supply of outlawed weapons and ammunition. However, troops attempting to seize arms and ammunition in Lexington met with resistance from heavily-armed extremists who had been tipped off regarding the government’s plans.


During a tense standoff in the Lexington town park, National Guard Colonel Francis Smith, commander of the government operation, ordered the armed group to surrender and return to their homes. The impasse was broken by a single shot, which was reportedly fired by one of the right-wing extremists.

Eight civilians were killed in the ensuing exchange.


Ironically, the local citizenry blamed government forces rather than the extremists for the civilian deaths. Before order could be restored, armed citizens from surrounding areas had descended upon the guard units. Colonel Smith, finding his forces over matched by the armed mob, ordered a retreat.

Governor Gage has called upon citizens to support the state/national joint task force in its effort to restore law and order. The governor also demanded the surrender of those responsible for planning and leading the attack against the government troops.


Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and John Hancock, who have been identified as “ringleaders” of the extremist faction, remain at large.

And this fellow Americans, is how the American Revolution began, April 20, 1775.

[CoffmanStarter]

Smudge you scoundrel :p

http://www.j4goalposts.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/openDoor.jpg

[smujsmith]

Coff, just joshing, nice door though :ok:

If the USA is allowed to celebrate their 4 July Declaration, lets not forget ;

The Battle of Long Island, also known as the Battle of Brooklyn or the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, fought on August 27, 1776, was the first major battle in the American Revolutionary War following the United States Declaration of Independence, the largest battle of the entire conflict, and the first battle in which an army of the United States engaged, having declared itself a nation only the month before.
After beating the British in the Siege of Boston on March 17,1776, General George Washington, Commander-in-Chief, brought the Continental Army to defend the strategic port city of New York, then limited to the southern end of Manhattan Island. Washington understood that the city's harbor would provide an excellent base for the British Navy during the campaign. There he established defenses and waited for the British to attack. In July, the British, under the command of General William Howe, landed a few miles across the harbor on sparsely-populated Staten Island, where over the next month and a half they were slowly reinforced by ships in Lower New York Bay, bringing their total force to 32,000 men. With the British fleet in control of the entrance to the harbor at The Narrows, Washington knew the difficulty in holding the city. Believing Manhattan would be the first target, he moved the bulk of his forces there.
On August 22, the British landed on the southwest shore of Brooklyn, across The Narrows from Staten Island, in what is now the neighborhood of Bay Ridge, more than a dozen miles south from the East River crossings to Manhattan. After five days of waiting, the British attacked American defenses on the Guan Heights. Unknown to the Americans, however, Howe had brought his main army around their rear and attacked their flank soon after. The Americans panicked, although a stand by 400 Maryland troops prevented most of the army from being captured. The remainder of the army fled to the main defenses on Brooklyn Heights. The British dug in for a siege but, on the night of August 29–30, Washington evacuated the entire army to Manhattan without the loss of materiel or a single life. Washington and the Continental Army were driven out of New York entirely after several more defeats and forced to retreat through New Jersey and into Pennsylvania.

It seems our chap,Howe had a thing for taking chaps "from the rear" :eek: I'm thinking of getting the Barbie out on August 27 to celebrate our great supremacy over the colonist hordes. It could be yet another good excuse for a beer call. Seriously, I've had the honour to serve with many American servicemen and have always found them more than agreeable. Bless em all!

Smudge:ok:

[Herod]

SASless, I've thought about it and still maintain we'd be better off as part of your lot. At least you can get rid of elected officials every now and then. We're stuck with a largely unelected bureaucracy in Brussels making our rules for us. Even the currency was imposed on the people. Only two countries were given a referendum and both voted "no", even after the EU ran a second referendum in Denmark to try and get the "right" answer. Luckily Britain isn't in the Eurozone, and we've never had a referendum, because the politicians know the answer would be a resounding "no". Enough; I could go on all night, but it gets VERY BORING.

[SilsoeSid]

brickhistory
Although your German, George III...
Please enlighten us brickhistory, where was George III born? :rolleyes:



TBM-Legend
Oh, by the way I'm not sure how the UK celebrates this day: 10th October 1066>>

Uuuum, what happened on 10 October 1066 :confused:

Assuming you are referring to The Battle of Hastings (14 October 1066)...
...Considering the United Kingdom wasn't around for another 750 years or so, I don't understand why it would. :ugh:

Ooo, by the way;
Williams grandson, who in turn became King in 1100, was born in England which meant that the crown returned to an English head after only 34 years following the Battle of Hastings. This is a considerably much shorter time than the 170-ish years of English rule over America :p

[500N]

"We're stuck with a largely unelected bureaucracy in Brussels making our rules for us."

Only because you allow yourself / yourselves to
or the elected people in Gov't do.

Stick a finger up at the EU and tell them to GF
and no, you won't be bending over for their every
whim and they'll jump up and down but WTF are
they really going to do about it ?

It's like the UN and resolutions, unless you back it up
with force, most don't GAF which is why it is such a
weal as piss organisation.


What tangible positive things have come out of the EU ?

At least NATO provides combined defence.

[brickhistory]

Please enlighten us brickhistory, where was George III born?


Have a sense of humor.

As a stop in the line of the pudgy Hanoverian Germans who hadn't been too long on your throne, he, when he wasn't insane, insisted on proving how 'tough' he was to a bunch of ungrateful rebels regardless of being born in England.

How'd that work out for him?

Not to mention y'all had a chance when you threw out royalty, but then decided you needed someone to bring tourists back, so you rehired the son which eventually, through twists/turns/and the odd Jacobite rebellion and such, led to the Germans being asked to sit on the fancy chair.

WTF?

[Dr Jekyll]

Ooo, by the way;
Williams grandson, who in turn became King in 1100, was born in England which meant that the crown returned to an English head after only 34 years following the Battle of Hastings. This is a considerably much shorter time than the 170-ish years of English rule over America

And William himself arguably had as good a claim to the English throne as Harold.

[TomJoad]

Have a sense of humor.

As a stop in the line of the pudgy Hanoverian Germans who hadn't been too long on your throne, he, when he wasn't insane, insisted on proving how 'tough' he was to a bunch of ungrateful rebels regardless of being born in England.

How'd that work out for him?

Not to mention y'all had a chance when you threw out royalty, but then decided you needed someone to bring tourists back, so you rehired the son which eventually, through twists/turns/and the odd Jacobite rebellion and such, led to the Germans being asked to sit on the fancy chair.

WTF?


Man you got a lot on your mind! :eek: But hey you're right your system is a lot better but my big brother is bigger than yours;)

[TomJoad]

SASless, I've thought about it and still maintain we'd be better off as part of your lot. At least you can get rid of elected officials every now and then. We're stuck with a largely unelected bureaucracy in Brussels making our rules for us. Even the currency was imposed on the people. Only two countries were given a referendum and both voted "no", even after the EU ran a second referendum in Denmark to try and get the "right" answer. Luckily Britain isn't in the Eurozone, and we've never had a referendum, because the politicians know the answer would be a resounding "no". Enough; I could go on all night, but it gets VERY BORING.


Emigrate:ok:

[Herod]

Emigrate? No, I like living in England. I just wish we could get it back, hence my support for a "no" vote in any referendum. I`m considering standing for the EU elections next year, basing my platform on a desire to make my job redundant.

[brickhistory]

but my big brother is bigger than yours


Well, our 'big brother' usually isn't considered that big on an individual basis, but they, all 1+ billion of them, are considered very good bankers by my government. Why else would they own us? :(

[MightyGem]

but then my Lot has soundly rejected the notion of Royalty
Apart from when our Royalty comes and visits and you all turn out in your thousands to say "Hi".

[TomJoad]

Brickhistory the main thing is that you had a nice independence day. Happy for you:ok:

[SASless]

Thousands out of 300 Million.....amazing isn't it?

Of course lately....some of your Royalty have been way too public!:oh:

It does beg some comments to openly admit to having "Helicopter Pilots" in the family......most families would keep a Bastard Child rather than allow a Daughter to marry if the Daddy was a Helicopter Pilot....as the there would not be as much shame!;)

[BEagle]

Now look, you colonials. We know it took you 3 years to trawl your entire population to find 7 people who could do a chimpanzee's job at the pointy end of a rocket 50 years ago...

And yes, we DO know that the UK couldn't afford it's own Mercury programme....

But surely with all your resources, it cannot be that hard to find someone suitable as President? Obama or that gibbering "Nuke 'em now!" idiot, surely even you can work out the better alternative?

We have it a lot easier..... And in a rather more civilised manner, one would opine.

[Fareastdriver]

Could somebody remind me how much it costs the United States to elect a Head of State; and then do it all over again four years later.

[TomJoad]

Oh dear, it's that part of pprune again wee boys having a pissing contest. Gentlemen for crying out loud slagging off each others countries - Really. Like I said, my dad's car is faster than your dad's car , come on I mean really. As said earlier hope you all genuinely had a good holiday I know I would have had I been in the states.

[Scuttled]

Well said Tom.

Had a great time with my American colleagues and compadres, but unfortunately lost a day to the now necessary recovery process (see the drinking culture thread).

Happy Birthday Murica. You're a bit crazy but totally loveable. You silly sausages. Quite mad, dontcha know.