Last night I was watching Family Guy and during the break there was a commercial for the DVD release of GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra. The anger at what has happened to one of my earliest inspirations for who I eventually became, flooded back into me. When I heard, about a year ago, they were making a movie of one of my favorite childhood cartoons, I was thrilled. Later when I found out that instead of being "A Real American Hero", GI Joe was now some namby-pamby Globally Integrated Joint Operational Entity, a piece of my childhood was stolen from me. I talked this over with G-Man at lunch one day and found out that his childhood was also stolen by GI Joe, but in his case, by MY beloved childhood heroes. G-Man, as always a good teacher, pointed me in the direction to find the roots of my heroes, and, as always, left the research and learning up to me. For all of those in my generation, the root and truth of GI Joe is even more inspirational than the animated patriots and heroes we grew up with.
The original GI Joe was based, and modeled, on a true life "Real American Hero," a United States Marine Platoon Sergeant named Mitchell Paige. At the Battle of Guadalcanal in the Solomons, Sergeant Paige single-handedly fought back an entire Japanese Regiment after his entire platoon had been killed. Paige proved that one American Marine was equal to an entire regiment of Japan's infantry. Paige is a hero in the finest traditions of our Armed Services. Paige's story has returned the missing piece of my childhood that was stolen by the liberal Hollywierd elites. We all owe our heroes a debt we can never repay, and I am proud bring this brave man's story back to a generation that has forgotten too much of our past, and has idolized thugs who can handle a ball and idiots who look good on a screen for too long. Mitchell Paige's Medal of Honor citation can be found here.
No comments:
Post a Comment